Snakeheads

Vystavil qqcs září 18, 2025

Snakeheads

Snakeheads is/was a Punk Rock band from Sydney, Australia.

James Roden and Pete Lusty shared a 35-year friendship rooted in a love of punk, rock, mod - you name it. Nearly five years after Pete's death, James is completing the first and only Snakeheads album, Belconnen Highs, as a tribute to his closest friend and a nod to the school where they met. Started in high school and refined in Pete’s basement, the album is set for released.

Pete was known for his music industry achievements, but his passion for creating and playing music was where it all began. He and James first met in Year 7 at Belconnen High, bonding over shared record collections and band T-shirts. They started their own bands: The Smart (playing The Who and Ramones covers in high school) and The Morticians (a university band that wrote originals, supported acts like The Hard-Ons, and released one 10” EP).

After university, they moved to Sydney and formed The John Reed Club, quickly earning a reputation for high-energy gigs. They released the first single on Ivy League Records and signed with EMI, playing festivals like Big Day Out and Homebake, supporting Foo Fighters and You Am I before burning out in acrimony.

James went on to form The City Lights while working at Modular Recordings (The Avalanches). Pete co-founded Winterman & Goldstein and ran Ivy League Records, helping shape a golden era of Australian music.

In 2016, Pete and James returned to their Belconnen High roots, jamming weekly with no pressure—just for the love of it. They resumed practices at Pete’s house, rekindling their friendship over music. Each brought half-finished ideas week after week. Their aim was simple: write and refine songs for enjoyment, look forward, and finish what they’d started as teenagers. It was also an excuse for Monday night drinks, banter, and laughter.

“We only wanted to play what we loved at 15 years old, with no pressure,” says James. “In a way, we were finishing what we started with The John Reed Club or earlier; the thinking was, ‘Let’s make the songs great, no matter how long they take.’ There’s huge pressure on bands to hurry up, but we didn’t have that. Every detail was discussed—bar by bar. We thought we’d cracked the code to making music fun again.”

Their writing sessions stretched for years. By 2019, as some of their 30–40 songs recorded on Pete’s 8-track tightened up, they started working with friend and producer Wayne Connolly, who joined the Monday nights. Finally ready to record, they rehearsed with Kit Warhurst (Rocket Science) on drums and Harry Roden (James’s brother, The City Lights, Hoolahan) on bass, and tracked six bed recordings with Wayne at Hercules Studios before Pete revealed he was seriously ill with high-grade non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in mid-2019.

After unsuccessful treatment in Sydney, Pete travelled to Boston for a last-chance procedure, joined by family and friends, including James. Pete Lusty died on 15 March 2020.

Pete passed away before he could see the album finished, but he had heard where it was going and was as excited as a teenager. One year later, James began the slow, difficult work of completing it. He finished the Wayne Connolly sessions (six songs) and started another eleven with Jay Whalley (Frenzal Rhomb), this time with Graeme Trewin (Sick Fizz, Peabody) on drums. Without Pete’s decisive input, the project became a drawn-out quest - but is now finally complete.

Pete’s energy lives on through Snakeheads’ "Belconnen Highs" - the first and final posthumous album.