Light years ahead of their time, the
SMILE
band were possibly the most important
and influential local band to hit the Sunset Strip. With an endless repertoire
of monster hits and future classics, SMILE dominated the LA club scene and
seemed poised for rock mega-stardom. The band explored new musical terrain,
created the soundtrack for the LA teen experience, and invented the prototype
dynamic for the “Hollywood Rock Band.” At their height, they were often copied,
and sometimes shamelessly looted by rival bands, but SMILE were bigger,
stronger, faster, and funner(!) In short, SMILE were the best band you’ve never
heard.
SMILE formed in San Gabriel in 1975 as the brainchild of
Tommy Girvin
(guitar)
and
Dave Grammer
(bass). Still in high school, the two taught each other to
play, to “make some music, win some attention, and get some chicks.” "We played
in the garage after school and jammed at lunchtime," says Girvin. "Then
me and Dave found a drummer,
and he introduced us to
Scott
Waller (vocals). The guy’s loud, rude, crude,
and totally out of control. But he has a presence that can’t be ignored. When we
me Scott, we knew ‘This is the guy!” We rehearsed some cover tunes, for all of
two weeks, and decided we were ready for our big debut.”
SMILE
began playing backyard ‘keggers’ around Temple City, Arcadia, and
Pasadena. Though low key, by current standards, these weekend keg parties were a
ripe breeding ground for fresh talent to hone their skills, as the likes of
Shark Island,
Ala Carte,
Reddi Killowatt,
Quiet Riot, and
Van Halen
were the stalwart warriors of
the party circuit. Dave Grammer explains, “Kids would find out by word of mouth,
and pay to get into someone’s backyard on a Friday or Saturday night. For their
2 bucks they’d get live music, warm beer, and the possibility of getting’
lucky.” Inevitably the beer would run out and the cops would bust up the party
before a love connection could be made; but it was the tunes and these great
un-discovered bands that everyone remembered. And that’s what everyone would be
talking about Monday morning at school. "Man, did you catch the SMILE band the
other night? Far out!"
“We played backyard parties, both winter and summer," Waller recounts. Although
SMILE's goal at the time was to play in front of as many people possible, "we
were dead serious from Day One. It was lights, camera, action, slam boom bang -
right from the start. We used to bring in lighting trestles, our own stage,
PA's, scaffolds, the whole thing. This was a band with a purpose."
SMILE made a
smooth transition from backyard to center stage, as the promoter for the old
Golden West Ballroom
liked the band and booked them for gigs. "We played the
Golden West and we started getting a following. We hooked up with this agency
and started doing bars and clubs. We were still in high school,” say’s Girvin
“and I remember doing homework out in the alley between sets; they wouldn’t let
us stay inside 'cause we weren't 21."
Soon the band incorporated originals into their set, and the creative flood
gates exploded open. SMILE music from even these earliest of days were years
ahead of the classic rock boogie, and barroom rehash of the
Stones
and
Faces
formula. SMILE music relied on a riff driven guitar sound (which would become a
trademark of local bands of the period), thick driving bass, and soaring vocals with mountains of harmonies.
The thunderous percussive assault of
Jimmy Volpe
(formerly with local act
Eulogy) was brought into the band, adding
a new turbo-charged dimension to the SMILE sound. With the
addition of
Mark Poynter
(keyboards), who had played with local favorites
Dealer
(featuring teen drumming sensation
Tommy Lee), the SMILE lineup was complete.
Early tunes included the fiery rocker,
Snowblind
(“…now I, now I, want some
more…”), harmonic gems,
Nadine,
Maybe Later
(“…everyday in bed, goin’ outtta my
head 'bout you…”), the gorgeous power ballad
Sailor
and arena-ready anthems,
Dollar
Bills
and
Letter To The President. While SMILE’s music recalls the raw brilliance
of Halen’s earliest, and the sleek freshness of
Journey’s 80s best, this was a
style the SMILE band were forging years earlier. Next stop:
Hollywood.
SMILE's next hurdle was to become a major headliner on the Sunset Strip. An
audition at the
Starwood
was just the ticket, and the band landed a regular gig,
playing alongside newcomers
Van Halen
and
Quiet Riot. The band fine tuned their
live show, and their following grew rabid, selling out the hottest venues in LA.
New original material was plentiful, and SMILE’s shows were bursting with
exciting new music:
Loose Ends
incorporated a Jungle beat with deliciously
sinister flavor (“…tie me up, like a banana, way up in a tree…”) and the epic
rocker,
Hollywood, which became a set staple and crowd favorite. While most
bands of the day were still showing up in jeans and t-shirts, SMILE’s visual
impact was also beyond the competition, even incorporating a synchronized light
show.
Girvin
began sporting his trademark dollar bill, dangling from his lapel;
Volpe’s manic drum solos often culminated with him taking a bite out of his
cymbal (literally!); fashion-plate
Grammer, noted for his hypnotic pigeonlike
head-bob while playing, was turning heads with his rolled jacket sleeve Miami
Vice style, about a decade before it was hip; and
Scott Waller, the dynamo frontman with that high high voice, and Cheshire grin beneath his dipped bowler
hat, would often turn up in black tights, tuxedo jacket, white gloves and ballet
slippers(!!) Was the world ready for this?
SMILE were definitely on to something. Although it was
Van Halen, and soon
after,
Quiet Riot, who capitalized on the winning formula. Waller’s serpentine
moves and glitzy fashion sense, down to the white gloves, became a staple in
David Lee Roth’s 1977 fall wardrobe, and ushered in the dawn of Pasadena’s Van Halen era; but the
SMILE band played on. By the late 70’s SMILE was a guaranteed
sell-out on the Sunset Strip, and made the jump from clubs to large halls, a
then unprecedented move for an unsigned act. SMILE would fill ballrooms,
auditoriums, and the mammoth
Pasadena Civic Center, headlining over the
likes of
Dokken,
Great White,
Snow
(featuring
Carlos Cavazo), and
Stormer
(with future
members of Stryper).
SMILE was even tapped by
KMET
to top the bill of their
Knotts Berry Farm
summer concert series, a memorable set at the western themed
Stagecoach Theater, at which Scott Waller fell some 15 feet into the front rows
from stacked bales of hay, during the opening number. This was rock & roll!!
Despite constant sell-outs, and fanatical support, label interest was not to be
found; still the demand for the music was feverish, so SMILE entered the studio.
The result was the, now “Infamous Blue Tape”, an album length collection of
choice SMILE cuts, capturing the essence and excitement of the band’s rich
sound. The standards were there, (Hollywood,
Loose Ends,
Dollar Bills), along
with unshakeable pop hooks (Call Me,
Messin’,
Maybe Baby) a ferocious metallic
rocker (Comin’ On Too Strong) and the mother of all power ballads,
Cry Baby.("I'm where I wanna be -
I'm just a Smile from you").
The tape was sold at shows and was snatched up by rabid crowds at the
Roxy,
Whiskey
and
Starwood. The band aggressively
distributed leaflets and Gig flyers, threatening
“Buy This Tape or We’ll Kill Volpe,” a novel marketing
tactic, one which would be fully realized by bands in the following years. A new
breed of harder, flashier bands began to fill the bills of LA clubs, it was the
birth of the
Metal Years, yet the SMILE band played on, headlining over new
fledgling acts,
Steeler,
Motley Crue, and
Black N Blue. Once again a signing
frenzy commenced plucking new acts into the major while SMILE were left behind
to carry on in the clubs. Girvin recalls, “there would be times when we played
four or five nights a week, and we’ve played with everyone from Van Halen to
Quiet Riot to Motley Crue; we’ve seen ‘em come and we’ve seen ‘em go.”
Once again the SMILE machine began to feverishly churn out more top notch
material, incorporating instant classics
Paradise,
Sunday,
Don’t Touch My Girl,
and
Can’t Stop Rockin’
into the SMILE play list parade of hits. Perseverance
triumphed, as hungry labels eager for Hollywood signings began to look at the
resident circuit veterans with interest. "We' were always hopeful that we'd run
into somebody who'd help us, but we never really got frustrated. We starting
getting label interest from the industry, and they’d bring us in to make some
demos. Lots of demos. We've done demos for practically every label on the
planet," Waller laughs. "They'd put us in a nice 24-track studio for four days,
we'd do the demo, give it to 'em and we'd never hear another word. Nothing!
Meanwhile we're selling out thousand seat venues. But at least we'd have a nice
tape each time." Whether it was the metal heavy musical climate, or Waller’s
eyebrow raising high voice, (leaving A&R reps to wonder if they’d sped up the
tape), the SMILE band couldn’t seem to catch a break. Around this time,
Tommy
Lee, riding high on the Motley express, cited
SMILE as "the most influential band
in Los Angeles" for a
BAM Magazine
interview. As always the band refused to rest
and continued churning out potential hits;
I Want You;
Radioactive Love, and
Hot Dammy Mammy
(were worked into the set) along with a new galloping showstopper,
the semi-autobiographical
Celebrity. (“You get nowhere playin’ around, life
ain’t like a merry-go round, painted horse ain’t real, but if I can be a cowboy,
then maybe I can be a celebrity.”)
By 1984, as the band began their tenth year of unsigned status, a
change was desperately needed. Tommy Girvin admits, “We were beginning to lose
faith. We were still bringing in crowds, and we were really proud of our catalog
of songs, but there seemed to be a black cloud over our heads.” The ray of hope
they needed came from their manager
Paul Fry, who finally said "C'mon lets just
do a record." Fry got the money together, and booked the band into the
Record
Plant. The rough mix was shopped around, and
MCA
came down and saw an SRO crowd
of SMILE fanatics at the
Country Club. SMILE finally got their break, and signed
with
MCA/Curb
in 1985. Weeks then turned into months, waiting for MCA to make a
move. Finally
Jimmy Volpe
left the fold to pursue a ‘paying gig’, and joined
Warrior
(Fighting For The Earth) for a world tour, including dates with
Iron
Maiden.
Eventually, MCA/Curb decided to remix the the SMILE record, bringing in
Andy
Johns
to produce. At a time when
WASP,
Ratt, and
Motley Crue
were high on the charts,
and inspiring mass signing of any clone acts on the strip, the infectious
melodies and energetic pop sensibility of SMILE music may have been just the
breath of fresh air to shift the tide. Ultimately though the MCA remix took
heavy-handed approach and mixed the magic right out of the tunes, leaving a
sterile black-and-white production for an otherwise colorful collection. Other
bizarre label tinkering with the SMILE formula followed: The album opener,
known to fans for years as "Radioactive Love" was now curiously dubbed
Radio Act Of Love, Tommy Girvin was
tapped for lead vocal duties on
Open Your Eyes
and bassist Dave Grammer was
given a PR makeover, and renamed
David Blade(?) The record was released in late
'85 and got lost in the shuffle due in part to a lack of promotion. The single
I Want You
began to build a bit of steam on local radio playlists, and the
band was featured in the film
FREE RIDE, a teen comedy in which SMILE performs
the opening concert sequence. The band was put out on tour with replacement drummer
Tony Pacheco
to support the record, and brought SMILE music to the
masses. A highlight of the tour was the massive co-headlining homecoming, with
Poison, at the
LA Street Festival, for a crowd over ten thousand So Cal rockers.
Pre-production began on a second LP, but the label pulled out, and after a dozen
years of rockin’, the SMILE band decided to call it a day. With music still
coursing through their veins, the valiant troubadours carried on in various
other projects with varied degrees of success.
Dave Grammer
and
Mark Poynter
played in various LA cover bands, scored soundtrack music, and wrote screenplays
in the following years.
Tommy Girvin, still wearing his signature dollar bill on
his lapel, was hired , ironically, as six-string sideman to
Eddie Money, writing
and touring with the “Two Tickets to Paradise” crooner for the next decade.
More recently, the founding Smile guitarist, has recorded with
Kenny Loggins,
Terence Trent D'Arby,
and
Wilson-Phillips,
as well as his own project,
Ransom,
with their debut release,
Trouble In Paradise.
Jimmy Volpe
is still bashing the skins, and rocks weekend Arcadia crowds with
the
Priests of Love.
Scott Waller, the enigmatic frontman, and Hollywood’s Great White Hope, hooked
up briefly with a post-Quiet Riot
Carlos Cavazo to form
Gang of Thieves, performing stripped down
versions of
Sunday
and
Mama Weer All Crazee Now, before dropping completely
out of sight. Waller sporadically surfaced tending bar (at a San Gabriel
watering hole, ironically called
Paradise) and was rumored to have taken a
janitorial gig at an area high school. Not an ending fitting of such
stout-hearted music pioneers. There have been a handful of reunion shows, which
bring out the old fans in their faded SMILE t-shirts, but the dream has all but
faded into legend. They were one of a kind, and though their legacy can’t be
seen in catalog sales or on classic rock radio playlists, its there in the face of anyone who heard
their music… Just mention the band... you’re sure to get a
SMILE.
"Can you feel it? Can you see what its done to me. I been rockin’ for ten long
years but I ain’t makin’ no mon-ey. I can taste it.. and one fine day you might
see me on the silver screen. But tonight… I Can't Stop Rockin'."
The SMILE album is available on MCA/Curb Records and Tapes...
For additional info on the SMILE band, contact: