The Smarts
A Tribute To
Label: Self-released
It ain’t easy being smart. Just ask Blaine, MN-based The Smarts, who have battled tides of Midwestern naiveté to bring their unique brand of modern, jazzy pop.
We sat down with the group to chat about the band, the new album, designer error and a laundry list of people smarter than them (well, at least 4)…
Perfect Porridge: Who are The Smarts?
The Smarts: The Smarts are 3 men in search of a dream. No, actually 2 men in search of a dream and one man in search of a jobbing gig that pays decent coin. We have sort of a pop-jazz sound catchy melodies, clever-ish lyrics, keyboards, vocal harmonies and hardly any guitar. Some people have compared us to Ben Folds, Steely Dan or They Might Be Giants. Those people are wrong.
Each band member has played in a huge variety of different types of bands…from straight bar rock, to swing/jazz, to bluegrass and country. We combine these various elements to create something sure to either appeal to or offend all tastes.
How did the group come about?
We were all riding the swing wave that swept through town during the last decade: Jim and Mo in The Hot Heads, Joe in the Jaztronauts. At one point the three briefly hooked up as the backing trio for Laura Schlieske’s solo act. Just as the Hot Heads were imploding, two spots opened up in the Jaztros, so Jim and Mo came aboard. Joe and Jim began writing music together, but the poppier songs didn’t fit the Jaztronauts’ dance format, so an offshoot group was formed…which eventually became the Smarts.
Who are you smarter than?
Actually, we thought the name was sort of facetious…like the fat guy everyone calls “Tiny.” Either that, or more of a pain-related “Oooch, that Smarts!” connotation; as when someone leaves a bureau drawer open in a dark bedroom.
Yet another interpretation could be we’re just a friendly family living in a Blaine subdivision: “The Smarts – Kurt, Karen, Douglas and Brenda”…the kind of thing you might find on one of those wood-burned signs you buy at the Old Timey Village at the State Fair.
Who is smarter than you?
Kentaro “Ken” Takahashi of Osaka, Japan. Also an Indian Physicist named Neeraj Kambampati, a Canadian woman named Carol Dougherty, and this young guy from the Czech Republic…whose name escapes me.
What’s it like being the house band on MPR’s “In the Loop?”
We serve two functions on the show…we provide the instrumental incidental music (or “bumpers”) and we do an original feature piece for each show.
For the bumpers, we get to draw on all of our collective musical knowledge…sort of like being the ultimate wedding/variety band. If the theme of the show is “Education” for instance, we come up with all the education-related songs we can think of to play between segments. And of course to be wacky, we play them with different feels from the original…so “Brick in the Wall” is performed with stride piano, and “Teach Your Children Well” is done with a Rockabilly/Surf beat. This is when we’re in “house band” mode.
Also sort of in this mode, is playing behind Host/Producer Jeff Horwich, who writes something for every show as well. His song is usually a genre piece (bluegrass/reggae/etc.) and always has a very humorous take on the subject. He’s this incredible multi-instrumentalist, so he often sits in with us…both on the bumps and on our tunes. He also regularly performs with us sort of the Neil Young to our CSN‹ when we do club dates. (He has his own amazing one-man band thing, which I can’t get into right now…because this is getting long.)
The other portion of our duties is more challenging…we need to compose an original “pop” song each month, based on some pretty difficult topics to write pop songs for. This is when we’re in “Smarts” mode. Fortunately the shows are monthly, which means we get about 1 1/2 to 2 weeks between when we find out what the theme is, and when we actually have to have a song ready to rehearse.
If we were just writing a one-use-only song about Seasonal Affective Disorder, that might be easier…but we strive with varying degrees of success to create songs that don’t sound like an assignment. We want songs we can perform outside of the show and they’ll still stand up. Sometimes that means crafting lyrics that work two ways…like “oh, this song could be about Kim Jong Il, or it could just be about an ex-girlfriend.” Of course, there are times the producers of the show need to gently remind us that the lyrics have to work one way (i.e. the way that relates to the topic) REALLY well…but I always maintain that with the proper introduction, people can get how the song ties in to the theme.
As far as the performance of the just-composed, barely-learned song goes…usually it’s ok. It’s sort of like a pop quiz we crammed for; the next month I can barely remember what the last song was about. And the performances are live in front of an audience…if we screw up the words or hit a bad note (which we do…), you can hear it on-air. Actually listening intently for the mistakes makes for a great drinking game! At least for me, it does.
Tell us about the new album, A Tribute To.
Well, this is a classic case of taking so long making a record that it hardly represents where you are now as an artist. All albums are snapshots in time, this one just happens to be a snapshot taken several years ago with a really slow shutter speed.
We had originally tried to learn many of the songs on the CD in the Jaztronauts, using the typical formula of having a big saxophone and piano solo in every one. When we went to put them down in the studio (as the Smarts), it felt like there were big holes in every song…so we brought in all these side players to fill up the holes. It was sort of like playing with a paint box…”ooh, what color should we add to this one?!”
Some of the songs are much jazzier than most of our new material is…and like I said, have lots more soloing. We also had such a backlog of material when we finally went in to record that we did two albums worth of material at the same time…so yes, we have a whole sophomore effort already in the can…which just needs to be finished up a bit.
Unfortunately, we’ve been writing so much new stuff, and one is always more jazzed about new material, so it’s hard to get motivated to finish up #2. We may actually record a second CD much rawer and live-r…and then wait to release the material from #2. That’s not even counting all the “Loop” songs, which may come out on something of their own.
Of course then there’s the whole, “who’s actually going to buy all this stuff” question…but that’s another consideration entirely.
A tribute to what?
Well the original kick-ass title was, “A Tribute to the Smarts.” Our designer left the “The Smarts” part off the title on the layout, and we just somehow never put it back on. I wish we had…that’s a great debut album name.
How do you guys write songs together?
Jim Kennedy is a melody factory. He sits down at a piano, and tunes and chord progressions just pour forth like so much Lite Beer on League Night. He records these and sends them to me. Then, every so often I get hit with inspiration for a tune, I listen through till I find one that I sorta think fits the idea (or sometimes I like one so much I find an idea to fit the tune) and we’re off. I usually have him compose a second or third part for songs…but that’s the general working process. The same goes for the show, but the topics are already provided. The challenge is coming up with the angle you’re going to go at it…
Name a track and tell us about it.
Certainly the weirdest track on the album is cut #2: “How Things Stand at Present.” We just call it “Apricots” because that’s easier to say.
The meter for the song is 22/8 (one bar of 4/4, followed by two bars of 7/8…you’ll have to trust me on the math). Jim is never one to create something weird just to be gimmicky, he just heard this weird riff and it worked. The lyrics are sort of obtuse…about a guy who’s pretty much spleefed away any life ambition he ever had. Now he just hangs around his apartment, does crappy odd jobs, gets wasted and snacks…a real day-rightener of a theme.
Anyway, the middle section (the other guys call it the “trip”) lets up on the frenetic meter and just does a repeating 6 bar progression that builds under a psychedelic synthesizer break. The whole thing is very strange…you can certainly see why the dance crowd didn’t like it.
Where can you buy it?
CD Baby. Also iTunes has it for download. And locally Cheapo and the Fetus should have it. If they don’t, it means they owe us money.
Do you have some upcoming gigs?
June 6 we’re doing a Story Slam at the Bryant Lake Bowl (sponsored by MPR’s “In the Loop”). On the 16th we’re the late show at Mill City Café. We’ll be doing the Loop again later in June and then on July 12 we’ll be at Movies and Music in the Park in St. Paul’s District del Sol. Also look for us in upcoming DEMO shows and in Variety Tonight…those Friday night variety shows Vic Volaré puts on at the Suburban World Theatre.
Will we be hearing you on mainstream radio soon?
It’s sort of ironic as a local band that we get played on MPR quite often… but on 91.1, the news channel. We’re almost never on the Current. The Morning Show guys will play the funny/jazzy/folky stuff off the record, but the CD’s a bit too eclectic and un-focused I think for the daytime deejays to know what to do with it.
We plan on remedying that situation with our next record, A Tribute to the E Major Chord.
