Who the hell are The Sneaky Nixons?

Chances are you’ve probably seen more than a few Sneaky Nixons tags around Liverpool, but have you got any idea who the hell they actually are? The Tab caught up with singer Jack Hardwells to get the inside story on one of Liverpool’s best and most enigmatic student bands.

“It’s just boys behaving badly” says Jack of the graffiti. “It’s good exposure whether you like it or not”.

It’s not all been positive though, and the controversial manner of the campaign has also generated a lot of disdain amongst the Liverpool scene, with opinion seemingly split down the middle.

However those that actually like the band are doing so with significant enthusiasm. There’s even something of a cult following developing, particularly amongst locals.

“For everybody that wouldn’t touch me at all there’s loads of other bands that are like ‘yeah we want you, we’ll help you out, we’ll look after you’. The scouse bands do. The student bands don’t give a fuck. Fuck students innit!”

When I ask if the negative side bothers him, Jack is rather unruffled by the whole affair: “promoters don’t want to be associated with us and I get pissed off at that, but if they want my head on a stick they can join the back of the queue.”

“It is fun being a villain; it’s not boring to the say the least. I wouldn’t describe us as bland or boring” he continues.

The band have also found opposition in the form of Liverpool Guild of Students, particularly vice-president Leigh-Angel Bevan, who has reportedly been contacting promoters to prevent The Sneaky Nixons booking gigs.

“I didn’t wake up one morning and say ‘how many people can I piss off this morning?’ but I do laugh at people that get so annoyed about it, like the likes of her, because they’re all sat about talking about my band.”

The Sneaky Nixons at a rare live showing at The Pilgrim

And he’s got a point, almost every student has probably heard their name. Although they might not have heard the music. So far the only readily available Sneaky Nixons tunes are a handful of demos on their SoundCloud, though this is a situation that’s apparently soon to be rectified.

The band also has a video for ‘Thick Thin and Thinner’ that’s garnering its fair share of controversy in its own right due to their decision to host it on a porn website after it was banned by YouTube: “The Pornhub views are mad y’know. That’s our new target audience… lonely wankers.”

The music itself isn’t half bad – drawing on blues, garage rock and noughties indie scuzz to produce a spirited sound that’s lathered with slide guitar, earworm hooks and, most importantly, a sense of rock ‘n’ roll attitude that’s sorely lacking in the majority of student music.

“I’ve written this down, I thought you might ask this.” Says Jack with a smile when I question his influences, “Cool rock ‘n’ roll music 1955 to present.”

Hardwells singles out Elvis, Morrissey and Pete Doherty as particular influences, and there’s a real sense of the Libertines man in their attitude and in the detached, lyrical romance of tunes like ‘Thick Thin and Thinner’, while ‘Dietary Requirements’ calls to mind early Clash and The Undertones.

Happy to introduce themselves ‘the most hated band in Liverpool’ when I catch them at a rare live outing, guitars are set alight (and thrown at me as I try and take a picture), and the band pace through a dynamic rendition of The Black Keys’ ‘Lonely Boy’ that more than rivals the original.

Jack himself takes lead/slide guitar in the group, and shares vocal duties with fellow guitarist and co-songwriter Danny, while bassist Jamie was briefly fired for listening to dubstep.

Meanwhile drummer Lisa is in many ways the star of the live setup, with a ferocious style that defies her tiny stature. “She goes up to the drum kit and we’re all like ‘what’s this girl gonna do?’ then she just starts smacking it and everyone’s running up to her” says Jack.

In short, The Sneaky Nixons are here to stay, and they couldn’t care less whether you like it or not, but what’s certain is that they’re providing a real whiskey-soaked breath of fresh air to the student scene.

Ultimately Hardwells says it best himself: “Obviously I’m not stupid, I wanna drive a fast car, live in a fat house and all that shit, but if people get genuinely pissed off they can look at another wall, listen to another band”

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