I debuted my solo project The Static Dive in 2019 with this website and the 5-song EP Built for Better Days. Since then I’ve dropped dozens of new releases, published over 4,500 articles, made friends around the world, composed music for film, was signed and dropped by a German record company, and then launched my own cross-continental record label with my buddy Kilo House.
But that’s just the latest chapter in a story that spans decades.
I grew up in upstate New York. My friends and I began making our own original music when we were still in high school. By the time we graduated in 1988 the music was getting pretty good. We began sharing it with friends, zines, and at gigs.
In the ensuing years we recorded hundreds of songs. We had band names like The Reebs, The Distractions, and Shu, recorded a bunch of albums and left even more music collecting dust in the vault. I have tried a number of times to compile some sort of Best Of compilation, but it is just impossible.
So instead, I created this compendium playlist. I chose one song from each of the 31 years preceding The Static Dive’s debut. Below the playlist you will find detailed commentary about each song in this collection. It’s sort of a scrapbook of the first half of my adult life.
This is by no means the whole story. Each of these songs represents dozens more, and there have been many more since. Kilo and I continue to forge exciting new genre-smashing musical ground. This playlist gives a peek into the life that got me here
Enjoy!
Bob
The Music
Liner Notes
Two Grapes (1988)
This is a groovy little experiment from my first official release, a self-titled 11-song cassette by my one-man-band The Flying None. The tape dropped the year I graduated high school. I was active in the zine scene at the time and did a pretty good job of promoting it within the DIY community around the US. It’s a quirky little record by a smart but insecure 18 year-old with more creativity than skill.
“Two Grapes” came about after my buddy Todd left his bass at my house. I did not have a bass of my own at the time, so I took full advantage of the opportunity and wrote a song with 5 harmonized bass guitars. This was 4 years after Spinal Tap came out, so I’m sure that was an influence. It’s a cool little tune. On the mic I’m reading some stream-of-consciousness poetry. It’s a writing technique I still use… writing and rhyming non-stop, logic and storyline be damned.
This version is a remix I made back in 2002, after finding the original 4-track tape.
photo: 1988 Queensbury High School Graduation
Artist: The Flying None
Album: The Flying None (1988)
Lyrics : Michael Smith & Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith (guitar, bass, vocals, drum programming)
Recorded on a Yamaha MT100 4-track
My Time Slips Away (1989)
I was a bit adrift after graduating high school. I took classes at the local community college, worked at a record store, and played parties for free beer with my band.
Our name changed frequently, but its members did not (Todd Haviland on bass, Matt “Mato” D’Ambrosio on drums, and me on guitar).
We weren’t exactly taking the world by storm, but we took full advantage of the free beer. This would become a recurring theme. One of our band names was The Reebs. Reeb is beer spelled backwards.
Though I may have lacked focus in my professional and scholastic endeavors, I was quickly becoming a viable songwriter and guitarist. This track is one of the best early examples of both.
The lyrics express my lack of direction at the time. Musically it is heavily influenced by late 80s alternative. I hear The Police, The Replacements, Echo and the Bunnymen, and even a little Billy Idol. Mato is on the drums, I’m playing everything else.
photo: Bob in his bedroom circa 1989, Fender Lead I in hand.
Artist: The Reebs
Album: unreleased
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith (guitar, bass, vocals), Matt D’Ambrosio (drums)
Recorded on a Yamaha MT100 4-track
How Long to Heaven (1990)
1990 was a time of transition for all three of us. Mato and I both attended SUNY Morrisville, and subsequently dropped out. Todd had followed the same trajectory as a student of Castleton State University in Vermont.
We were all back at home in Queensbury. So, we worked part time jobs, played community college keg parties, and recorded songs in our down time, of which we had an abundance.
Settling on The Distractions as our band name, we wrote and recorded a ton of music. Mato’s parent’s basement was our recording studio.
We used to drop our weird tapes on all our friends, hoping they would make us dormitory famous. Our buddy Mike Magee was playing with us for awhile before ultimately moving on to more collegiate endeavors.
“How Long to Heaven” was recorded during the sessions which would lead to our definitive 4-track opus ‘Days Tied in Knots’. It’s a beautiful little instrumental. For some reason it never made it on the album. That was a mistake.
photo: inner sleeve of The Distractions 'Days Tied in Knots'
Artist: The Distractions
Album: unreleased
Lyrics : N/A
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith (guitar, bass, vocals, drum programming), Matt D’Ambrosio (drums)
Recorded on a Yamaha MT100 4-track
My Ocean (1991)
“My Ocean” was the second song on our first really quality piece of work. Our album Days Tied in Knots was pretty cutting-edge for an indie band with no money in 1991.
It was a concept album of sorts, with the serious songs on the A side of the cassette (the “Near Side”), and the oddities on the B side (the “Far Side”). It had some great tunes, and was recorded far better than can be logically explained.
We were in a basement with a 4-track, and we made a solid record. The tape was featured in East Coast Rocker magazine, a popular zine at the time. That led to some legitimate major label attention.
MCA records asked us for a demo. Jennifer Jay (the MCA A&R rep) sent a lovely rejection letter which I kept around for years. I don’t know why. I hated that letter.
Listen to Days Tied in Knots
photo: cover of The Distractions 'Days Tied in Knots'
Artist: The Distractions
Album: Days Tied in Knots
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith (guitar, vocals), Todd Haviland (bass), Matt D’Ambrosio (drums)
Recorded on a Yamaha MT100 4-track
Our Moon (1992)
In November of 1991, Mato and I moved to Winter Park, Florida. We worked at Disney, drank like fish, and learned how to survive 1500 miles away from home on very little money. I could write a book about all of things I’ve forgotten about Florida.
Eventually Mato’s parents intervened and enrolled him in recording school (the reason we moved there to begin with). After about a year it became clear that I would never have the funds to attend the school, so I returned home.
However, while living in the Sunshine State, Mato and I recorded constantly. There was a lot of crazy experimental stuff, and constant drunken late night jams. We had more fun than should be allowed.
None of the stuff was ever publicly released. This is one of my favorites from that time. Mato is on the drums, I’m playing everything else. The song is a dreamy torch song for a girl back home, sung in a sort of Mick Jagger/Karl Wallinger-style falsetto.
photo: Mato, with beer in the early 90s
Artist: The Distractions
Album: unreleased
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith (guitar, bass, vocals), Matt D’Ambrosio (drums)
Recorded on a Yamaha MT100 4-track
Kid (1993)
I returned to NY in late 1992, done with FL and ready to start a new band with Todd. Mato eventually graduated from Full Sail Recording School. However, he was living a couple of hours away downstate, working as an intern for John Storyk.
Todd and I hooked up with local whiz-kid drummer Eric D. Hamell who then introduced us to more like-minded hippie slacker musicians. Shu was born.
The Shu story is an epic tale all its own, and is still being written. Shu has given rise to marriages, divorces, multiple children, and a community of friends for which I will be forever grateful.
The members of Shu are as close to me as family. We toured all over the northeast college circuit throughout the 1990s.
In recent years we have slowed the pace of gigs, but still play regionally a few times per year. We are better than ever, and released a new album on our 30th anniversary in 2023.
“Kid” is a one-chord riff I wrote whilst trying to be Prince. This is the first known recording of the song with a full band. It has become a Shu standard and is never played the same twice. Mato recorded this demo for us when he was home for a visit.
photo: Mato executing his studio artistry in the early 90s
Artist: Shu
Album: unreleased
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Shu
Musicians: Bob Smith (guitar, vocals), Todd Haviland (bass), Eric D. Hamell (drums), Chris Webster (guitar)
Recorded on a Yamaha MT100 4-track
Tea and Sympathy (1994)
The Distractions reunited for one weekend of writing, recording, and drinking in 1994. The result was a great little 8-song cassette called Windowsills and Thermostats.
The recording is raw, live, and acoustic. This is some of my best singer/songwriter stuff. At the time I was taking a poetry class in college. I think it helped.
“Tea and Sympathy” is another tune that keeps popping up. I’ve recorded this track at least a dozen times over the years. But this is the original. It is an autobiographical tale of a night out with an ex-girlfriend, and it has a great hook.
photo: inner sleeve of The Distractions 'Windowsills and Thermostats'.
Artist: The Distractions
Album: Windowsills and Thermostats
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith (guitar, vocals), Todd Haviland (bass), Matt D’Ambrosio (drums)
Recorded on a Yamaha MT100 4-track
Carried Away With You (1995)
For me, the 90s were a constant clash of my obsessions: music, alcohol, and women. In 1995 I was playing and drinking constantly, and cluelessly wondering why both my job and girlfriend had kicked me to the curb. In my defense, I was a 25 year-old American male, possibly the dimmest of all God’s creatures.
“Carried Away With You” wouldn’t get a proper recording until it showed up on my 2006 LP The Reason for Swimming. But this is the original demo. In hindsight, I like this one a lot better.
It’s just me and a guitar, with heartfelt lyrics about all of those aforementioned obsessions. It’s a nice performance, and I like the little vocal timestamp in the beginning. 🙂
photo: the hippie at work, 1995-ish
Artist: Bob Smith
Album: unreleased
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith (guitar, vocals)
Recorded on a cheap tape recorder
Bored Young Guys (1996)
By the mid-90s Shu was a well known college band, touring throughout the Northeast. We headed to the studio with our friends Doug Ford and Marc Fuller behind the board and recorded our album Fanagalo.
The record is a perfect snapshot of that moment in our history. The record continues to be one of the bedrocks of the band’s collective identity.
“Bored Young Guys” is still one of my favorite Shu songs. I think it showed some real growth in our songwriting at the time, both musically and lyrically.
I like the key change in the chorus. And “I’m as tough as nails, but she breaks those all the time” is still one of my best lyrics ever. Matty Carl (sax, keys, vocals) wrote and sang the wonderfully insane bridge.
Shu is something special. If you dig this one, here is more.
photo: cover of the Shu album 'Fanagalo'
Artist: Shu
Album: Fanagalo
Lyrics : Bob Smith, Matty Carl
Music: Shu
Musicians: Bob Smith (guitar, vocals),
Todd Haviland (bass), Eric D. Hamell (drums),
Matty Carl (sax, vocals), Bryan Mull (guitar)
Producer: Doug Ford
Assistant Engineer: Marc Fuller
Recorded at Sweetfish Studios, Argyle, NY
Calling Mato (1997)
1997 was a turbulent and fateful year, both for me personally and for Shu as a group. We spent most of the year on the road. However, Todd and Bryan had both quit the band.
So, things were strained. At home, I began a serious relationship. By the end of the year i was married and and I too had quit the band. Further details on all of that are best left to history.
This is a pretty little tune, recorded in the middle of that hectic year. On a break from touring, a few months before leaving the band and getting married, I stopped by Mato’s apartment for a prearranged recording session.
He was nowhere to be found.
His then-girlfriend Kemm let me in. I wrote and recorded this tune in his studio as I tried to reach him on the phone. It has some nice harmonies and groovy backward guitar tracks.
photo: Mato's 'Cool Canine Recording' logo
Artist: Bob Smith
Album: unreleased
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith (guitar, vocals)
Recorded and produced by Bob Smith at Cool Canine Studios
Mean Old Me (1998)
I was off the road, out of the band, climbing the corporate ladder, and trying to figure out how to be married. None of it came easy for a weird kid with a drinking problem and a string of undiagnosed mental health issues.
“Mean Old Me” is my autobiographical snapshot of that time, recorded during one wonderful weekend in which Marc Fuller and I locked ourselves in Sweetfish Studios and tracked the bulk of my first solo album.
This song is is a hit in an alternate universe.
photo: Bob & Misty, 1998
Artist: Bob Smith
Album: Solo
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith (guitar, bass, vocals), Marc Fuller (drums, theremin)
Producer: Marc Fuller, Bob Smith
Recorded at Sweetfish Studios, Argyle, NY
Downtown – live at Luna’s (1999)
Throughout the years, I have maintained a parallel career as an IT guy. 1999 was all business as I prepared clients for Y2k.
Later in the year I launched Promosquad (later changed to HitPredictor) with Doug Ford and Rick Bisceglia. So, there was not a lot of studio time.
However, I found this little gem. This is The Distractions playing a Shu song, recorded live for a local TV show called Live at Luna’s.
Luna’s Underground was a cool basement bar and recording studio in our hometown (Glens Falls, NY), owned by our dear friend, the late great Angus Wilson. He was a tremendously talented artist, a remarkable friend, and a wonderful lunatic whom I think of all of the time.
photo: Luna's Underground logo.
Artist: The Distractions
Album: unreleased
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith (guitar, vocals), Todd Haviland (bass, vocals), Mato D’Ambrosio (drums)
Recorded live at Luna’s Underground, Glens Falls, NY
Suburban Discontent (2000)
It was a new decade. I was a home owner for the first time, working a lot and making music on the weekend. Lyrically, this song looks back at my lost year in Florida. The wise 35 year-old narrator had no idea what lied ahead.
Musically, it represents some of my earliest experiments mixing organic and electronic music, rock and hip-hop. I’m playing all the live instruments. The drums are Eric D Hamell, sampled from a Shu song.
photo: Shu circa 2000
Artist: Bob Smith
Album: unreleased
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith
Recorded at home on Cakewalk
When I Sleep (2001)
Somewhere between 2000 and 2001, 4/5 of Shu got back together. Matty would complete the reunion in 2005.
We wrote “When I Sleep” at our first return practice, and it’s the first song on our self-titled comeback LP (2001).
This tune is still one of my favorite Shu songs. Lyrically I am teetering between propriety and debauchery, ever wary of leaning too far to either side. Musically the band hints at a jazzier vibe, which continues today.
photo: cover of Shu's self-titled 2001 comeback LP
Artist: Shu
Album: Shu
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Shu
Musicians: Bob Smith (guitar, vocals), Todd Haviland (bass), Eric D. Hamell (drums), Bryan Mull (guitar)
Recorded at Trees Lounge Studio by Marc Fuller
Enough For Me (2002)
In my hometown there is an old clothing factory which has been converted into a groovy/artsy marketplace and creative incubator. When they were first getting started, Marc Fuller and I built a recording studio. contained within the factory walls.
We recorded a lot of stuff back then, all landing on different projects. This ended up on my second solo album. “Enough For Me” is a trippy little tune. Mato is playing bass. That’s fun.
The lyrics are a bit less angsty than my earlier songs. They indicate I’m slowly sorting out how to find peace with a chaotic mind in a troubled world, hinting at the Zen of my future work.
photo: Bob recording piano at The Brick Shirthouse
Artist: Bob Smith
Album: Data in Dream Life
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith (guitar, vocals), Mato D’Ambrosio (drums, bass)
Recorded at the Brick Shirthouse by Marc Fuller
More Better (2003)
This is the best song on my second solo album Data in Dream Life. The album title was inspired by a quote from Marshall McLuhan.
He was a Canadian philosopher and futurist whom I admire. in 2019 his work would again inspire me on The Static Dive track “Retribalize“.
I always liked this album cover. I was mimicking Andy Warhol’s pop art.
Musically, “More Better” is a rocker. It was recorded at Edie Road Studios (formerly Sweetfish), the same day it was written. I love the garage rock. Cool solo too.
Lyrically the song once again weighs the virtues of sobriety. I’d eventually fall off the wagon in 2006. I quit drinking for good in 2016.
photo: cover of 'Data in Dream Life'
Artist: Bob Smith
Album: Data in Dream Life
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith (guitar, vocals), Mato D’Ambrosio (drums), Todd Havland (bass)
Recorded at by Marc Fuller
Blip to the Blop (2004)
By the early 2000s I was getting deep into digital recording. I tried every Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) available, although I don’t think we called them that back then.
I tried Cakewalk, Acid, CoolEdit Pro, Reason, anything that would sequence and/or record sounds on a computer. Also, I was a new dad! So, working on music quietly alone at home made a lot of sense.
I was also doing a lot in the music business at this time. I was writing a local entertainment newspaper column, working with the major labels via HitPredictor, and even writing for Billboard magazine.
“Blip to the Blop” was composed entirely in Fruity Loops (now called FL Studio). I’ve always been proud of this one. Twenty years later, it still sounds ahead of its time. I ended up releasing it on my 2012 LP No Mas Palabras.
photo: my column in The Chronicle, Glens Falls, NY
Artist: Bob Smith
Album: No Mas Palabras
Lyrics : N/A
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith
Producer: Bob Smith
I’m on Fire (2005)
By 2005 I had settled into my new house (the same house in which I reside today). The first iteration of my studio was a small room I built in the basement. There I recorded what eventually became my third solo album The Reason for Swimming.
This is a little nugget that slipped through the cracks. It never ended up on any releases, until now. Life at home wasn’t great, I was writing blues songs.
photo: the studio in transition, 2005
Artist: Bob Smith
Album: unreleased
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith
Producer: Bob Smith
Recorded at GFR Studios by Bob Smith
You Need Time (2006)
If I were still inclined to make this style of music, I’d probably revisit some of the songs on my third solo album The Reason for Swimming.
There are some things I would change, of course. And the subject matter can be tough to listen to. It was the first of three LPs which chronicled the gradual decay of my marriage. But it’s a great record.
Lyrically, “You Need Time” hits all the relationship talking points. Musically the tune is a cool mix of Americana and psychedelia. It has always been a favorite of mine.
photo: cover of 'The Reason for Swimming'
Artist: Bob Smith
Album: The Reason for Swimming
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith
Producer: Bob Smith
Rock on the Hill (2007)
My buddy Auggie Ruggiero is a biologist from Ohio. We became friends when he moved the family to Queensbury for a few years.
We bonded over our similar musical & personal histories, as well as a general penchant for consuming and creating Gen-X weirdness.
Auggie eventually moved back home to Ohio. I missed my friend, so we collaborated remotely for a few months, called ourselves The Mustache Petes, and a created a wonderfully weird 4-song EP titled Ugly Things.
“Rock on the Hill” is the first song from that record, and probably my favorite. It is about marriage, Alice in Wonderland, and some other weird shit in Auggie’s head.
photo: cover of The Mustache Petes 'Ugly Things'
Artist: The Mustache Petes
Album: Ugly Things
Lyrics : Auggie Ruggiero
Music: Bob Smith, Auggie Ruggiero
Musicians: Bob Smith, Auggie Ruggiero
Producer: Bob Smith, Auggie Ruggiero
Something Good (2008)
By 2008 I had moved my studio into a garage at the back of the property. That was significant because it meant I was able to stay up late every night and make noise without bothering anyone.
I recorded constantly and produced a bunch of great demos. I got The Distractions back together and I booked studio time with my buddy Marc Fuller at Edie Road Studios, and we recorded our first album in 14 years.
“Something Good” is the title track. I don’t know if it is the best song on the album, but I love it. It’s raw, fun, and has a great riff. This album is definitely The Distractions’ finest work, and probably the best alt-rock I have recorded.
photo: cover of The Distractions 'Something Good'
Artist: The Distractions
Album: Something Good
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith (guitar, vocals), Todd Haviland (bass), Mato D’Ambrosio (drums)
Producer: Marc Fuller, Bob Smith
Recorded at Edie Road Studios by Marc Fuller, and GFR Studios by Bob Smith
The Painter (2009)
The ‘garage studio’ period lasted for a couple of years. I recorded two albums and dozens of throwaway tunes.
This is one from the latter category. This track never really reached its full potential. It is a diamond in the rough, I think. Maybe worth another look.
The song was inspired by a bad painting I purchased on the same night I consciously chose to start drinking again. Both were bad decisions, the painting less consequential.
The photo is of my own studio (current day). Though I did not paint when I wrote the song, I too am now a bad painter.
I am also 10 years sober.
photo: Bob's studio (current day)
Artist: Bob Smith
Album: unreleased
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith
Producer: Bob Smith
Recorded at GFR Studios by Bob Smith
Wakin’ in Vegas (2010)
In 2010 I dropped my most rocking album. Bob Was Here is just a fantastic, weird, and noisy record. This album put an end to any ‘woe-is-me’ songwriting for me.
The record was an exclamation point at the end of a personally turbulent decade, although it would still be another couple of years before I got my personal life sorted out.
“Wakin’ in Vegas” is a semi-autobiographical guitar-fueled romp through Sin City. This song is an ode to excess. As one would imagine, after writing and recording the track I was dismayed to learn that Katy Perry had released a song with a remarkably similar title.
I like mine better.
photo: cover of 'Bob Was Here' (a photo of the garage studio wall)
Artist: Bob Smith
Album: Bob Was Here
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith, Mato D’Ambrosio (drums)
Producer: Bob Smith
Recorded at GFR Studios by Bob Smith
I’m a Light (2011)
After Bob Was Here I went through a slow transformation as an artist and as a man. Over the next two years I would get divorced, I’d meet and begin dating Sarah (the love of my life), and I would embark on a long period of musical experimentation and personal growth which continues today.
I released very little music during this time, but I was writing constantly. Stylistically, I was all over the place. Although my music was gradually trending away from the singer/songwriter formula, once in a while I’d go through coffeehouse phases. This song is an example. Lyrically it is light-years away from the dark introspection of my earlier work.
photo: my street, circa 2011
Artist: Bob Smith
Album: unreleased
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith
Producer: Bob Smith
Recorded at GFR Studios by Bob Smith
Numura (2012)
“Numura” is further documentation of my schizophrenic stylistic meanderings of this time. I made a lot of sounds as I searched for my own. I dig this bit of acid-rock sawtooth psychedelia. This was on my 2012 album of instrumental oddities, No Mas Palabras.
photo: cover of 'No Mas Palabras'
Artist: Bob Smith
Album: No Mas Palabras
Lyrics : N/A
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith
Producer: Bob Smith
Recorded at GFR Studios by Bob Smith
Again (2013)
This is one of my earliest trip-hop tracks. I have tried to finish this song a hundred times. I love it, but it needs something. This is an early and obviously unfinished version of the tune. My friend Corinne Morehouse was kind enough to lend her voice to the recording. Although it remains incomplete, the song was a big step toward The Static Dive sound.
photo: Bob on stage at Glens Falls' legendary Sandy's Clam Bar in 2013
Artist: Bob Smith
Album: unreleased
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith, Corrine Morehouse
Producer: Bob Smith
Recorded at GFR Studios by Bob Smith
Rizz (2014)
Throughout this period I was very experimental. I’d write a folk song one day, and avant-garde electronic music the next. I’m not sure what genre you would call this one. It is sort of an exercise in unnecessary complexity. But I dig it, and it is another important step that helped shape my sound today.
Kilo eventually used part of the MIDI from this song in his tune “Breathe“
In the photo above, I am performing live at ‘The Bigfoot Festival’ (a real thing) in Whitehall, NY on July 12, 2014.
photo: Bob on stage at the Bigfoot Festival, Whitehall, NY 2014
Artist: Bob Smith
Album: unreleased
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith
Producer: Bob Smith
Recorded at GFR Studios by Bob Smith
Good Shoes (2015)
I’ve always been a big hip-hop fan, and this unfinished groove started with that genre in mind. And then it became something else. Or maybe it is still becoming. This tune hints at Static Dive stuff to come, like “Holy Ghost” and “Retribalize”.
photo: Bob's feet at any point between 1984 and today.
Artist: Bob Smith
Album: unreleased
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith
Producer: Bob Smith
Recorded at GFR Studios by Bob Smith
Vodka Tonic (2016)
I quit drinking for good in 2016. This song tells the true story of my last night on the town. The town in question was New Orleans, and the night ended in the drunk tank. It is not a story I like telling. Hence the sobriety.
On the upside, it led to a pretty cool tune and a much better life. I first released this track as a single in late 2016, with the artist name The Voodoo Council.
I eventually ditched the name and pulled the song. It later appeared on The Static Dive’s debut 2019 EP Built for Better Days and the Yin/Yang compilation.
This version is an unreleased, unfinished remix. Enjoy
photo: the original cover of The Voodoo Council 'Supersonic Vodka Tonic'
Artist: The Voodoo Council
Album: unreleased remix
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith
Producer: Bob Smith
Recorded at GFR Studios by Bob Smith
Saturday Afternoon (2017)
I wrote this song a few hours before my father died. I did not know he was going to die that day. It just happened that way.
That said, coincidentally the chorus is about him.
Later on, and by and by
When we’re catching fireflies
I’ll sing that song of mine, for you
My dad bought me my first guitar, and forever afterward, whenever he saw me he would say, “play me something!” I always did.
I wanted to play this song for him once it was finished. I miss my dad very much. I am grateful he saw me sober for good before he passed away.
“Saturday Afternoon” is significant for another reason as well. It is the first time I played piano live all the way through a recording. That may not sound like much, but I was a pretty shitty piano player in 2017.
I’m no Liberace now, but I got better. I eventually released the song as a single by The Distractions in 2021.
photo: Bob chilling at Perkin's Cover, ME. circa 2017
Artist: The Distractions
Album: single (recorded in 2017, released in 2021)
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith
Producer: Bob Smith
Recorded at GFR Studios by Bob Smith
Bit by Bit (2018)
This is a breezy little love song for Sarah. It is the last track on the debut Static Dive EP Built for Better Days. My son Lela drew the cover art and has drawn every cover since.
Working with my kid has been one of the best parts of this entire ride.
After this album my sound began to change. I pulled the record for awhile, but now these tracks appear on my 2024 Yin/Yang compilation.
photo: cover of 'Built for Better Days'. Artwork by Lela Smith
Artist: The Static Dive
Album: Built for Better Days
Lyrics : Bob Smith
Music: Bob Smith
Musicians: Bob Smith
Producer: Bob Smith
Cover Art: Lela Smith
Recorded at GFR Studios by Bob Smith