Smokey Brights
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Smokey Brights

Seattle, Washington, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2011 | SELF

Seattle, Washington, United States | SELF
Established on Jan, 2011
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This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

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Press


"Smokey Brights - 'Taste for Blood' (album stream) (Premiere)"

Right from the minute you first lay eyes on its sleeve art, Taste for Blood intrigues. The name of the album by the Seattle-based Smokey Brights suggests a vampiric theme running throughout the music, but lyrically this is miles from Twilight and its ilk. Like the music of Taste for Blood, the lyrics here are enigmatic and complex. The title track finds the band singing, “I remember / We could read the wind like braille”. Such complex imagery is matched splendidly by the music, which spans a whole gamut of sonic styles, from indie (the catchy title cut) to folk (“West Texas Vampyre”) to blue-eyed soul (“If I Can’t Change Your Mind”). It’s the kind of listen that sidesteps every expectation you could have of it. - Pop Matters


"Seattle Music 2014"

A little bit Death Cab, a little bit Springsteen, Smokey Brights range from the mellow to the big, bold, and rockin’. - Seattle Magazine


"It’s a Toss-Up Between Two Great Live Timberfest Acts Saturday Night"

I’ve long given up on predicting a Next Big Thing among Northwest bands, but the combination of adventuresome risk-taking and universal catchiness on Taste for Blood could really reach beyond state borders in a big way, if given the chance. - The Sun Break


"SHOWCASE: SMOKEY BRIGHTS AND “A TASTE FOR BLOOD”"

"Great band names are hard to come by. Plenty will inspire a nod or a wry smile, but few really punchy ones actually nod to the sound of the band. Smokey Brights is one-in-a-thousand, an evocative phrase that perfectly fits the band that bears it. The five-piece has bright (as in, “intelligent”) lyrics that shift among daylit optimism and fuming noir, always complemented by a full, mature sound that bursts across all registers. It’s hard to not love it, and their first LP, A Taste for Blood, released in late 2014 has been featured by many local critics as a favorite from last year." - Vanguard Seattle


"New Bands At Capitol Hill Block Party – Day 2"

moody and billowing, filled with surfy guitar, nostalgic synth, captivating harmonies, and powerful rhythm and bass, highlighting the band’s influences of 70’s rock, New Wave, shoegaze, and psychedelia. - Best New Bands


"SLUG GOES TO TREEFORT MUSIC FESTIVAL"

Hailing from Seattle, Smokey Brights exist at the angle where pealing bells meet rock drawl. It’s neither sentimental nor intellectual. It is, in short, sublime. More than once the voices of four out of the five members could be heard in harmony, eyes dreamy and chins tilted toward the heavens. Apart from the drummer, they were as like a choir or a band comprising four frontmen, all exuding the same hue of spiritual rigor, at times wiling out in body convulsions when tensions in the song were at a mount. This band, at least for the night, was convinced that rock n’ roll might very well be that that saves us from the dark mouth of time. - Slug Mazazine


"Slug Goes to Treefort Music Festival"

Hailing from Seattle, Smokey Brights exist at the angle where pealing bells meet rock drawl. It’s neither sentimental nor intellectual. It is, in short, sublime. More than once the voices of four out of the five members could be heard in harmony, eyes dreamy and chins tilted toward the heavens. Apart from the drummer, they were as like a choir or a band comprising four frontmen, all exuding the same hue of spiritual rigor, at times wiling out in body convulsions when tensions in the song were at a mount. This band, at least for the night, was convinced that rock n’ roll might very well be that that saves us from the dark mouth of time. - Slug Magazine


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Bio

On a frigid January morning, Seattle quintet Smokey Brights packed every piece of gear they owned into a van and set up a recording studio in a massive barn on a Christmas tree farm in rural Carnation, WA. With the help of Cameron Spies and Elisabeth Ellison from Portland band Radiation City, the band filled their drafty, spooky studio with the sounds of what was to be their debut full length record, “Taste for Blood.” After nine chilly days, stopping only to eat and sleep in a lofted apartment area above the barn, the crew emerged with an enigmatic and complex record.  Rooted in 70’s rock, the band traced surprising lines between new wave, folk, shoe gaze, Memphis soul, psychedelia, and blue color rock and roll. “Taste For Blood” hearkens back to a time when records were less of a collection of attempted singles, and more of holistic emotional journey, a lush landscape to get lost in.

The recording session started off what was to be a huge year for the group. In summer, singer/ guitarist Ryan Devlin and vocalist/ keyboardist Kim West got married, with the rest of the band in the wedding line. The band also brought their AM-pop-magic to a number of the Northwest’s biggest festivals, including Timber! and Bumbershoot. Shortly thereafter, Smokey Brights released “Taste for Blood” to a resoundingly warm reception. The album – self-recorded, self-released, and entirely self-funded (no Kickstarter, no record deal, and no trust fund) – wound up on a number of “best of” lists, including that of DJs Marco Collins, Milo Miles, and Kevin Cole, and earned the band a spot in near constant rotation on KEXP.  The record release show at Seattle’s Tractor Tavern sold out before the doors even opened. The following summer Smokey Brights found themselves playing to even bigger audiences as they were invited to nearly every major festival in the Pacific NW: (Sasquatch, Treefort, Capitol Hill Block Party, and Bumbershoot.)


Despite these successes, the band remains as they have been since their beginnings in 2011: best friends. Bassist Jim Vermillion and drummer Nick Krivchenia have been hard forged brothers in rhythm for over a decade, having met studying audio engineering at Evergreen State. The two have been in bands ever since, including their experimental bass-loop duo Armed With Legs. Lead guitarist Mike Kalnoky and songwriter Ryan Devlin met playing in Seattle punk bands in the mid aughts, where Kalnoky’s melodic and textural playing first caught Devlin’s ear. Devlin and keyboardist Kim West have been playing music together at home for years and are delighted that their naturally harmonizing voices are reaching greater audiences.  Through the countless hours of collaboration that has forged the band, the members have become even closer as friends. If Smokey Brights appear to be having a better time than anyone else in the room, it’s because they probably are.

Band Members