SMIRK Drops New Video, Kicks Off Tour
The band's tour launch coincides with the release of a new visual companion piece.
SMIRK has released a new music video, with the accompanying tour set to begin. Details of the video and the trek were shared in a recent announcement from the band.
Just in time for his East Coast run, Smirk debuts his new video 'Going Off To Die'. Smirk tells, 'The video drops you into a small, strange, and surreal world where -for some reason- I'm playing the Pope. We never wanted the character to have one fixed meaning; he just felt like the right real world character to drop into this tiny handmade world as everything around him slowly falls apart.' Director Brandon Pierce and friends built the entire miniature city by hand and brought it to life with stop-motion animation, giving the whole thing an unsettling, melancholy quality.
'Going Off To Die' is the final single from Smirk's new album Speculative Fiction, just released via Smoking Room. Across the record's 13 tracks, punk mastermind Nick Vicario deals with a new twist on an age-old theme for punk rock: unrest in the suburbs. Instead this version of unrest deals with looking back on past indiscretions and dealing with their repercussions– disruption of the old life, settling into the new and the reflection that comes with it. These thoughtful lyrics and themes, when paired with Vicario's guitar pop confection, makes for a unique juxtaposition.
Growing up in Portland, OR in the early 2000s, Vicario was engrained in the scene that birthed Poison Idea and Wipers, playing in bands at an early age and hob-knobbing with members of Tragedy and Criminal Damage in cover bands and even on the gridiron. At age 12, his first band The Diskords were the toast of Maximum Rock 'n' Roll illuminati, leading to several releases and The Exploding Hearts taking them under their wing. Playing in hardcore bands like Cower eventually led him to indie pop band Wild Ones, who released two records across eight years, the latter of which landed on Topshelf Records. After stints with Public Eye, Cemento, Crisis Man and others, in addition to touring with Surfer Blood and Dreamdecay, Vicario decided to focus his energies on his solo project, Smirk, dropping two albums S/T in 2021 and Material in 2022.
On Speculative Fiction Vicario is restarting personally and musically. For the latter, Smirk is taking a more measured, power-pop approach, and straying away from the speed-y punk that marked earlier releases. The result is decidedly more mid-paced, reflecting the works of Big Star and The Paul Collins Beat as much as early Stiff releases, but filtered through the DIY spirit of Guided by Voices.
Written entirely by Vicario, Speculative Fiction is Smirk's third full-length album overall and calls upon some old friends to help round out the record – names like Ross Farrar (Ceremony), Max Smadja (RIXE), Ryan Mangione-Smith (Advertisement), and current members of the live incarnation of Smirk, who play in bands like Hotline TNT, Poison Ruin, and Pardoner. Recorded mainly in his home studio, Vicario enlisted Ian Rose to record a few tracks from the effort at Daisy Chain studios in Brooklyn while Andy Oswald handled mixing for the bulk of the record.
Live Dates
Jul 29 – Philadelphia, PA - The Pouch
Jul 30 – Richmond, VA - Cobra Cabana
Jul 31 – Baltimore, MD - Ottobar Upstairs
Aug 01 – Brooklyn, NY - Union Pool
Aug 02 – Kingston, NY - KBK Studios
Aug 04 – Turners Falls, MA - Rendezvous
Aug 05 – Boston, MA - Deep Cuts
Aug 06 – Providence, RI - News Cafe
Photo Credit: Emily Vicario | Hi Res + Here
Photo Credit: Emily Vicario | Hi Res + Here
