Having only moved into town about three months ago, the Austin-via-Boston group of Frank Smith is still getting its feet wet in town, but they are a welcome addition and fit right in with their laid back indie honky tonk rock. Behind Aaron Sinclair’s gravely voice, the group, now sitting as a trio and looking to rebuild, at times seems to take it’s cues on their most recent album, the excellent Heavy Handed Peace and Love, from Gram Parson’s as filtered through a Nineties college sound. They have also just released an EP playing with Juliana Hatfield called Sittin’ in a Tree. You can check out the new guys in town this Friday at Emo’s inside opening for The Teeth, Page France and Bishop Allen.
Profile: Frank Smith
Year Formed:
around 2000 - 2001 was the first incarnation
Members/Instruments played:
aaron sinclair. guitar , vox
brett saiia. banjo, vox
drew roach. drums
dan burke. bass, vox
steve malone. pedal steel
scott toomey, guitar, vox
although only aaron, brett and drew live in austin right and have been playing as a three piece while looking for other people to join us.
Former Bands/Side Projects:
the lot six
eyes like knives
Albums:
heavy handed peace and love (ye olde records) 2007
red on white (big snow) 2006
think farms (lonesome records) 2005
burn this house down (lonesome) 2004
laguardia (lonesome) 2002
Influences:
shit, i dont know. everything i guess.
Strangest comment or comparison ever made about your music:
not really sure about this either as this would require me to have some sort of memory left, which i am pretty sure i burned through somewhere in my 20’s
Favorite local bands:
zykos
jeff klein
zookeeper
lonesome heroes
spoon
still have a lot of listening to do in this department
Favorite local venue:
emos
Upcoming shows scheduled:
july 27 at emos opening up for the teeth, paige france, and bishop allen.
aug 12 at stubbs inside with the lennings and ghosts i’ve met
Shows over the next month that you’re excited to see:
heard holly golightly is comin through soon, that would be amazing to see, a band called clouds that is from boston is comin through soon too
Some of your favorite albums from the past year:
wilco
ryan adams - jacksonville city nights
bob dylan
darker my love
the dead trees
zykos demos
deerhoof
old crow medicine show
gillian welch
Ideal band (past or present) to open for on a national tour:
this is a good question, i just dont know. i have a hard time envisioning ideal situations lately. Any time spent on the road sounds good to us. Maybe somebody really awesome though.
Austin Sound questions:
Y’all just recently moved down here from Boston. What prompted the move here for y’all, and how has Austin been treating you?
i grew up in houston and left for boston in 95. lived there for 12 years and had a great time. but my family is here now and my little sister had a baby and it felt like it was time to come home to texas. Probably not the best move for the band as we lost most of it on the way down, there are only three of us left now and we are in the process of finding people to play with down here. austin has been great to us though, I love it here and the shows we have been playing have been great. no complaints.
The group also just finished an EP backing Juliana Hatfield. How did that collaboration come about?
juliana released our new record hhpl and in the process asked if we would like to make an ep of her songs as her band too. we of course thought that was a great idea and were honored to be a part of her music. both records were release may 29.
Song Introduction:
“throwin rocks”
this is the second song on hhpl and one of my favorites on the record. it is a pretty laid back and simple song but something about it makes me feel good, not sure how it will make other people feel but hopefully something better than nothing.
Sound Off:
this is really hard to talk about our band without any direction. not sure what to say but we are looking forward to being a part of the music here in austin. whatever the music is we will have to figure out. So many more clubs and bands here in austin than boston so we have a lot of work to do but that is the fun part, we are leavin for around a month to tour up to the northeast at the end of august and hopefully we will make it back without losing anyone or anything
Mp3s from Heavy Handed Piece and Love:
Throwin’ Rocks
Put Some Curtains Up
Websites:
www.franksmithmusic.com
Myspace
