Like a tennis star on a court, it has taken the three-piece plenty of practice to get their set down pat.

“We’ve been playing these songs for a while now – we’re in match mode,” River of Snakes frontman Raul Sanchez said.

A former member of the band Magic Dirt, the guitarist said his new band River of Snakes seemed like it just fell into place in 2010.

“Magic Dirt had just wound down – we knew we would have a break, maybe to never play again,” he said.

“I was jamming with a friend ... and one day we thought let’s bring some distortion and it (River of Snakes) came from there.”

Joining the group shortly after was Elissa Rose, before Ben Wrecker came in as the new drummer.

“He (Ben) is awesome. He fits the band really well. He listens to us and just picks up sounds.”

Over the past four years the three-piece has released 7” Hole in the Night/ Wrecking Ball on their own label, their EP Bad Blood, a cover release of Bikin Kills’ Rebel Girl, a second EP Aurora and debut album Black Noise.

It took two-and-a-half years and three locations to fi nish Black Noise with the punk-rock and ’90s alternative-rock inspired songs winning over many fans.

“We wanted to make an album that was noisy, but at the same time we wanted to deliver the best we could do.

We put lots of effort into sound writing without putting too much strangle into thought,” Sanchez said.

With inspiration never a hard thing to find, Sanchez said the possibility of a second album was likely.

“Elissa and I are writing stuff all the time,” he said.

“If it’s not an album it will be an EP.

“It will probably take a year or two, we all have jobs and other bands.”

The three-piece will be in Ballarat on Friday night for its fi rst performance at The Eastern.

Sanchez said he wasn’t a 100 per cent certain what audiences can expect.

“In a sense the fresh thing is you get up and although the song is predetermined you don’t know how it is going to go,” he said.

“It’s going to be loud, brash, fun and pretty off the cuff.”

The Info...

WHAT: River of Snakes

WHEN: Friday February 27

WHERE: The Eastern, Humffray Street North