Welcome!

You’ve reached the official webpage for Andy Smash and the Rust Belt Hotrods!

This is our webpage, and welcome to it.  As you may know, we try to keep things as DIY as is reasonably possible. That can make us a tough target to track. Use this page to stay in the loop about everything:  upcoming gigs, radio appearances, new songs, new releases, free downloads, fresh lyrics, and whatever other relevant details happen to cross our sights.  

We’ve got another new, full length CD in the works, due to drop in the near future  It’s technical designation is Si-01, but we’ve been referring to it by its code name AA-BLACKMOON.  Core tracks were recorded live-in-a-room in an underground space deep below our facilities here at Hotrods Central. Vocals and lead guitars are being overdubbed on highly specialized, all-analog equipment in our freshly rebuilt studio upstairs.

Other upcoming projects include Si-02, Si-03, and following right on up to Si-06. See how that works? Each one of these is a more-or-less conceptually complete project in line for completion. It’s all very exciting, but you’ll just have to trust us with that for the time being.

Our Bandcamp page is still right here, although all you really have to do is click the Music button on the menu above.  Bandcamp features our music in a variety of high-quality audio formats, including MP3.  You can purchase entire albums or individual songs, and you can listen to all of it before you buy.  If you want to get back to here once you’re there, you’ll have to use your browser’s back-arrow.

Our ‘touring’ schedule for 2019-2020 is still on the drawing board. As always, we’re looking for gigs at home and abroad, with the ideal being to spread Rochester’s Rock Rep far and wide.  If you hear of anything, let us know.  And we’ll be sure to keep you posted.

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We’re Back. Actually, We Never Left.

OK, so it’s been a while since our last update. Sorry.

Andy here, and I’d like to take responsibility for the small lapse in coverage of the exciting events here at Hotrods Central. It’s not that there’s been nothing going on. It’s that there’s been nothing going on that’s visible from the outside.

In the interest of truth and reconciliation, I’d like to acknowledge my personal power struggle with Reality, and its close friend The Internet. Harsh words were exchanged, and feelings were hurt on both sides. And as usual, it’s you, Dear Reader, who suffers the real harm. I apologize for my relentlessness, with sincerity as deep and heartfelt as the situation allows, which admittedly isn’t very deep.

So anyway, as I mentioned earlier, there’s been all sorts of adventure and nerdery-at-large going on. You just haven’t seen it here. Most of this perfectly fine update and blog material has been pissed away on Facebook by Yours Truly, and of this also I repent.

As a token of my sincere repentance, I intended to include a Bulleted List of Things Which May Soon Be Blathered About, but WordPress won’t let me do that. Instead, let me offer tangible evidence that I’m not power-struggling: rather than spending 3 hours trying to find a way to make WordPress do the thing (leading only to my own frustration and future unwillingness to post), I’m instead going to skip the list entirely and let you find a way to bore yourself instead.

See? A page has been turned… a corner has been turned… a new leaf has been turned… and that’s a 270° metaphorical traverse right there! Here’s to new directions, or old directions… or to me spending more time actually communicating stuff and less time just alluding to it on Facebook.

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BL:BD Cover2.001At long last, it’s finally here:  the Black Light/Black Death EP.  It’s basically a solo effort, which I wrote and tracked during a tumultuous week in late 2012. The “tumult” included a (literal) tropical storm, so Black Light/Black Death was literally recorded just ahead of rising floodwaters.  I used a combination of old-school microphone technique, analog tape, and vintage gear, using the Velvet Underground’s classic White Light/White Heat as a point of reference.  Further revision produced this completed version.  I did the album art myself; Juni Moon and Michael Lasota  helped out with vocals.  The EP is available for download on our bandcamp page– http://andysmash.bandcamp.com –which has been totally revised (and looks pretty cool if I do say so myself).  You can audition the EP for free by clicking the “Music” link above (or by clicking here).  Or you can just use the media player below to check out the opening track, “Black Death Girl.”  I’m really happy with the way it turned out.  Hope you like it too!

–Andy

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The CURSE of the RUST BELT HOTRODS (a recap of our July 27th gig)

I should have known something was wrong by the way I wasn’t totally freaking out before the show.  Pre-gig jitters routinely reach epic proportions ’round here.  But this time I felt oddly relaxed–almost as though I were going to go out with some of my favorite people and perform some of my favorite music.  This alone should have raised internal alarm bells audible even outside my head.  But these systems were strangely mute in the face of an overwhelming peace of mind and actual good mood.  It was creepy, I tell ya.

Little did I know that we were all about to face the Curse of the Rust Belt Hotrods.

Perhaps we should have known that the Universe would find a way to make us pay for our seemingly commonsensical approach to this particular show.  Marcus (of Barbarbar and Clam, both also playing the gig) had offered us the use of his set.  For once, we decided to do the reasonable thing and share.  For percussion, we only brought cymbals, cymbal stands, foot pedal and snare–a kind of bare minimum for a drummer who’s got a particular sound.  (Mark and I share a veteran Mapex Orion drum set for gig duties.  It’s technically mine, so it lives here at Hotrod Central–which means I’m typically the gear-schlep for drums, guitar, and any PA equipment.)

Amie and I packed up the band gear and blithely trundled over to the Monroe/Park Vineyard Community Space on South Clinton, slowing only to merrily curse out the perpetrators of three varieties of traffic idiocy.  We met Mark outside the door.  Alex Bogs (of Bogs’ Visionary Orchestra fame was performing a quiet little set inside.

It’s a small venue.  The occasion was an art opening–various members of an artists’ group based in the Space were displaying their work.  Needless to say, this affected the nature of the gig.  Alex’s portion was quiet.  Load-in of gear is anything but quiet.  Alex’s music is art.  This was an art opening.  Not wanting to be disruptive, we held off ’till he was finished.

This explains why it wasn’t until mere minutes before our turn to play that we noticed the first deal-breaker of the night: I had neglected to bring the distinguished and venerable Doctor Wu.  (For those of you who don’t know, the good Doctor is a 22″ Wuhan China cymbal whose fate has been entwined with mine for a couple of decades now.)  Without Doctor Wu, the drums will just not be right.  So Amie ran back to Hotrod Central to fetch The Doctor.  Barbarbar generously offered to switch spots with us, so the event timing was not interrupted.

Everything was still under control.  It was all good.  We placidly set up our gear, luxuriating in the billows of time presented to us.  And about 30 seconds before Amie returned, I realized that I had neglected to bring a second crucial piece of gear:  the power supply for my effects rig.  Without Doctor Wu, there are no drums.  But without the guitar effects, there’s no gig.  Because we would then have no music.  A rock band without a guitar is… well, a rock band without a guitar is Clam.  But that’s another story.  Our rock band without a guitar is a rhythm section only.  That’s a non-starter.

There was just no way Amie was going to make a second trip.  It was time for me to man up and jog–through sweat-laden night air–to the local 7-11 for extortionately priced batteries.  10 minutes and $20 later, my pedals were powered.  And Mark, clever guy that he is, had already tuned my guitar.

Of course, no good deed goes unpunished.  As we started to play, the input jack on my tuner went squirrely.  I accidentally hooked a pedal up backwards–and of course at the same moment the pedal it was plugged into decided to go intermittent, which made the problem even tougher to sort out.  Eventually, we somehow got the set off to a rocking start.

Then I dropped my pick.  Of course, I was ready for this:  I had four picks taped to the mic stand in front of me.  I calmly reached up and grabbed another.  And the picks–all of them–came off in my hand.  With the tape still holding them together.  I managed to get one of them loose with my teeth.  There was a ball of tape stuck to its business end, so I flipped it around backwards and played that way.  My remaining backup picks were scattered to the four winds.  Fortunately, I was completely bathed in sweat before we even started playing.  So the big ol’ strip of tape that got stuck to my face during this operation didn’t stay there too long.

It gets like this, sometimes.  And the only way out is to roll right on through.  We did.  And the audience rolled right along with us.

Proving that Rochester is the coolest city in the world, our cover of Joy Division’s No Love Lost set people dancing.  That’s right:  here in Rochester, the music of Joy Division makes us dance.  And people kept dancing–through Poison Mind (where I almost passed out from lack of electrolytes), through our newest number, New Zealand (which came off without a hitch), and to the end of Burn it Down (where the floor tom fell over on top of Mark).  It was beautiful: the best audience ever, in the coolest city in the world, supplying the energy needed to transform the dark matter of a sputtering gig into fissionable material.

That fission continued through Clam’s anarchic, guitar-less punk rock set (hold the phone! these guys are awesome).  I’m sure it continued through Battling Skeksis’ set, which I completely missed because I suck (and also because I really was going to pass out if I didn’t find food).  And it was still going strong when we had to duck out during the second half of Kohler’s set.

I think this was the most fun I’ve ever had at a gig.  I say this without exaggeration–and with 20+ years at the musical grindstone in my hip pocket. It was an absolute riot.

A nice man with green hair gave me these during load-out.

This was thee first time I’ve really seen daylight since everything went to sh*t about a year and a half back.  It was our first actual gig in 17 months (Christmas party excluded).  It was a complete catastrophe, and an overwhelming success.  I’m still exhausted.  And let me tell you, it feels good to be back.

We’re gonna do it again, at the Firehouse Saloon this Saturday.  21 & over.  $5.00 cover.    Hope to see you there.

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ANDY SMASH & the RUST BELT HOTRODS at the FIREHOUSE SALOON 8/4/12

Hey, all! We’re playing the Firehouse Saloon on Saturday August 4th. Showtime’s 10:00. We’ll have various CDs, EPs and other goodies at special, this-gig-only pricing.

The Firehouse Saloon
814 S. Clinton Avenue
Rochester, NY 14620

Call 585-319-3832 for details.

21+, $5.00 cover.

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The DEBUT EP by JUDAS JETSKI is now available!

The not-so-long-awaited release of the debut EP from Judas Jetski is now available! (Whattaya want?  It can’t be long-awaited when it didn’t even exist 3 weeks ago.)  It’s about 15 minutes long, 8 songs total, and is entitled “I Don’t Wanna Go To Camp.”

Judas Jetski is a side project of Andy’s.  The EP consists primarily of tracks written and recorded within one 48 hour period, with contributions by a number of local luminaries, and comes with original artwork by Andy.  It’s available on a pay-what-you-like basis.

 

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New Andy Smash release!

The long-awaited Andy Smash AllOne EP has finally dropped!  Described as a love letter to both Rochester, NY and Portland, Oregon, the EP features photographs I took in Rochester’s abandoned subway.  This EP is being released in download-only form, and can be heard right here.  As always, each track is available for purchase separately, or you can buy the whole enchilada for $5.00.

This project began as a cooperative effort between me (Andy) and David Brewer. David operates a ministry called AllOne, which coordinates charitable outreach the St. Johns neigborhood of Portland, Oregon.  It’s like a match made in heaven:  AllOne needed a promotional video, videos need music, and I’m always looking for an excuse to record…

David specifically asked me for music that he might remember from the days when he was my next-door neighbor at seminary in Philadelphia.  Since this wasn’t a band project per se, it made sense for me to develop unfinished material from this era.  So in many ways this EP reaches back to the earliest days of the screechiest Hotrod.

Steven Disagrees recalls the energetic free-for-all of Rochester’s tenth ward during the last decade.  Set ’em Up and Shut ’em Down uses memories culled from countless late-night blasts between Rochester and Philadelphia as a backdrop for a fictional account of a sociopathic street racer.  An instrumental version of this song was supplied to AllOne.

Jim Schreck supplied the sociopathic fretwork for the guitar solo on …Shut ’em Down. He’s also featured prominently on the exuberant instrumental Midlife Crisis Car.   If you like what you’re hearing, you can hear some of Jim’s solo guitar work on YouTube.)

Tongue of Fire began life as a pre-seminary exploration of divine interaction with flawed humanity… but has wound up as an instrumental here.  Some concepts don’t easily fit the three minute format.  We’ll leave that in the capable hands of others.

The dreamy Someday Will Come Again represents a side of my music that doesn’t often see the light of day–a little less frenetic, perhaps?  This song features multiple Jims.   It’s built around a drum track recorded by Jim Schreck and Andy during the Now I Can Die A Happy Man sessions.  That song was abandoned, but the germ for this song was born in a studio jam session with Jim Dolan and me.  It reaches full fruition for the first time here.

The music represented here is only part of the bigger picture–David asked a number of musicians specializing in a variety of genres to contribute.  We’re looking forward to seeing seeing how it all comes together.  Watch this space for further developments!

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We Got Press!

We got press! Gary Schwind reviewed our CD North Country Punk in the LA Examiner. Check it out here at Schwindy’s Indie Music Spotlight.

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