“We found it in our vault, which we've been going through in recent years and it's something that we've been meaning to put out for quite some time and we finally did," said a thrilled Dennis Diken, drummer of The Smithereens. "This was recorded during an interim period; we worked on it in early ‘93 and eventually later that year we signed with RCA Records and we actually recorded two albums worth of material. The songs that did not appear on "The Lost Album” were actually re-recorded for “A Date with The Smithereens” once we got signed with RCA.”
Released on September 23, "The Lost Album" is a treasure trove of not only nostalgia for the band and their fans but gives new listeners an idea of the sound that dominated MTV decades ago. According to Diken, the decision and the process came together very quickly.
“Well, the good thing is; we had all of the mixes on this material done back in 1993. So, all we really needed to do was to select the tracks, sequence them and master them and find artwork and fortunately, we have a lot of photos from that period. I always snap pictures whenever I work or we're at a gig or on the road so we had some images that really did reflect the mood of those sessions and where we were at that time. So, it was really just a matter of putting it together and some people have heard it and have reacted very positively to it so we're glad that it's able to get out and see the light of day after all these years.”
“We had some things in our vault and this was one of the pieces that was pretty much realized right away and so I was going through the tapes and I presented it to the fellas and everybody was really very excited about it. So, Mike (Bassist Mesaros) actually was inspired to write one that went along with it and he did a really good job and so we were all on board for sure and then we all knocked our heads together and decided the running order and also, we decided that the song called “Out of This World” would be the single from the album; so yes, we did very much collaborate on how the project would be seen and the label, Sunset Boulevard Records is our manager Len Fico's label and it was an easy step to make just to do that but we just thought that now was a good time to do it because we're going to do a new studio album next year and we thought this would be a good project to have in between and our fans seem to be very receptive and they love hearing from our vault so, it just seemed like the time was right so...”
With the untimely and sudden passing of front man Pat DiNizio, the band had many decisions on their plate; what to do next and should they even do so? Diken explains that through loss; there were some unexpected additions.
“Oh, it was a huge loss and a huge shock to us,” he said with emphasis when asked about Dinizio. “The first experience that we had after Pat passed that indicated we could continue without him; because at first it was an awful lot to process as you might imagine; believe it or not it's going to be five years in December that Pat left us, he passed in December of 2017 and at that point in time we had on our books, a gig at The Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank for January of 2018. So, at first we weren't sure how we were going to proceed with that event which was produced along with Little Steven Van Zandt who was on board for that event and he suggested that we keep the date and have The Smithereens surviving members enlist various lead singers to perform with us; which we did and that's how it became apparent that both Marshall Crenshaw and Robin Wilson; who were among the folks with us that night; that it could very well work and it was kind of a no brainer with Marshall because we knew him for many years and with Robin; it turned out that he had been a very big fan of The Smithereens going back to his younger days. So, he was kind of beside himself and we were happy to find that out and have an opportunity to have him sing with us; there were other vocalists that played with us that night but those were the two that we really felt at home with."
Using dual vocalists is working nicely for the band; will they be playing any of the new, or should I say "Old" material live?
“We haven't worked it up for live performances yet but we're going to very soon. The song “Out of This World” will be the single and there's two or three other songs that we're going to rehearse and perform Iive. I think Marshall will be cool with that; he has been very receptive to all the songs that we’re performing live and it's really become a great fortuitous meeting of minds and spirits and in terms of Marshall and Robin Wilson fronting The Smithereens; we're lucky that we have kindred spirits that are excited about performing with us because it means very much to us because Marshall was somebody that we looked up to a great deal when we were starting out and he was kind enough back then to have us open some shows for him and he also played keyboards on our first album, “Especially for You” on a few songs. So, he and Robin have become members of our extended family; it's really cool and we actually have two gigs in December. We're playing what we're hoping will shape up to be an annual event in our hometown of Carteret, New Jersey. We are playing there on December 3, there's a new venue which opened up; I guess we played what was considered to be the grand opening last December; it’s the Performing Arts Center in Carteret and it's right on the site where; it's funny because it's on the site of a city block where there used to be a candy store where we would go and ride our bikes to and buy comic books and magazines. So, it's really a nice feeling to be able to go back to Carteret and have the love and support from everybody there.”
Do you know what else is really cool? Being someone of notoriety, which The Smithereens very much are and when asked about being in the same category of Jersey musicians like Sinatra or Springsteen, Diken says that despite all these years later, it is still a "Pinch me" moment.
“I do it every time believe it or not,” he said in a very appreciative tone. “You’ve probably heard this from other people but when you're inside the eye of the hurricane it almost doesn't seem like it's you that you're seeing at the rest stop on the Parkway or wherever they now have you. We're in the New Jersey Hall of Fame and there are images of the recipients of that honor in different places; in the Newark Airport and now at the rest stops and billboards on the Garden State Parkway and when you see these things; we played the other day in Clark, NJ and they have these big banners around that town and as I was driving to the show I noticed them and I said, oh that's nice to be promoting us and it had our logo on it but at the same time it's a bit unreal; you know? That's me and the other guys that are being referred to and it's funny because we grew up being and I'm sure you can say the same thing, you grew up being a huge fan of music and it meant everything to you growing up. You’d go to the record store and you’d buy an LP and you couldn't wait to get home and not only play the record but to pour over the cover and just dissect every morsel of information and every little image on the album cover you could and you just lived for music and every week a new record would come out and a new sound on the radio and to be on the other side of that where you're actually contributing to that culture is the stuff dreams are made of. We've been lucky that we're able to do it and the fact that we have fans that our music reaches and they're very receptive to it and they go out of their way to let us know how it resonates with them and what meaning it has to them and the fact that sometimes our music could help them get through the day or through a tough spot in their life; one time, I always like to tell this story because it's so poignant. One time, we were at a hotel in New England I think it was in New Hampshire and we're checking out the day after a gig and the woman behind the desk said, “Oh! You guys are The Smithereens! I wish I could have been at your show last night but I had to work and I wanna tell you that one of my best friends was a big fan of yours but unfortunately, she passed away but what she did request and she does have is an epitaph on her tombstone and it is the lyrics from one of your songs” I mean; how do you react to that? So; it's like wow, OK, I guess it's worth doing this, it's worth all the travel, the time away from our families and everything that goes into it; it's worth doing if you're really reaching people the way the music that we love reached us and spoke to our hearts. So, yeah, it's a gift to be able to do that and I feel it's really important to the world to be able to be entertaining and doing this for a living; it's not just about having fun, it's about enriching people's lives hopefully and from what we get from our fans we are succeeding in that. I know that I looked at music to get me through the day a lot of times and to inspire me so it's wonderful to be able to be doing so.”
So where can we get the new release?
“The best place I guess is officialsmithereens.com, that is probably the best place to look for it. We’ve been wanting to do this for a while and we like the record; we're happy to be able to share it with the world and yeah, it's actually just kind of the tip of the iceberg because we have a lot more in our vaults that we're looking forward to releasing. We were happy doing this together so, there's gonna be a lot more and we'll be working on the material for the new album and that's very exciting and some of it will be written with Robin and Marshall and some of it will just be our own work so yeah, it’s great.”
The band isn't all that captivates Diken's interest, he also has himself on the airwaves as well.
“Yes," he said with a chuckle, "I do a weekly radio/streaming show on WFMU.org called “Denny's Den” and it's on every Wednesday from 2:00 to 4:00 PM but it's archived so anybody that wants to hear it can listen to it anytime; it's there to be had 24/7 and it's not currently affiliated with any college. Years ago, it was the radio station of Upsala College but that stopped a long time ago because that college no longer exists; oh, and it’s listener supported.”
To discover more about The Smithereens' latest release, "The Lost Album," please visit www.officialsmithereens.com .
That's it for this week! Please continue to support live and original music and until next week....ROCK ON!
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