A Brief History of Hammer VS. The Snake – Part 1

Hammer VS The Snake are made of four different things that come together and become the equal to their constituent parts. They are made of Taffy, Rejj, Sir Stephen Wood MBE and The Guv'nor (joining in that order).

Beginning life in the hallowed underbelly of Exeter College, Hammer VS The Snake remained nameless for a long time, but that didn't matter - what did matter though was the music, which unfortunately (for a very long time) was Shi*t.

The concept, known today as Hammer VS. The Snake, all began when Taffy got his first taste of the skins back in his first year playing in a nonsense band that practiced about twice. He knew he could hit in time and so he decided to invite Rejj (an experienced guitarist he met through their shared love of Maths) to jam with him.

"I can play drums" he lied

Before their first practice, knowing SSW was an experienced musician he decided to take a gamble and invite him along too. Fortunately the ballsy manoeuvre paid off as SSW agreed to waste some of his precious time on this amateur with a few crazy dreams. They practiced for a few weeks in Hilary '04, playing a few covers and an aborted (thankfully) song written by Taffy, known only as 8:15.

"That song was appalling" - HVTS

Throughout these few weeks no-ones protestations were heard quite as much as Rejj's.

"We need a bassist" said Rejj, "This is like having a house with no floor"

"Well, bloody find one!" - Taffy and SSW

And find one he did, with The Guv'nor joining the fold in Trinity '04. This was a high pressure time for the band: Taffy had started writing reasonable songs as opposed to the crap he was at first churning out. This was a crunch time it was Trinity term they all had exams but there was going to be a 16 week holiday! They had to play a gig at least one just to let people know who they were. And they got one. They also needed a name, and they got that too: go! team, an awesome name, by anyone’s standards.

Pub Oxford at the bottom of Cowley Road played host. This was it, they packed the place out via word of mouth, some didn’t even know they existed; this splinter project that had been leaked over the term had a lot to prove.

“There were mistakes made, but that was awesome!” – everyone

Yes, we messed up, played out of key a few times, had a silly drum machine intermission; but this was big. In fact the whole crowd cleared out after us leaving hardly anyone for the main act!