p: Andrew Speight

Smooth Anticsbooty shaking soul-hop

Burlington, VT

Nectars, April 2014

In the Fall of 2012, the first contact of Smooth Antics was made; Jake Mayers and Mike Dondero jammed for the first time and immediately got hooked on that funky pocket groove. From there forth, the rest of the band slowly accumulated through ample nights of grungy basement parties and jams. It wasn’t until the rest of the preexisting members of the band, Jacob Ungerleider, Chris Jordan and Steph Heaghney all got together as a whole to play, that we realized we had unearthed something very special. Regular get-togethers in Jake’s basement shed light on our seemingly seamless songwriting process. It was almost as if we were coming up with too many ideas too quick to actually sit down and organize into full-length songs. Fortunately, we were rather adamant about recording everything that came out of our time together, both the good and the not so good stuf.f

Fast forward to the Fall of 2014, a time that was full of excitement, change, and uncertainty. We were gearing up to release our first full-length album, perform in front of the largest crowd we had to date with an accompanying dance squad, begin our push to explore new audiences out of state, and all without a full permanent band.

good friend Jacob, as he moved to Virginia. Though he left a large void when he left, we quickly reached out to numerous prospects to fill the space, and were pleasantly surprised to have a new flavor to our music whenever we would feature someone new.

We also grew once more in the form of brass, where Nico Osborne (Trumpet), Shakir Stephen (Trombone), and Sam Watson (Trumpet) often joined up with Brain Miller, who became a permanent part of Smooth Antics soon after we first made some sweet music together. The past month has been peppered with unbelievable shows at both Nectars and Radio Bean, each presenting unique, impressionable atmospheres for both us and the audience.

Performing a few times a week has forced us to pump out new material, and find new and exciting ways to play our songs and interact with the audience. We are so grateful for this incredible group, the opportunities we have had thus far, and all the love and support each of you have shown, and we sincerely hope you will continue getting into all sorts of antics with us as we continue our journey.

We sadly had to say goodbye to our keyboard player and

Once....In the Mojarra, Camped on the edge of Chicamocha, I woke early in the morning to find the whole valley enveloped in thick fog. The morning sun burned orange behind it. The falcons coasted up and around the clif.f tops and as the fog cleared a waterfall appears in the distance. I walk down into the valley with my best friend. We follow the riverbed through forest and pastures. We stop to pick clementines from the trees and when we finally arrive, blue butterflies and red dragon flies dance around my head, the tree vines dance in the wind and I laugh and dance under the waterfall.

Once....I followed my best friend through the glacier capped peaks of Cocuy. Jeweled lakes scatter the landscape. Snow cracks and shatters above me as I struggle to reach the top. At 16000ft my body aches and my lungs are tired. We set up camp by a glistening tourqoise lake right on the glacier line. At night the sky expands from one horizon to another and explodes with stars.

I’m reminded again of how small we all are.

Steph on her inspiration for the SA song “Once”:

ff

booty shaking soul hop

photography & layout: casey sullivan josephadd. photography:danny grahammalcom wattsandrew speight