Austin, TX based singer/songwriter Drew Smith and his band "The Lonely Choir" (Viro Records) burst on to the music scene with their latest critically acclaimed CD "Drew Smith's Lonely Choir" to rave reviews. It includes "Nilsson Sings Newman" and "Are You Lonely?". But don't be fooled by part of the name "choir"; his genre is nowhere near gospel music, as some might get thrown off by it! He considers his music to be a mixture of pop and rock, with a taste of jazzy R&B soul thrown in. Drew and his band will be playing two New York City dates; on Sunday October 25th at Rockwood Music Hall, and on Monday October 26th at The Living Room. The album is distributed solely online on ITunes and downloads through the website:
http://www.fatcaddyplus.com. It is also distributed in some stores.
Smith 30, talked about his musical background, latest CD and his upcoming shows. "I got the name from the song on the record called "Are you Lonely?" and we had the choir going when we were singing the song, and I shouted out, "The Lonely Choir!" and the name just stuck so we just thought we would call it "The Lonely Choir!" "That was the idea if you think about it whether it would fit or not, the whole idea was supposed to be dynamic and the name rolled off the tongue!" "It will probably change, the next record will be something different, I'm not completely attached to that title, it's like "what this band became." "Even if I'm using the same players, it might be something different next time!" He said in a telephone interview from his cell phone. He's in town in Williamsburg, Brooklyn recording at Shabby Road Studios. "I've been in Austin, Texas for seven years, and I've just been a local musician with this record we felt we were ready to try and expand and tell other people about it; Viro Records an independent record label based in Philadelphia and a local label in Austin got involved and merged together a team so now we're trying to spread the word." He added, "Wednesday night we did a party for a PR firm called "Giant Noise" in town, and now we'll be at the Rockwood on Sunday and on Monday night at The Living Room." Smith said the record is doing quite well. "When we toured during the summer "The Lonely Choir" record received a lot of press, and a lot of publications in Texas put it in their "top 10" Texas albums of the year, Austin.com quoted it as "The best Austin album of the year in 2008" it came out late 2008, locally then we did it nationally September 15th,we booked our first tour after having that press and all of the sudden, we were able to get into really big joints throughout the mid-west." "I think we just bit off more than we can chew, and we were playing bigger clubs which we were excited about, but we couldn't draw to fill those clubs, it's still kind of a big lesson for us, then we start from the bottom again; make sure that we don't get over our heads." "So if it's playing in front of 20 people in a club in Kansas, who know the music, sing along to you, it's better than opening for people who are waiting for the next band, so that's a lesson that we've learned and that's what we're doing right now!"
His influences are Van Morrison, Harry Nilsson, and Ray Davies. He said that his music "by default" resembles theirs. " The last record I was listening to Harry Nilsson all the time, Van Morrison goes back to the roots of what I listened to as a kid." "Then in my early 20's, I got "super-involved" with the Kinks and their record, so they kind of lay more of a background I think." "For this particular record, there's a lot of piano on it, so I try to get my keyboard player to play a bit more "choppy" so the influences are in there in the hope that your "art" is unique." "I'm playing some shows and working the Northeast." "We'll be in Vermont and when I go on these "road trips" it's hard to make any money we're trying to shorten the time when we go to places, we're just out here for a week, trying to get out here every couple of months." "I live in Austin and play all around Texas, I live there with my wife and probably will live there the rest of my life!" he said.
When asked if he feels it's tough to break into the music industry as a newcomer especially in a turbulent economy, his response was "It's a push/pull tug of war type of thing." "There's some days I wish a big label would swoop us up and take care of everything. "It's a very interesting business that I'm just learning more about, as I get older and get more into it. It's constantly moving for today's modern artist. it's way different than being a classic artist that we all looked up to and it's hard to live that same lifestyle and be creative within that." he said. "People who are on independent labels have other jobs, it's really a side business that you're starting from the very bottom and try to make a "splash in the big pool" of the music industry. But at 30 I don't feel like I'm too old, and there's a lot to learn. You're just forced to learn it whether you like it or not, you have to if you want to try and let people know about your artwork."
Drew's bandmates are Matt Russell on piano/organ/arranger, Ryan Bowman on bass, and Kyle Thompson on drums. The Band fluctuates around with Jake Owen on electric guitar, Brian Beken on mandolin/fiddle, and Kyle Thompson also on drums.
The label found his publicist, Pati Devries. She worked with some clients that one of the employees of the label worked with and she now works on PR for Drew's record.
Drew's fan base is widespread in Austin, TX but he says the band is trying to build bigger fan base. "I've heard some people have heard my record and I'm like "Wow, how did that happen?" and it just kind of filtered through knowing there's a lot of work to be done, so I don't know exactly if I have a large fan base or not!"
His next project is recording another album and more touring.
For more info:www.drewsmithmusic.com and www.deviousplanet.com.
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