 With an emphasis on lyrics depicting small disasters and celebration of everyday existence, their music is a blend of country, dirty blues and rock.Their influences include Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Dirty Three, PJ Harvey, Ennio Morricone, Tom Waits and Nina Simone.Schvendes were originally known as the Schvendes Ensemble, a gothy musical wing of the 2002 Artrage Festival, where they performed under the auspices of performance art within art festivals.