SNFU

SNFU is a Canadian punk group from Edmonton, Alberta, active from 1981 to 2018. The band is associated with hardcore punk, punk and skate punk, and its line-up changes over the years are a major part of its history. Core members include singer Ken Chinn, the Belke brothers Marc and Brent, bassist Rob Johnson, drummer Sean Stubbs, and drummer Jon Card.

History

SNFU forms in Edmonton in 1981 and becomes one of the longest-running and best-known Canadian punk bands. The name is said to stand for Society's No Fucking Use. The original line-up includes Ken “Mr. Chi Pig” Chinn on vocals, Marc “Muc” Belke and Brent “Bunt” Belke on guitar, Warren Bidlock on bass and Evan “Tadpole” Jones on drums. Over the following years, the rhythm section changes repeatedly from release to release and from tour to tour.

The band first records for BYO Records, releasing ...And No One Else Wanted to Play and If You Swear, You'll Catch No Fish in 1985. These early albums are straight-ahead skate punk records with strongly political lyrics. In 1988 the group moves to Cargo Records for Better Than a Stick in the Eye, and later records the mostly live The Last of the Big Time Suspenders in 1992, which is intended to be its final album.

After that apparent end, Epitaph Records signs the band and SNFU returns with Something Green and Leafy This Way Comes in 1993. This line-up includes Rob Johnson on bass and Dave Rees on drums, alongside Chinn and the Belkes. The album has a more typical West Coast Epitaph sound. The group follows with The One Voted Most Likely To Succeed in 1995 and FYULABA in 1996, the latter produced by Dave Ogilvie of Skinny Puppy and the first SNFU album without a seven-word title.

Later years

Brent Belke and Dave Rees leave in 1997, after which SNFU continues as a four-piece with Sean Stubbs on drums. That line-up records the Canada-only live release Let's Get It Right the First Time. In 2000 the band issues the five-track The Ping Pong EP on Alternative Tentacles. The album In the Mean Time and In Between Time follows later and the band ends its activity in 2018.

In 2007 Chinn appears again fronting a small number of shows under the name asSNFU, created to mark the band’s long history. Ken Chinn dies in 2020.