On January 1, 2019 I debuted The Static Dive with the 5-song EP Built for Better Days. That record marked the latest twist in story that spans four decades.
My friends and I began writing and recording our own original music when we were still in high school. However, it wasn’t until after our graduation in 1988 that we would produce anything listenable. Over the course of the subsequent 30 years we tracked hundreds of songs. I‘ve published and released about 200 tunes in that time. There are many times that number collecting dust on my computer’s hard drive. I have tried dozens of times to compile some sort of “Best Of” compilation. It is impossible.
So instead, I created this compendium playlist. I have chosen one song from each of the thirty years that preceded the debut of The Static Dive. I have included color commentary for each track in the liner notes, to help the narrative along. It is by no means the whole story. Each of these songs represents dozens more. And since launching The House of Static, Kilo House and I have tread entirely new musical territory. This collection gives a peek into the process that got me here.
Enjoy!
Bob
Liner Notes
Brains on the Table (1988)
This is the first song from my first ‘official’ release, a self-titled 11-song cassette by my one-man-band The Flying None. The tape dropped the year I graduated high school. I was active in the zine scene at the time and did a pretty good job of promoting it within the DIY community around the US. It’s a quirky little record by a smart but insecure 18 year-old with more talent than skill.
“Brains on the Table” was my brother Michael’s idea. He was 13 at the time, and just as weird as his older brother. He ran into my bedroom one day and said, “I want to write a song called ‘Brains on the Table’, right now!”. So we did, writing lines back and forth, just trying to make each other laugh. It worked. Then I wrote a little riff in E minor and arranged it like a 12-bar blues. A masterpiece was born. I messed around a lot with tape speed back then. This song is a fun example.
Artist: The Flying None
Album: The Flying None (1988)
Lyrics : Michael Smith & Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith (guitar, bass, vocals, drum programming)
Recorded on a Yamaha MT100 4-track
My Time Slips Away (1989)
I was a bit adrift after graduating high school. I took classes at the local community college, worked at a record store, and played parties for free beer with my band. The live group’s name changed frequently, but its members did not; Todd Haviland on bass, Matt “Mato” D’Ambrosio on drums, and me on guitar. We took full advantage of the beer, which would become a recurring theme in the ensuing years. One of our band names was The Reebs, which is ‘beer’ spelled backwards.
Although I lacked focus in my professional and scholastic endeavors, I was quickly becoming a viable songwriter and guitarist. This track is one of the best early examples of both. The lyrics express my lack of direction at the time. Musically it is heavily influenced by late 80s alternative, sort of a mix of Echo and the Bunnymen and The Replacements. Mato is on the drums, I’m playing everything else.
Artist: The Reebs
Album: N/A
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith (guitar, bass, vocals), Matt D’Ambrosio (drums)
Recorded on a Yamaha MT100 4-track
How Long to Heaven (1990)
Between 1990 and 1991 we changed the band name about four times. We were The Flying None, The Reebs, The Mother Jokes, and ultimately The Distractions. We wrote and recorded a ton of music. We used to drop weird mix tapes on all our friends, with hopes that they would take them back to college and make us keg-party famous.
This track was recorded in one of the earlier sessions that would lead to our definitive 4-track opus ‘Days Tied in Knots’. It’s a beautiful little instrumental. I’m playing the guitar melody using only harmonics (guitar players will know what that means). There is a drum machine, but Mato is also playing live drums along with it. I’m on bass, which is recorded with a nice chorus-effect.
Artist: The Distractions
Album: N/A
Lyrics : N/A
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith (guitar, bass, vocals, drum programming), Matt D’Ambrosio (drums)
Recorded on a Yamaha MT100 4-track
My Ocean (1991)
“My Ocean” was the second song on our first really quality piece of work. Our 1991 album ‘Days Tied in Knots’ was pretty cutting-edge for an indie band in 1991 with no money. It was a concept album of sorts, with the serious songs on the A side of the cassette (the “Near Side”), and the oddities on the B side (the “Far Side”). It had some great tunes, and was recorded far better than can be logically explained. We were in a basement with a 4-track, and we made a solid record.
Artist: The Distractions
Album: Days Tied in Knots
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith (guitar, vocals), Todd Haviland (bass), Matt D’Ambrosio (drums)
Recorded on a Yamaha MT100 4-track
Our Moon (1992)
In November of 1991, Mato and I moved to Winter Park, Florida. We worked at Disney, drank like fish, and learned how to survive 1500 miles away from home on very little money. Eventually Mato’s wealthy parents intervened and enrolled him in recording school (the reason we moved there to begin with). After about a year it became clear that I would never have the funds to attend the school, so I returned home.
However, while living in the Sunshine State, Mato and I recorded constantly. There was a lot of crazy experimental stuff and drunken late night jams. We had more fun than should be allowed. None of the stuff was ever publicly released. This is one of my faves. Mato is on the drums, I’m playing everything else. The song is a dreamy torch song for a girl back home in NY, sung in a sort of Mick Jagger-style falsetto.
Artist: The Distractions
Album: N/A
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith (guitar, bass, vocals), Matt D’Ambrosio (drums)
Recorded on a Yamaha MT100 4-track
Kid (1993)
I returned to NY in late 1992, and got down to the business of starting a band with Todd. Mato eventually graduated and was living in Kingston,NY working as an intern at John Storyk’s studio. At Mato’s suggestion we called local whiz-kid drummer Eric D. Hamell. He connected us with some like-minded hippies, and Shu was born.
The Shu story is an epic tale all its own, and still being written. We toured all over the northeast college circuit throughout the 1990s. Since then we have played regionally a few times per year. We are better than ever, and just released a new album on our 30th anniversary in 2023.
“Kid” is a one-chord riff I wrote whilst trying to be Prince. This is the first known recording of the song with a full band. It has become a Shu standard, and is never played the same twice. Mato actually recorded this demo for us, when he was home visiting.
Artist: Shu
Album: (demo)
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Shu
Musicians: Bob Smith (guitar, vocals), Todd Haviland (bass), Eric D. Hamell (drums), Chris Webster (guitar)
Recorded on a Yamaha MT100 4-track
Tea and Sympathy (1994)
The Distractions reunited for one weekend of writing, no recording, and drinking in 1994. The result was a great little 8-song cassette called “Windowsills and Thermostats”. The recording is raw, live, and acoustic. The songs are some of my best ever. At the time I was taking a poetry class in college. I think it helped.
“Tea and Sympathy” is another tune that keeps popping up. I’ve recorded this track at least a dozen times over the years. But this is the original. It is an autobiographical tale of a night out with an ex-girlfriend. It is possibly the best pop song I have ever written.
Artist: The Distractions
Album: Days Tied in Knots
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith (guitar, vocals), Todd Haviland (bass), Matt D’Ambrosio (drums)
Recorded on a Yamaha MT100 4-track
Carried Away With You (1995)
For me, the 1990s were a blur of my obsessions with music, alcohol, and women. In 1995 I was playing and drinking constantly, and cluelessly wondering why both my job and girlfriend had kicked me to the curb. In my defense, I was a 25 year-old American male, possibly the dimmest of all God’s creatures.
“Carried Away With You” wouldn’t get a proper recording until it showed up on my 2006 LP “The Reason for Swimming”. But this is the original demo. In hindsight, I like this one a lot better. It’s just me and a guitar, with heartfelt lyrics about all of those aforementioned obsessions. It’s a nice performance, and I like the little vocal timestamp in the beginning.
Artist: Bob Smith
Album: N/A
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith (guitar, vocals)
Recorded on a cheap tape recorder
Bored Young Guys (1996)
By the mid-1990s, Shu had become a well known college band, touring throughout the Northeast. So we headed to a real studio for the first time. With our friends Doug Ford and Mac Fuller behind the board, we recorded an album that perfectly captured that moment in our history. The record continues to be one of the bedrocks upon which our aging band of hippies has laid our foundation.
“Bored Young Guys” is still one of my favorite Shu songs. I think it showed some real growth in our songwriting at the time, both musically and lyrically. I like the key change in the chorus. And the line “I’m as tough as nails, but she breaks those all the time” is still one of my best lyrics ever. I have an early solo demo recording of this tune, but it lacks that magical Shu spark. The band is something special. My brother Matty Carl (sax, keys, vocals) wrote and sang the wonderfully insane bridge.
Artist: Shu
Album: Fanagalo
Lyrics : Bob Smith, Matty Carl
Music: Shu
Musicians: Bob Smith (guitar, vocals),
Todd Haviland (bass), Eric D. Hamell (drums),
Matty Carl (sax, vocals), Bryan Mull (guitar)
Producer: Doug Ford
Assistant Engineer: Marc Fuller
Recorded at Sweetfish Studios, Argyle, NY
Calling Mato (1997)
1997 was a turbulent and fateful year, both for me personally and for Shu as a group. We spent most of the year on the road. However, Todd and Bryan had both quit the band. So, things were strained. At home, I began dating Courtney. We were married by the end of the year and the band was officially on hiatus. Further detail on all of that is best left to history.
This is a groovy little tune I recorded while on a break from that hectic schedule. I stopped by Mato’s apartment for a prearranged recording session, but he was nowhere to be found. His soon-to-be wife Kemm let me in. I wrote and recorded this tune in Mato’s studio as I tried to reach him on the phone. Cool vocal harmonies, and backward guitar and vocal tracks (a favorite trick).
Artist: Bob Smith
Album: N/A
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith (guitar, vocals)
Recorded and produced by Bob Smith at Cool Canine Studios
Mean Old Me (1998)
I was off the road. I was sobering up. I was climbing the corporate ladder, and I was trying to figure out how to be married. None of it came easy for a weird kid with a drinking problem and a string of undiagnosed mental health issues.
“Mean Old Me” was my biographical snapshot, recorded during one wonderful weekend in which Marc Fuller and I locked ourselves in Sweetfish Studios and tracked the bulk of my first solo album. There is a short list of songs in my catalog which I think could have been hits… this is at the top of that list.
