Smith Westerns

Alternative band, Smith Westerns will be releasing their third album, Soft Will on June 25th via their new label Mom + Pop Music. This will be the follow up from their 2011 LP Dye It Blonde. The first single off this new album is "Varsity" and it will be available on 7" May 14th backed by the B-side "Case & Point". "Varsity" sounds like another big leap forward for the band: A lush and expansive synth-streaked jam that still keeps its emphasis very much on big windows-down melodies. The album was recorded with producer Chris Coady, who also worked on Dye It Blonde (as well as albums by Beach House, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and TV on the Radio), at Sonic Ranch in El Paso, TX.

Originally from Chicago, their musical influences include David Bowie, Marc Bolan, T. Rex and Brit Pop. Smith Westerns formed in 2007 by band members Max Kakacek and Cullen Omori who were friends at school at the time. As they began learning to play guitars, they drafted Cameron Omori, Cullen's brother, to play bass, and finally Hal James on drums.

In June 2009, HoZac Records brought out the Smith Westerns' self-titled debut album (initially a vinyl-only release), which found the band indulging a taste for '70s glam rock along with their punk and garage influences. The band was also touring steadily by this time, including a road trip with Nobunny in which the Smith Westerns opened the show and then reappeared as Nobunny's backing group.

In 2010, the Smith Westerns released a split single on Fat Possum with the Magic Kids that featured some of their most polished music to date, and the band pledged to keep making music while several of the members also attend college. That move toward a slicker sound continued on the group's second album, Dye It Blonde. Released in January of 2011, it featured drumming by Brian Chase of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and John Eatherly of Turbo Fruits.

The band played at both weekends of Coachella, with a show at Los Angeles venue the Echo in between.

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