At first, Smith Westerns seemed easy to peg: Chicago prep school teens play garage rock with a glam-rock slant. With 2011’s excellent Dye It Blonde, the group—singer/guitarist Cullen Omari, bass-playing brother Cameron and lead guitarist Max Kakacek (and a rotating cast of drummers)—began to step away from the garage-rock template. But once you’re pegged, you’re pegged, and Smith Westerns still got called a garage-rock band. That should change with Soft Will (Mom + Pop), the band’s third album. Its sunny disposition favors mid-tempo tunes and gentle singing, and it’s loaded with breezy melodies, drenched in reverb and laced with echoes of several eras of Britpop. Smith Westerns will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com. Read our brand new feature on them.
Cullen: My new favorite TV show! It’s like a mixture between The Jersey Shore/The Hills except with a Mormon twist. It follows a Mormon community in bumble-fuck Arizona and makes for great television. The show adheres to the format of a TV sitcom with the traditional father, the son who’s making his own way and the ugly duckling daughter who’s hopeless in love. You get a pretty good fly on the wall view of this community that’s ruled by church and religion. Especially fun to watch while chugging a couple brews and twisting up a jay!
Video after the jump.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDbwQQTcfT4
