Interview: Smith Westerns live @ La Flèche d'Or, Paris

Concert information

Just befor their concert at La Flèche d'Or, the 3 guys from Smith Westerns got in front of our cameras to talk about their European tour, the way they wanna sound in this second album, moving from lo-fi to hi-fi and the fact that they want to create a timeless and modern music.

Artist

Smith Westerns

Chicago's the Smith Westerns are a band looking for some teenage kicks with their home-brewed mixture of garage, glam, and punk, and they come by their youthful energy honestly -- none of the group members were old enough to buy a beer when they released their first album. The Smith Westerns were formed in 2007 by Max Kakacek and Cullen Omori, who at the time were students at Chicago's Northside College Preparatory School; the two had been turned on to '60s garage rock through compilations like Nuggets and Back from the Grave, and they decided it was music they could play without knowing too much about technique. As Kakacek and Omori began learning to play guitars, they drafted Cameron Omori, Cullen's brother, to play bass, and with the three members taking turns on drums, the Smith Westerns were born. Within a year, the band was steady enough to be booked into some of Chicago's better rock clubs, including Schuba's and the Empty Bottle, while also playing lots of house parties on the side, which helped win them a loyal local following. In 2008, the Smith Westerns finally found a full-time drummer, Hal James, and local independent label HoZac Records (originally an offshoot of the punk ‘zine Horizontal Action) released their first 7", a three-song single featuring the tunes "Irukandji," "Crabman," and "Spiritus Sanctus." The single promptly sold out its first two pressings, and in June 2009, HoZac brought out the Smith Westerns' self-titled debut album (initially a vinyl-only release), which found the band indulging a taste for '70s glam rock along with their punk and garage influences. The band was also touring steadily by this time, including a road trip with Nobunny in which the Smith Westerns opened the show and then reappeared as Nobunny's backing group. In 2010, the Smith Westerns released a split single on Fat Possum with the Magic Kids that featured some of their most polished music to date, and the band pledged to keep making music while several of the members also attend college. That move toward a slicker sound continued on the group's second album, Dye It Blonde. Released in January of 2011, it featured drumming by Brian Chase of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and John Eatherly of Turbo Fruits.

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Label

Domino Records

Domino Recording Company, generally known as Domino Records, is an independent record label based in London. There is also a wing of the label based in United States, releasing Domino artists' music from the label's Brooklyn offices and run by Kris Gillespie, as well as a German division called Domino Deutschland and a French division called Domino France. In addition, Stephen Pastel presides over the subsidiary label Geographic Music, which releases more unusual British and World music. In 2011, the company announced that it was beginning a book publishing division, The Domino Press.[1]
Founded in 1993, by Laurence Bell and his partner Jacqui Rice, the label's first release was the Sebadoh EP Rocking the Forest, licensed from Sub Pop records for release in the UK. Many of the early releases were by American artists who in the USA were signed to Drag City (Smog, Will Oldham, Royal Trux), a relationship which continues to this day. Success was not immediate, as labels such as Domino, who were releasing more established American rock and unusual British music, were marginalised during the Britpop era, but a steady stream of new signings gave the label increasing credibility. Recent high profile releases from Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys, and The Kills have only acted as a catalyst to this, and Domino is now one of the longest running and most successful independent record labels in the UK.
2003 saw the label's 10th anniversary. There were a number of new releases, as well as a compilation album and a series of gigs in London under the 'Worlds of Possibility' banner, to celebrate the label's first decade in October of that year.
Domino celebrated their first UK #1 album in October 2005 with Franz Ferdinand's You Could Have It So Much Better, and their first UK #1 single with Arctic Monkeys' "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" later that same month.
As well as new music, Domino have released produced compilations by British post-punk bands such as Orange Juice, Josef K, Fire Engines and Young Marble Giants.

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Venue

Flèche d'Or

In the very heart of the Saint Blaise area, la Flèche d Or is one of the most wicked venues in town. Come in a crazy post-industrial atmosphere to enjoy baroque pop, noise-rock or any-kind-of-rock concerts ! Cool people, cool sounds and cool stage, what else ? A free wi-fi access and an incredible glass-covered restaurant with a direct sight on the old railways Sweet !

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Promoter

Super !

L'agence d'épopées musicales! SUPER! fait tourner la crème des artistes indies en France. De Deerhunter en passant par Liars ou The XX, quand SUPER! a choisi de soutenir un groupe, on ne peut que faire confiance en leurs goûts sûrs et affirmés.

D'ailleurs, ils sont les auteurs d'un des meilleurs festivals d'hiver à Paris, le festival Super Mon Amour, un évènement moderne, à taille humaine, avec des artistes innovants; entre têtes d’affiches confirmées et jeunes loups de l’avant-garde musicale internationale.

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Styles