I’ve heard the rumblings. I know the word on the street.

“Driscoll’s lost his touch.” “He became a dad, and Rock Rhetoric became a drag.”

I have ears, Tacoma. I smell what’s cooking (besides the meth).

To all the naysayers, I offer a big F. U. While you may have a point — my columns over the last month may have been more mediocre than usual — I’m absolutely not done. I haven’t lost my touch. I’m in a slump. I haven’t changed. I’m sleep deprived and trying to regain my swing, but rest assured, I’ll battle through it. Soon, I’ll be back in fighting shape.

One of the big differences in my columns over the last month has been the general lack of unrelated stories from my average day-to-day existence. I haven’t written about the Broncos. I haven’t written about my travels. I haven’t even written about my new kid.

Writing about unrelated topics is what I’m good at. Excluding one iPhone rant last week, since my daughter was born on June 4, my columns in the Weekly Volcano have been, shudder to think, almost journalistic.

I promise you, Tacoma. I won’t let it continue. I’ll get back to my old self faster than Al Gore III can get a hybrid up to 100 mph on a handful of adderols and a couple of hits from the peace pipe.

That is to say — really fast.

See, I’m already getting there. I’m three paragraphs in, and I haven’t said a gawd damn thing.

But enough about that …

I’m going to shoot straight with you, Tacoma. I figure I owe it to you. Lately, with the closure of a handful of rock ’n’ roll venues in Tacoma, and Jazzbones’ gradual descent into a Top 40s/Karaokee frat bar, Hell’s Kitchen has seemed like the only game in town. Each week I search for an exciting show, and each week I end up back at Sixth and Proctor.

I even looked at Club Impact’s Web site this week, Tacoma.

I’m not effin’ around.

In what could partly be described as an act of resourcefulness and partly an act of desperation, I shifted my sights south to Olympia’s Le Voyeur this week. As sporadic as Olympia can be, Le Voyeur has become a constant. The club’s MySpace show calendar — www.myspace.com/leyvoyeur — is as up-to-date and complete as any I’ve ever seen from Oly. I appreciate that.

I also appreciate Le Voyeur’s diverse and plentiful bookings. In the next week, for instance, Le Voyeur has something scheduled for every evening — five live shows, one movie night, and one trivia night. In fact, with only one exception, Le Voyeur has something happening every evening for the rest of the month. For such a small room, Le Voyeur seems to have written the book on utilizing space.

On Thursday, July 19, the Snakebites — or Skky Phoenix and Starr Harris as their friends probably call them — will pack into the back of Le Voyeur and be just one of the interesting things happening at the club this month. A retrofitting mash of country and fuzz — cooler than tube socks, velvet, cigarette stains, dark shades, or all of the above — the Snakebites call Seattle home but are no stranger to the South Sound.

On paper at least, the Snakebites seem to come off a little like another powerful two-piece with a great image you may have heard of — Jack and Meg — but such a classification is really just being lazy. Music journalists seem most susceptible, and during an interview with Skyy and Starr earlier this week, even I couldn’t help but slip in a question about being compared to the White Stripes.

“I think people expect us to be compared to them more than we really are,” explains Skyy, the Snakebites’ ace drummer, and the female force within the band. “We like to use our own comparison, like ‘the Carpenters on speed.’”

If the Snakebites were just ripping off the Stripes, no one would give a shit. If the Snakebites were just ripping of the Stripes, we wouldn’t be talking about them.

The Snakebites officially self-released their first full length record in April 2006, Love.Hate.Rage & Sorrow. Their chemistry was instantly apparent. But more than just chemistry, Skyy’s songwriting skills carry the Snakebites. Song after song on Love.Hate.Rage & Sorrow touches you, but it does so with many different hands.

All of them manipulated by the Snakebites.

Love.Hate.Rage & Sorrow was rated the 16th best record of 2006 by threeimaginarygirls.com. So it’s not just me spouting off about this band. It’s a lot of people.

“We keep it pretty simple. I write the songs, and when I have them finished I bring them over to Starr and she adds her touch. We’re usually already thinking along the same lines,” says Skyy

“Looking back, I would’ve definitely done some things differently, but considering that we recorded it after only being together for a couple of months, I think it’s great, and I’m proud of it.”

“We started recording in a basement four months after we met,” says Starr.

“All in all, The Snakebites have been around for about three years. I formed the band originally when I was still living in LA, because I was tired of fighting with four other guys about who gets to sit in the front seat,” adds Skyy, shedding light on the band’s formation.

“I like simple things and I like the intimacy of a duo. Most all of my favorite bands were duos. I moved back to Seattle about two years ago, and I met Starr. That was the real beginning of the band as far as I’m concerned.

“Sometimes we talk about buying farmhouses in Vermont. We’ll be neighbors and we’ll build a giant barn in the middle that we can rehearse in. I’d like to think we could at least get to that point. I’d also like to get a couple of roosters.”

Along with their show at Le Voyeur, the Snakebites will perform live from the KEXP 90.3FM studios this Saturday at 8 p.m. PST. Make it your duty this week to familiarize yourself with the Snakebites. It’ll be time well spent. I promise.



[Le Voyeur, with Cerro Victoria, Archaeopteryx and Animal, Thursday, July 19, 10 p.m., no cover, 404 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia, 360.943.5710]