Baby Snakes and The Electric Co. gave us a taste of forthcoming debut album at annual benefit show

In 2021, Jeff Saenz, owner of Modern Electric Sound Recorders – a recording spot for Leon Bridges and Paul Cauthen, to name a few – lost both of his arms when he unknowingly touched a downed power line in his yard. The musician lost his right arm and his left arm below the elbow, and spent 10 weeks in an intensive care burn unit.

Immediately, Saenz lost his ability to play the instruments that had orchestrated his life, but within a year he was back in the booth producing, making what he has described as some of his best work. At the time of the accident, Texas musicians came together for a benefit show to raise funds and support Saenz’s family; they dubbed it “Jeff Fest.” In September, roughly three weeks after Saenz was released from the hospital, he attended Jeff Fest 2, making an unplanned appearance on the stage.

Since then, Saenz has held a benefit show, now named “High Voltage, Good Vibes,” that raises funds for Camp I-Thonka-Chi, a free weeklong summer camp produced by Parkland Health for child burn survivors. 

“The idea of this concert was that, instead of sulking in PTSD on the anniversary of this great tragedy, I would be on stage with my best friends playing rock ‘n’ roll and partying with the people I love,” Saenz said in a press release. “It was apparent that I no longer needed to do this show for myself,” he continued. ” … I quickly thought about the children I could hear through the halls of the Burn ICU I was in … With a little research, I found that the Parkland Foundation actually had a camp for children burn survivors one week each summer, coincidentally the same week as the anniversary of my accident. It was obvious that I needed to dedicate this event to those kids.”

This year’s benefit show at Double Wide was also noteworthy in that it marked Saenz’s debut of music under his new project, Baby Snakes and the Electric Co.
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“Considering I got hit with a little less than 4x the amount of voltage of the electric chair, I thought I had earned the right to call my band ‘The Electric Co.,” Saenz said in an interview with Atwood Magazine.

Joined by members of The Texas Gentlemen (Saenz’s longtime collaborators) as the Electric Co., Baby Snakes played to a full room on Friday night with a tongue-in-cheek setlist featuring songs like “Help!,” “Dancing in the Dark” and “Danger Zone.” By the end of the show, it was clear that Saenz’s new reclamation of his craft is in full effect.  

All the while, the Dallas music pillar danced and grooved his way across the stage, shaking a tambourine where and when compelled.

Midway through the show, he played his new original song, “Dark Horse,” released earlier this summer. The song is the lead single from an upcoming 12-track album, “Ouroboros,” due in late October. 

“I refused to write from the vantage point of defeat,” Saenz told Atwood of the new music. “I think knowing that I always maintained an air of hope and determination in these lyrics helped me see myself a little more clearly.”

Saenz and his band played for roughly an hour-and-a-half, taking the stage at about 10:20 p.m. and leaving the stage close to midnight. Per usual, the benefit show was a raucous good time, and even more so, a reminder to be grateful, humble and above all else, to listen to some damn good rock music. 

“The universe can’t have this one,” he told the crowd on Friday night. “I’m not gonna give that date on the calendar anything. We decide what it’s about. All of it. Everything. June 1st, [2021], turned into a night about rock ‘n’ roll and friendship and having a good time, and we just kept it going, and we found something to give it to.”