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.
Cameron: This photo book isn’t available yet, and I don’t actually know when it will be coming out, but when it eventually does I’d definitely recommend picking up a copy. The father of our former drummer/great friend Hal, Mr. James really has done it all and has the pictures to prove it. Currently a resident and staple of Roger’s Park (he founded the Heartland Café), Mr. James has traveled all over the world and has documented some pretty wild things, from photos of JFK in Mexico in the ’60s to hanging out with Tommy Lee Jones on the set of Under Siege to traveling to Moscow in 1990. Attached to each photo is a description, which oftentimes includes an interesting story. Mr. James is a great storyteller and a very funny man, so it is a real treat to read the articles that accompany the photos.
Unfortunately, I’m not sure when this book actually is coming out (Hal seemed to think sometime later this year). Hopefully it does come out soon so you can snag a copy, but until then if you ever find yourself in Roger’s Park make sure to stop in at the Heartland. Mr. James is usually around.
(Michael James also runs Live From The Heartland, a radio show on WLUW 88.7 FM Saturdays 9:00 a.m.)
Video after the jump.
