Lou Lewis and Andrew Chavez have been playing music together since they were 15 years old. Rock ’n’ roll, surf and rockabilly have all been sounds they’ve explored kicking around Lubbock, Texas, while being influenced by old-school country, classic and indie rock, their latest and sturdiest band yet being Rattlesnake Milk.
While you’d file them under the aforementioned, they’re not a band that sticks to one audible style, instead throwing bits of twang, surf and punk into a cocktail that includes a load of psychedelia and reverb with hints of a spaghetti western score, the result being a drink of dark-country and folk-noir music.
If you go
WHAT: Rattlesnake Milk and Yope play San Juan Brewfest.
WHEN: 1 p.m. Saturday.
WHERE: Buckley Park, 1250 Main Ave.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.sanjuanbrewfest.com.
Rattlesnake Milk, who in addition to rhythm guitar player and vocalist Lewis and lead guitar player Chavez are bass player Grant McMahan and drummer Corey Alvarez, will perform Saturday in Durango at the San Juan Brewfest in Buckley Park, the annual beer festival benefiting the organization Team Up, which was formerly United Way of Southwest Colorado.
Part of 25 years of Lewis and Chavez playing music together found the two digging on heavy rock and hip-hop, while Lewis also found himself around a constant score of Tejano and mariachi music heard at family gatherings. Ultimately, the two moved to Brooklyn, expanding those musical interests into the “ambient and weird stuff, what we love now” Lewis said. But it was a return to Texas that added old twang into their mix, courtesy of rural radio.
“I started farming for a childhood friend of mine in Olton, which is a small town in the panhandle. On the tractor, the only station I could get was this old AM station that played a bunch of oldies, and I got obsessed with those,” Lewis said. “I started writing a rockabilly record, and that became the first Rattlesnake Milk record.”
A do it yourself and punk-rock minded band, their 2014 release, “Snake Rattle and Roll,” is rough around the edges in the most glorious way, an aggressive and tripped-out take on rockabilly, thanks to band members digging on all things indie and punk.
“That’s a big part of what we do, the psychedelic, kind of grungy, do-it-yourself vibe,” Lewis said. “Our first record has some very personal punk elements to it.”
In 2022, the band dropped, “Chicken Fried Snake,” a record that continued the DIY and punk vibe that leans into psychedelia, cosmic country and surf, while also keeping a dreamy and dark, rock ’n’ roll mentality – if you convinced Radiohead (a band Lewis claims as one of his all-time favorites), Black Sabbath or 16 Horsepower to write something that sounds like Dick Dale or The Ventures, you’ll near the sound of Rattlesnake Milk.
The follow up to “Chicken Fried Snake” should drop sometime in 2026. Keeping things DIY and close to home, they record at Lewis’ home studio, then send off tracks to, as Lewis describes, “serious studio guys” in Los Angeles for mixing and mastering. That happens between time on the road.
“We have all of September off. We’re going to finish up a new record, in September and sometime in November. Then I think we’re on the road most of October, we have some dates also at the end of August,” he said. “So just working on the record and playing some shows, two things I really like to do.”
Those aren’t the only things Lewis likes to do. With strong ties to Durango through friends along with heavy play on local, independent radio, their booking for the San Juan Brewfest is an anticipated gig.
“We love beer and we love festivals and we love Durango. So, it’s a great show. We’ve been trying to get a show in Durango for two or three years, and finally it works,” Lewis said. “We’re very stoked.”
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
