The Smog
Contenders Boardshop
Orange, Calif.
December 28, 2018
Tear Down: A Q&A With The Smog
Dean, drums/vocals; Cameron, bass/vocals; Zeven, guitar
So tell me about the back story behind the band name?
Dean: We all met online and we had always been going to the same shows. We knew all the same bands and we said we should jam sometime. We all just instantly connected.
Cameron: The meaning behind the name the simplest way I can put it is the pollution of the world, whether it’s TV or actual pollution. It means a lot.
And you’re based out of Orange County?
D: Orange. I set up the shows most of the time. In the beginning, no one really knew who we were, but I knew a lot of people at venues. People who were down to host shows, so I just started throwing all of our shows, getting bands out here and including us in the lineup.
What’s the most irritating or challenging thing about throwing a show?
D: The most irritating thing is just you can’t be in 10 places at once. You want to be setting up and talking to bands and helping them out, but you also want to make sure everything’s going well.
C: And you’re also trying to have a good time at the same time. Worrying about all that stuff, kills it for two seconds.
D: Yeah, but it’s all worth it because I get to play.
How would you describe your sound?
C: It sounds like the smog. That’s literally – it’s smog. It’s the pollution of sound.
D: we all have so many different influences when we were trying to flow things in together when we were jamming, that it just turned into this weird cacophony of noise.
C: And we somehow made it work.
D: We went through a lot of practices. We practiced a year before we even started this.
C: We tried out so many different ideas. My dumb ass, I tried to play guitar in a different tuning than what Zeven played in because we were trying to do something different.
D: We were striving for uniqueness.
What’s on tap for next year?
D: Well, here’s the thing about Smog is that we’re just returning for a one time few days, or however many shows I can mange to throw or find for a month because Cameron is actually in the Marines. He is only out for a month right now and then he’s going to go to the School of Infantry. So we can’t really make that work because, being a three-piece band, missing a member is like ...
C: It’s the death of it.
D: Plus, since we all connected, it’d be weird to replace him.
C: You can pretty much blame me for killing the band.
D: No because he [Zeven’s] moved to Flagstaff, too. He’s going pursue a medical career and then I’m over here in Orange County.
When will you get out?
D: Well, he’s got a six-year contract.
C: Depending on where I’m stationed – if I’m at Camp Pendleton, then I could just drive up from San Diego on weekends.
D: We’re all good friends and we stay in touch. So no matter what, we know we’re going to be together again.
C: The past three months we somehow worked out staying connected and that’s a while without seeing each other. And we’re going to have to go for a longer time, but we’re all so close. That bond isn’t going to go away and that drive for playing music isn’t.
D: I think it’ll always be there.
C: That’s never going to change. Mark my fucking words. We’ll be back again, whether it’s next week or six years or even 20 years. We’re going to knock everyone’s socks off. We’ll knock everyone on their ass.