Smitt E. Smitty & The Feztones wake up to some ‘Tall Man Dreams’
The rambunctious Boston octet led by the inimitable Smitt E. Smitty bring their latest single to the streaming circuit
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LISTEN: Listen to ‘Tall Man Dreams’ on Bandcamp
Smitt E. Smitty & The Feztones play Norwood’s Magic Room on October 16 with Gene Dante & The Future Starlets
NORWOOD, MA [October 16, 2021] -- Sometimes you gotta be bold and brash to capture a quick jolt of inspiration. Other times, you just gotta go to sleep and let it come to you naturally in a dream. The latter was the case for Smitt E. Smitty, the Detroit-born, Boston-based musician and leader of The Feztones, who experienced an unexpected lyrical revelation late one night that helped shape his rebooted art-rock single “Tall Man Dreams.”
It was a dream, cast in frantic madness, that eventually paid off dividends, as Smitt E. Smitty & The Feztones take a full head of steam into their upcoming live performance October 16 at Norwood’s Magic Room, part of Gene Dante’s DL/UX record release party that’s hosted by BumbleBee Radio’s Kristen Eck. To celebrate the show -- and show off just a taste of Smitty’s forthcoming new album set for release sometime in 2022 -- the band has delivered “Tall Man Dreams” to the streaming circuit, set for Bandcamp and Spotify, giving the rousing track a new digital life to accompany the official music video that dropped in late-May.
“Yes there is a ‘theme’ behind ‘Tall Man Dreams’, but here’s the WHOLE truth,” Smitty says. “Sometimes the music comes first and sometimes the lyrics come first. In the case of ‘Tall Man Dreams’, the music definitely came first. I knew the music for the song was special, so I really wanted lyrics to equal or surpass that bar. OK, good goal, right? The only problem was no lyrics were happening. Next thing you know, I’m two weeks away from going into the recording studio with Alec Rodriguez at New Alliance Audio in Somerville, and I still don’t have lyrics. Yeah, anxiety started to kick in. I really wanted to record this song. I went to bed, spinning with anxiety, and did my level headed best to fall asleep. Finally I fell asleep and began to dream about how I was going into the recording studio with this song and feeling crazy anxious about not having lyrics. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, in my dream, I began singing, “He got tall man dreams, the small man seems, like a junkyard dog in the dark. Don’t you mess around with him my friend, his bite is worse than his bark.”
It was a blast of serendipity for one of the Boston music scene’s larger-than-life characters, the type of man who owns every room he enters, a booming laugh bouncing off the walls and his voice echoing off the ceiling. And yet, in a very rare quiet moment, it all came together.
“I woke up thinking, ‘What the hell was THAT?!’ I made a beeline to my computer and typed it all in, and went back to bed,” he admits. “After getting up the next morning, I made a fresh brewed pot of coffee and sat back down at my computer and reread what I wrote. What does it mean? The lyrics reminded me of the Dustin Hoffman character Ratso from the 1969 film Midnight Cowboy. A real down and out, shady, schemer and scammer, who will do anything to make a quick buck. A small angry man with dreams of being a tall man. Once I had that image in my head, the rest of the lyrics practically wrote themselves. Operative word: Dream.”
The finished product of “Tall Man Dreams,” now fully realized, is a true musical extension of Smitt E. Smitty & The Feztones, a musical jungle gym of art-minded folks who stretch the boundaries of genre and what you think rock and roll should sound like. “Tall Man Dreams” exists as an earworm, the type of track that crawls up inside your head and squats there until you need to call the pop police to get it removed. And even then, sometimes it just sticks around.
“I am an ‘art school’ musician,” Smitty declares. “Not only have I pursued the visual arts side-by-side with my musical aspirations from day one, but I continue to do so. To that end, my creative vision is always changing and growing. Explore, experiment, and create. If I feel it, do it! One of my favorite quotes of all time is from Andy Warhol. He famously said, ‘Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.’ My creative vision for 2021? ‘Go man, GO!!!’
And as we go to Magic Room in mid-October, so will The Feztones’, Smitty’s rambunctious octet of musical merrymakers who trace back all corners of Boston’s music scene, all adding their own doses of sonic DNA to Smitty’s intoxicating cocktail. The band combines six decades of music, like a timeline for the aurally enchanted, through Motown, British Invasion, garage rock, punk, glam, and anything else that wants to get in the van on the way to the gig.
“The Feztones came together in the most serendipitous fashion you can imagine,” Smitty says. “Yes, I did know most of our bandmates long before The Feztones were formed, but it took the original recording sessions to begin to bring everyone together. I wasn’t sure if I was even going to put together a band at first. I just wanted to release the music under the name Smitt E. Smitty. Once the recording was complete, nobody wanted to go home. It was like, ‘OK Smitty, you have to start a band to perform this music live, and we ALL want to be in the band.’ Well… twist my arm. I am so grateful and blessed to be working with them all. I LOVE this band!”
Set the alarm.
Press Inquiries: Contact michael@publisist.co for more information.
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Smitt E. Smitty & The Feztones are:
Smitt E. Smitty - Ringleader
James Melanson - Guitar
Eddie Nowick - Guitar
Andrew Padua - Bass
Linda Bean Pardee - Vocals
JoEllen Saunders Yannis - Vocals
Jonathan LaMaster - Violin & Theremin
Johnny Berosh - Drums
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Recording and Sound Engineer: Alec Rodriguez
Recorded @ New Alliance Audio
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Smitt E. Smitty & The Feztones have been heard and featured on:
Bill Kelly's ‘Blackhole Bandstand’ on SiriusXM’s Little Steven's Underground Garage, Pop Radio UK, BumbleBee Radio, KOR Radio, WMWM Salem State, WERS 89.9 Wicked Local Wednesday, ‘The Music Authority’ with James Jim Prell (Florida), Ivan Ivan's ‘The Mudd Club Show’, Oh Hello Boston, Radio Candy LA, Boston Groupie News, Bay State Rock, and other fine shows and stations around the world.
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‘Tall Man Dreams’ single artwork:
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Smitt E. Smitty short bio:
Smitt E. Smitty & The Feztones. Born and raised in Detroit. Moved to Boston in 1985. Smitty played in a great many Detroit bands including The Blind, Zero Ambience, L-Seven and Figures on a Beach. After moving to Boston, Figures on a Beach got signed to Sire/Warner Records and released music until the early ‘90s. FOAB disbanded 1991. Smitty then joined the Wax Trax label in Chainsuck, with lead singer songwriter Marydee Reynolds, until 1999. Smitty then played in Fireking until 2017.
Now it's Smitt E. Smitty & The Feztones time! ALL the time!
After releasing Smitt E. Smitty's debut release in 2017, titled Just A Modern Guy, Smitty went back into the recording studio with Alec Rodriguez of New Alliance Audio, in Somerville, MA. This time with a full band, aptly named The Feztones. The result is a 10 track album set for release in 2022.
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Smitt E. Smitty press photo:
Media contact and all press/radio inquiries: michael@publisist.co
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