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North Park, San Diego, 2/12/99 - Technically not the hood, but close enough to hold the title jokingly. The recently opened and still secretive Empire Club (off the corner of El Cajon and 30th Streets) hosted Costa Mesa kids, Smile, for an all ages show this crisp San Diego night. I live about 4 blocks from the Empire Club, and had yet to make the stroll down and check it out. I had heard O.C.’s infamous 4-Gazm had recently played there on a Thursday night (for about 12 people) so Smile was more than enough excuse to scope the place out. I had driven past the Empire Club a few times and it looked more like a clothes store/record store than an all ages music club. Upon entering, I noticed a medieval looking gate down the hallway from the entrance to what was the record store/music store. I get it. The club is in back of the store in a separate room. I met guitarist Mike Rosas and bass player Bob from Smile and we snooped through the assortment of second hand hipster clothes. Bob scored a nifty, blue and white plaid, wool-lined jacket for like 5 bucks. The store has some music, but not much and pretty eclectic at that. There’s an assortment of really cool handmade furniture that you can’t sit down on. It costs more than most patrons of this place would ever pay for anything (like the $150.00 coffee table shaped like a bomb).

Smile was hungry so I led them to a San Diego landmark: The Hot Chicken Pie Shop. This place caters to the VFW set and reminds you of a place your grandparents might’ve taken you to. It’s very cheap, basically high end cafeteria food. After the meal (and Bob’s attempt at breaking the dairy-creamer stacking record) we went to my place for a quiet interview. Smile were pleasant, and perhaps a bit apprehensive about an interview. (Mike Rosas blamed it on post-meal drowsiness). After the interview, I made it back down to the Empire Club. Locals, Just Because, were into their set. Good guys who’ve got a long way to go musically, but play a standard NOFX-ish type SoCal punk.

There is a lounge area by the refreshment bar where I went to hang with the Smile cats before they set up for their show. Upon seating myself, I was insulted by a tubby waste-of-guitar-strings SD scenester who shall go nameless. (Oh Ok, y’might know him by his one letter moniker). Apparently, I was not of rock star status enough to be in his presence while he was talking to Smile. I truly despise the scene in San Diego sometimes. So many of the established bands are pissed because their weak-ass music has yet to propel them to rock stardom so they compensate by acting like rock-dicks and everyone is below them. The scene in San Diego is under-supported and tonight’s grand total of 25 in attendance to watch Smile was proof of this. To have ego’s prevailing at shows like this where all who attend should be embraced just further drives home my dissatisfaction with the San Diego scene. But no one was going to dampen my mood. Smile was playing soon.

I like their first album "Maquee" much better than their most recent follow-up "Girl Crushes Boy". The band has shifted sonic directions. Most apparent is the overall lack of ‘rock’ness to their sophomore effort. That’s not to say it’s bad, it’s just that the spark that drew me to this band is not as present in this album. What is redeemable about "Girl Crushes Boy" is the talent in songwriting displayed. I saw Smile out once previous supporting this new release, but was not familiar with the disk itself. Now I’ve had the CD for a few weeks and I’m more familiar with it’s approach and was curious to see how it translated live. I was even more curious to see how Smile would perform to the gathered 25 people who actually found out about this show.

For those unfamiliar with Smile, they have toured extensively, built a respectable following, and have shared the stage with such diverse acts as the Deftones and Silverchair. Smile have found themselves playing in front of crowds numbering into the thousands. I like to see how bands and egos handle these occasional underpromoted shows once they’ve achieved a higher status. Some bands pout while others are oblivious to crowd numbers. Smile humbly took the stage and at least all present crowded up front so they weren’t playing to an empty floor. They opened with a couple of numbers off the new album. The sound at the Empire Club is remarkably good. The newly added keys gave depth to the dirty/clean guitar tone Smile embraces. Stage patter was kept to a minimum, as was energy. Only drummer Scott giving the 100% and really impressing me with the backing vocals - strong and hard. As a drummer, he knows how to lead a band like Smile through their use of loud and quiet dynamics and was the standout talent of the night. Smile weren’t necessarily bored looking, more like "Well, we’ve got this gig to play, so here we are with big smiles (no pun) playing our gig". They were tight with occasional "thank you’s" to the appreciative applause that followed all the songs. Singer Mike Rosas and bassplayer Bob were somewhat animated, but I’ve seen them much more so at previous shows. Listeners were treated to two numbers off their first release - "Spud Gun" (one of my favs) and another whose title I can’t recall which pretty much rocked. (I truly - personally - like Smile better when they rock). Smile has added an unofficial/official 4th member in the form of Matt (sporting a thick UK accent) who supplies subtle ether-real organ textures and small limited runs that add some spice into the Smile alterna-rock approach. These keys are used fairly minimally, so the effect works, but doesn’t dictate the song (meaning if they weren’t there, the songs dynamic wouldn’t change drastically). I do like the added touch though, especially considering the new material isn’t as energetic and paced and leaves room for such explorations of new sounds. Most of the crowd stayed with the band right to the very end (except the aforementioned rock-dick because rock-stars just make their presence known then bail before the bands actually complete their set). They closed with "Lawndarts" and "So Different Now" (from "Girl Crushes Boy") both of which sounded exceptionally good as though Smile were just hitting their stride as it was time to go. The last song disintegrated into a very long noise jam that ended up with Mike Rosas on the stage floor and Scott going off on some experimental drum tangent for like 5 minutes before the feedback and sporadic beats came to a halt. Even though there were only a smattering of people - Smile still managed to sell merchandise to half the attendees (by percentages, that’s pretty good) with yours truly even scoring a "Maquee" T-shirt for 5 bucks! That and their personal and pleasant (and intimate) set made me Smile. I think I might Smile again someday.

Smile Interview
Pre-Empire Club Gig
San Diego, CA 2/12/99

Mike Rosas: Singer/Guitar

Scott Reeder: Drummer/backing vocals

Bob: Bass player

Matt: Official/Unofficial organist

(After some in depth discussion about the finer art of sticking beer bottle caps to stucco ceilings)

Bushman: What’s your favorite song off the new album?

(long pause)

Scott: I actually haven’t listened to it in about 3 or 4 months.

Mike: Hard to say...I think I know which ones I like to play. Well, actually...do I know? I don’t know.

Bob: For me I’d say "Sputnik" and "Peach and Brown". I like "Scientologist" a lot.

Scott: Those are all really fun to play. Especially "Sputnik" and "Peach and Brown".

Bushman: So you’d judge them more on how they relate live as to the recording...

Scott: Well, I mean...like the recording of "Scientologist" and "Lawndarts" are probably better recorded ones...maybe not better...but different sounding.

Mike: After our first album came out we just played it to death and toured like crazy. I think it’s just such a pleasure to hear something that’s relatively new. And to play these songs over and over again live finally...that’s kind of a delight. At least right now...I’m not sick of any of them.

Bushman: Did you find yourself sick of the older songs?

Mike: Well, not any more. It’s just like after 3 years of pretty much playing and playing and playing the same little group of songs...

Scott: They definitely come from a different place as far as how they relate now to what we play. It’s kind of hard to stick some of them in the set.

Bushman: Which kind of relates to my next question "How would you compare this album to the last one?"

Scott: Um side by side, I don’t know.

Mike: I think the sound of our first album was the result of...I don’t think we had much control over the way it sounded. It was just sort of us getting together as a band and turning up loud and just playing and with this record we dug our fingers into it a little more.

Bushman: It’s definitely more a studio album. Where did the title "Girl crushes boy" from?

Mike: No idea.

Scott: Y’know there’s a song called "Girl Crushes Boy"!

Mike: Yea, it was a song first. But I don’t know where the song title came from.

Scott: We were looking for a headline and we sorta made one up.

Mike: Sometimes like, I just black out for days and when I wake up I just got these scribbles.

Bushman: Have you written any new songs since the release of this new album?

Mike: Um, kinda. Yea. Just starting to get into that now.

Bob: We’ve been playing so many shows so it’s been kinda hard.

Bushman: Do you pay a lot of attention to writers and critics in regards to your music and other peoples music?

Mike: Yea, I guess. I definitely like to see what people are writing about us. But I don’t think we get too wrapped up in it.

Bushman: How about how you perceive other bands (through critics views)?

Mike: Usually I don’t let that kind of thing dictate our feelings.

Bob: It seems kind of like usually when I read a review of a record I like, the review is total bullshit. Just like anything in life, whatever I like, everyone else hates and whatever I hate, everyone else likes. I just think that most music critics don’t come from a background of being in a band or playing music and so it just seems like they are coming more from a literary background, more interested in making it sound nice than getting some sort of story. Like ‘How clever can I be with my puns".

Mike: Whenever I read a review I find myself, rather than paying attention to what it’s saying really or thinking about whatever album they are reviewing, I just find myself reviewing the review - y’know? Just kind of like criticizing the writer rather than thinking about what they are criticizing.

Scott: Yea, it’s hard to pay attention to it because it seems like whenever I read a review of an album, the way that they describe it never sounds the way it sounds when I listen to it.

Mike: Not to say that aren’t great writers out there...

Bushman: I can tell your trying to pull back because I’m a writer...

(laughs)

Scott: Or they try to come up with more serious ways to put the band down. We got some review from somebody that said "Don’t be fooled. This is not an indie record". And it’s like "What’s that got to do with the music?" and besides that whole thing has passed anyway. No one cares if it’s an "indie" record or not. It should be more like "Is it a good record?"

Bushman: What’s the coolest gig you ever got to play?

Mike: A lot of the recent ones have been really good.

Scott: Just in the past two months - we’ve done a lot of really good solid shows. It hasn’t been a lot of people or anything like that - we’ve just played really good as a band. I would say I’m more satisfied with the last 3 or 4 months of shows than any of the bigger ones like the 10,000 people shows...and those are cool...

Bushman: Like the Silverchair gig?

Scott: Yea. Those kind of things. Those are awesome and we had fun doing that kind of stuff, but I don’t think we were playing at the level we are now.

Bushman: Did you hang out with Silverchair?

Scott / Mike: Yea, they were cool. A lot of fun.

Bushman: What’s the worst gig you’ve ever had to play?

Bob: Hopefully that was before I was in the band.

Scott: It was. We have had a few of those to.

Mike: The worst? Oh geez, wait...there was that show in Philadelphia where people were like outright protesting us while we were playing. They were getting on stage and the bouncers were letting them because they even hated us. And they were like sitting down on stage, like doing a sit-in.

Scott: That’s definitely worse than being boo’d.

Mike: We were playing in the middle of a song and a kid walks up to Aaron (our previous bassplayer) and yells in his ear "This SUCKS!" and Aarons just trying to play and this kid is like "Why are you here!?" and Aarons like "I don’t know!...Leave me alone, leave me alone!" It was bad. Once a couple kids got on stage it was like an open invitation, the whole stage was covered with people just goofing around and playing Gameboy and shit, just like doing whatever they can to show us we don’t belong up there anymore.

Bushman: What do the members of Smile do outside of music?

Mike: Work at Kinko’s.

Scott: Sell snakes.

Bob: Graphic arts.

Scott: What does Matt do? Matt’s like a transatlantic model actually.

Bob: When Matt’s not doing gigs with us, he’s on the runways of Paris.

Scott: And that’s not bullshit either, that’s actually true.

Bushman: So Matt’s like an honorary 4th member?

Mike: Yea, he kind of joined up recently.

Bushman: So what’s your favorite place to gig?

Mike: We love playing the Casbah (in San Diego). We seem to play there almost every month. We play Koo’s a lot (in Santa Ana). It’s like a house, that was a Chinese food restaurant, then they turned it into this coffee house/all ages club.

Scott: Even though we haven’t played there in awhile..Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco.

Bushman: What cities that you have played in have the best all ages clubs/scenes?

Mike: Um, It’s doing pretty well around here. Southern California seems to picking up a lot.

Scott: We are playing tonight and tomorrow at all ages shows. Up in Orange County, that and up in Anaheim seems to be doing pretty well. They seem to have a pretty good handle on keeping the drinking and stuff under control. There used to be a place called Our House in Costa Mesa that used to be all ages, then they had to change it because of the area it was in...

Mike: Our House was probably one of the coolest places ever to go see shows or play a show. It was the best. Perfect size, sounded great, great bands came through always...Pretty into the bowling alley circuit these days...

Bushman: What are some bands people should be listening to, but probably aren’t?

(long pause)

Scott: Motley Crue. They Crue are back. Badder and Fatter than ever.

Mike: Speaking for myself, these past few years, I’ve really gotten into this band called "Neutral Milk Hotel". I love them.

Scott: We’re not much on endorsements.

Bob: I’ve been listening to Rufus Wainwright record...some people like that, but it’s not like no one’s listening to it.

Bushman: Whose a Saint?

Scott: Um...Val Kilmer? (laughs) I don’t know.

Bushman: Whose a Sinner?

Mike: Marilyn Manson. He’s bad.

Bob: Rob Giampa.

Mike: Rob Measle.

Bob: He’s a bad boy.

Bushman: What’s the coolest?

Scott: Jamie Reeling’s Tuna Sandwich.

Mike: That sounds like some sort of Grateful Dead cover band. "Jamie Reeling’s Tuna Sandwich" playing the hits of the day.

Mike: Crispin Glover is the coolest.

Bob: The new N64 Zelda game is absolutely the coolest. I’ve spent the last three months playing it and I’ve got three months to go. It’s fuckin’ awesome.

Bushman: And conversely...what’s the lamest?

(long pause)

Mike: We have a hard time committing to these sort of things. We’re slippery.

Bushman: Nothing sucks in the world of Smile?

Bob: Oh there’s plenty of stuff that sucks.

Mike: I want to go back to the coolest. Bob’s SFLB (short front long back) haircut is the coolest!

Bob: The official Canadian passport hair.

Mike: Hockey-hair.

Mike: Lamest? I don’t know. We’re pretty open-minded positive people. We’re not passing judgment on anyone.

Bob: Well, I don’t’ know about that.

Bushman: What’s the most embarrassing band your willing to admit you listened to?

Scott: Listened to or liked?

Bushman: Liked.

Scott: Like guilty pleasures? You mean like hear on the radio or actually go out and buy the record?

Mike: Yea, like anything that has made you feel a little icky for liking it.

Scott: I think there is a certain line you cross between going and buying a record and just listening to it.

(someone mouths out Bang Tango)

Scott: Bang Tango? For you maybe. I’m not guilty of that one.

Mike: I was pretty into Winger actually, for like a week. I was into his three string bass. Wait, that wasn’t Winger, that was Bang Tango.

Scott: I was into the Crue at one time, but not anymore.

Mike: I used to be heavy into that band "Fates Warning".

Scott: Old Queensryche. ‘Rage for Order’

Mike: That’s not embarrassing.

Bob: Yea, that’s not embarrassing. The only thing I can think of is like stuff nowadays. Like sometimes when I hear that Sugar Ray song, I actually let it on the radio. (Sometimes) I Walk around like "I will swallow my pride, I will choke on the rind"

Scott: That’s guilty...see I hate that.

Bushman: Put the tender heart in the blender?

(laughs)

Bob: Yea, I don’t want to bash anyone, but that band...way lame.

Mike: They could be on the lamest list (Eve 6).

Scott: Guilty pleasure = the Begees.

Bushman: Any opinions on the state of popular music?

Smile: Shiite.

Scott: Complete Shiite.

Bob: It’s strange - how barren of a wasteland music is these days.

Mike: The only thing that seems good about it is that top 40 radio is open to a lot of different styles of music right now, but it seems like the artists and the actual songs on the radio are still pretty shitty. It kinda gives me hope at least (it will get better). Like the mid- 80’s everything sounded like Slaughter, Skid-Row and Winger. At least now everything sounds different.

Scott: It’s at the same point that it was during that time. People know that pretty soon, something’s gonna come along and slam the door in a lot of peoples faces. Whatever that thing is...it always goes in cycles like that.

Bob: It just seems like its getting to the end of the cycle. Like everything good has been pilfered from it and the shit that wasn’t quite good enough to get going in the first round (is coming up now)....but they are sticking around for a long time.

Scott: Like people like Korn. I don’t know too much about them and I haven’t heard too much, but they seem to have a sort of a longevity, so far, and they are carving out a little niche and I don’t know if it’s based so much on songwriting as it is people want to be involved in it because it’s something really new or different.

Mike: Plus they kind of originated a new style... But like with Korn, there’s like this little process...like with the grunge shit...You had Nirvana or whatever and then you get these second rate and third rate bands that sort of imitate. Like you had Stone Temple Pilots after Pearl Jam. They were kind of regarded as a knockoff of Pearl Jam and then you had Seven Mary Three and they kind of make Stone Temple Pilots look like the real thing and they are kind of the knockoff...and that puts Pearl Jam way up on the alter. Then you got like Creed that comes out and then Seven Mary Three...well they still don’t look good, but you know what I’m saying? It just like degenerates until what people are swallowing is just like the lowest, lowest fuckin’ shit.

Scott: I think if you really listen to the radio, people really aren’t trying to write songs. It’s almost like they are getting hits by accident. It’s definitely stuff that doesn’t demand much of you as a listener and I think if anything about our band is that (I don’t know how we would fit into the state of all that) I just know that as a band you can put our record on and it demands a little bit more of your attention to kind of get into - maybe there is some stuff that catches your ear right away. Like you were talking earlier the difference between our first album and the last one. I’d say that just comes from playing together a lot and being each others influence. And even now we are starting to work on new stuff and we’ve got a lot of ideas and it will probably change even more.

Mike: I think we had more of a conscious effort to write songs this time around that kind of stayed with you for awhile. Not to say our previous album was so disposable, but (we tried to write) songs that just kind of relate.

Bushman: I think with a lot of bands (especially if they are good at focusing on their own writing) - the first album tends to be a lot of direct influence that everybody brings in - whereas the second, third and forth and so on is more their influence upon their own music.

Bob: You also listen to a lot more music, and a lot more different kinds of music just from being involved.

Mike: You kind of figure out what aspects of your style, or our style at least with our first album, that we just wanted to reject and move away from and other things that we wanted to embrace.

Bushman: I really like the guitar tone of the first album, how did you get such a dirty heavy sound.

Mike: That’s actually one of the things that I thought this new album, as far as guitar tones on some songs, I think it sort of fell short. I wish I would’ve gotten some tones like on the first album. I found this little amp called "the Rock" amplifier at this pawn shop. I got it just to practice in my room with, and I ended up making it kinda of like the primary piece of my setup by plugging into it and going out of it into big amps and just turning it up. And I just hide it behind the big amps and it sounded really cool.

Bushman: Any political opinions on the state of the union as the millennium closes?

Scott: There is no union anymore - it’s all disorganized.

(Bob then inquired if anyone else was feeling ill from the Chicken Pie Shop, no one was - so he felt better that it was only him - too much salt.)

Mike: I have a political opinion! I don’t know if I want it to be the bands political opinions...

Bob/Scott: This is Mike’s opinion!...not our agenda.

Mike: "Acid is Groovy. Kill the Pigs."

Bushman: Where did you party like it was it was 1999 on new years?

Scott: This friend had huge party and pretty much everybody who we know was there. We were all at the same place. Running around kissing each other.

Bob: We invented a dance too.

Mike: What was the dance?

Bob: The dance was the "point at your genitalia" dance.

(the demonstration was actually quite funny)

Bushman: Smile future? Projects? Tours?

Mike: Oh you know..we’ve got a lot of stuff going on. Actually we’ve got a song for an Elvis Costello tribute album coming out. This one’s kind of one of those lower key ones, it’s not going on a big label.

Scott: It’s a good opportunity for bands like us to get into the studio.

Bushman: Any messages to the masses?

Mike: "Acid is Groovy. Kill the Pigs."

Scott: Bring us little boys and bubbles.

Bob: Buy the album.

You can catch Smile out and about the SoCal region supporting their sophomore release "Girl Crushes Boy" (Cargo/Headhunter). Or you can contact the band through their website.

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