Andrew Smith Disaster

ANDREW SMITH DISASTER

Meet Andrew Smith. Just your average chain-smoking, guitar-wielding, ex-con rocker from the uber-liberal green state of Vermont. He's got a big mouth, a big shaved head and a big fat cat named Johnny Cash. Underlying everything else, a long list of big mistakes and opportunities missed that would cause most of us to just pack it in. Not Andrew Smith. He's just getting started.

Smith’s life, like many of ours, has been pockmarked by missteps and misfortune that have inexorably led to great successes…each greater than the previous. And that's what keeps him going. Life's disasters.

Disaster first struck when the then-college student found $30 grand mis-deposited in his checking account; and spent it. Three years later the FBI wanted it back. Andrew didn't have it and instead traded six months in a federal prison in Pennsylvania. There, with too much time on his hands, Smith began writing the songs that would eventually form the seven album catalog of a band called Chin Ho!, the quirky granola-rock band (and Vermont institution) that Andrew led for over a decade.

During the years of the band’s New England prominence, Chin Ho! toured relentlessly -- playing close to 1000 shows in just over a decade -- and staggered from near-hit to near-miss. The band got great press everywhere they went. Radio stations (both college and commercial) enthusiastically supported the band, especially the last single, the controversial "I Wish I Was a Girl," which brought the band to the pinnacle of its acclaim.

But Andrew had had enough. Realizing that Chin Ho! was not the best vehicle for the expression of his unique narrative voice, he called it quits on the band he had led since 1991. Smith’s departure coincided with more personal disasters (Andrew's dad had a heart attack, he broke his hand in five places, and - despite being a rock 'n' roll cliche - a drummer died). So, for three years, he virtually imprisoned himself in his basement, refusing even to answer the phone. He disconnected himself from the outside world. And, during this self-imposed exile, he made the most progress ever with his music; teaching himself to play the guitar with a broken hand and taking assertive control of his craft. He did what he had to do: he wrote himself out of an emotional black hole. And, his solitary confinement sparked the songs that would mark the beginning of something new… the very reflective, infective and above all, inspiring -- Andrew Smith Disaster.

With Andrew Smith Disaster, the artist that succeeded in licensing compositions to numerous films and television programs including WB's Dawson's Creek, MTV's Road Rules and The Real World, and ABC's original Making The Band is primed for a renewed effort to reach the platinum ring. Andrew has taken control of his musical destiny by focusing entirely on his songwriting and forming a new band that finally makes the music he hears in his head. The new band rocks -- featuring Smith on acoustic guitar and some new friends on organ/piano, electric guitars, bass and drums. And Smith’s lyrics have taken on a whole new clarity and power, conveyed by his ‘burlap fog’ ‘Eddie Vedder meets Neil Diamond’ voice. This is one disaster that Smith should be proud of. This disaster was meant to be.

“THE NEVER WILL BEs” is the first taste of the unique sound of Composted Americana Rock With Attitude as created by Andrew Smith Disaster.