Snatches of Pink was a rock band based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. They also recorded under the name Clarissa. MTV called them "a raunchy rock 'n' roll band and the real thing. Cool as hell. Loud as hell," as well as "the most exciting unknown band in America."
Early history
Snatches of Pink was formed in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1985 by Andy McMillan and Michael Rank. The two met at a record store where McMillan worked. At the time, McMillan was 23 years old and Rank was 19 years old. McMillan studied architecture at North Carolina State University before transferring to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he majored in math.
For the band's first four shows, McMillan played stand-up drums and sang, with Michael Rank on guitars. After a couple of months, the duo was joined by Sara Romweber (Kamikazes, Let's Active) on drums, and McMillan moved to the bass guitar which was a new instrument for him. Initially, the band performed covers but eventually started writing their own material. Rank was the primary the songwriter.
When Romweber joined the band, she wanted to change its name. On one occasion, McMillan said the band's name was his description of an album cover. Another time, McMillan said that the name Snatches of Pink was selected because "Pink is a great color." He noted that the name was "not a frock, not a communist collaborative,...not an overt euphemism for the vagina." Nevertheless, in September and October 1986, the band experimented with different in names. They used the name Ragamuffin when they played at Cat's Cradle with Satellite Boyfriend on September 27 and with Flat Duo Jets October 4. Later in October, they were using the name Almost Human. For a show with the Bad Checks at the Cat's Cradle on October 31, 1986, they were advertised as "Snatches of Pink (the unnamed band's former name)." However by November, they were back to using Snatches of Pink. Romweber said, "We tried changing the name, and we had many different names and none of them worked. So Michael and Andrew, too, said, 'Let's go back to this name.' And all I said was, 'I don't have to say the name out loud,' and so I rarely do."
Snatches of Pink was different from the other North Carolina acts of the era because of their "rough and ragged approach." The band was fans of The Rolling Stones, Jason and the Scorchers, and The Replacements. Rank recalls, "Snatches of Pink...worshiped dutifully at the altar of Johnny Thunders and Keef. We claimed the Replacements and Jason & The Scorchers as our Pied Pipers and we climbed into the rental van!' One reviewer wrote, "If Keith Richards had grown up listening to The Velvet Underground's 'Sister Ray' instead of Muddy Waters, the Stones might have sounded like this. And don't balk at the comparison because this Chapel Hill band is that good." Another reviewer said, "Imagine Husker Du's waves of noise coupled with early Replacements' bratty disdain for 'convention.' Now imagine rock 'n' roll would-be martyrs Johnny Thunders or Keith Richards fronting this motley crew. Got it? Now turn it up to 11. Good. Now you have Snatches of Pink..."
Jack Wenberg joined the lineup on bass. The band then recorded a demo cassette with the production assistance of John Plymale (Pressure Boys). Rank said, "Mainly it was something for us to do so we could hear what out stuff sounded like." These demos ended up at WXYC, the student radio station of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and gained some airtime.
Around 1986, Freddie Jenkins became the band's de facto road manager, staying with them through 1998. The band recorded a second demo cassette in the summer of 1987 which was sold through School Kids Records. Although the sound did not meet the band's expectations, it did help them land a recording contract with Dog Gone Records, the Athens, Georgia indie label of former R.E.M. manager Jefferson Holt, in the summer of 1987. The band knew Holt from Chapel Hill before he relocated to Athens, Georgia and discovered R.E.M.
Send in the Clowns
They released their first album, Send in the Clowns in 1987 on Dog Gone Records. For the album, Wenberg was replaced by Eric Peterson (dB's) on bass. Peterson also produced the album—he knew Rank from high school and did this as a personal favor. Once the album was released, Romweber recalled, "We had a conflict. There were people that liked our live shows [who] didn't quite know what to make of our recordings 'cause they became more tame and kind of produced sounding." In the reverse, the people who liked the recordings were not expecting the loudness of the live shows. In short, the band was not happy with the sound of the album.