The Awesome Snakes Discuss The Awesomeness Of Various Snakes
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Awesome Snakes were kicking it ophidian old-school long before a certain over-hyped Samuel Jackson movie started blowing up. In fact, the duo started more than two years ago as a side project for the guitarist and drummer of Minnesota punk band The Soviettes, now styling themselves as Danny Snake and Annie Awesome. "We wanted to not just play one kind of music. We wanted to play two kinds," jokes Danny. With the Soviettes on extended hiatus, the Snakes have slithered into their own with the hugely fun debut Venom, a loose, loud set of Ramones-y tunes all about two subjects: snakes and/or things that are awesome. If Venom lacks anything, it's the ability to get specific about particular snakes–especially since the songs clock in at around 90 seconds each. So The A.V. Club tracked down the Awesome Snakes armed with a stack of research (ahem, a few Wikipedia printouts) to set the record straight. (This interview originally appeared in The A.V. Club's Twin Cities print edition.)
King cobra
The longest venomous snake in the world, this Asian reptile is able to lift its head up high enough to stare a 6-foot man in the eye.
Annie: King cobra is at the top because it's scary and makes a good shoe.
The A.V. Club: It says here that a king cobra can deliver enough venom to kill a full-grown Asian elephant in three hours.
Danny: Unless you have a time machine.
AVC: Do a lot of elephants have time machines, though?
D: I can't really talk about that. Because of what I'm doing at work right now.
AVC: It's top-secret?
D: Yeah, highly classified.
Awesome Snakes Awesomeness Rating: Awesome.
Anaconda
A giant South American snake that kills its prey by crushing it, the anaconda was also the title villain of the 1997 Ice Cube thriller Anaconda.
AVC: If Ice Cube fought an anaconda in real life, who'd win?
D: The anaconda would win.
A: I think Ice Cube would.
D: Well, Ice Cube's got some deadly words, but he's just a man. He can probably punch pretty good. You're gonna need more than that, though.
Awesome Snakes Awesomeness Rating: Awesome-plus.