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Smog

live in Prague (2005)
Tours

Reviewer Rating:

Contributed by: Jesse
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on July 5th 2005

Whilst me and a few American compatriots were carousing around in the many different cafés of Prague, we happened to stumble upon a flier. "Smog!" one said. "Wow, I always miss them when they come to Chicago!" exclaimed another. "Yeah…" I replied, hoping they wouldn't ridicule me for not knowing Smog. Then through their conversation, I picked out key phrases like "quintessential indie rock from Chicago" and "wow, I really like them." Uh oh. Now I must look really dumb.

Back at our penzion, they played me a few songs. And I liked them. So off to Smog it was.

Now, whatever reason that Smog had for touring Europe and stopping by Prague while I was here, I have no idea. But due to laziness I missed seeing the Mars Volta and the original lineup for Black Sabbath a week earlier. D'oh. I wasn't going to miss this show, even if I had no idea who this band was.

Okay, now onto the show. It was at this place called Palac Akropolis, which had a decently sized stage for Smog to play on. There were no openers. That frustrated me, because I was interested in seeing some Czech groups rock, but hey, whatevs, yo. Bill Calahan and crew took the stage, and stole our hearts.

To describe Smog is slightly difficult. Imagine a nice guy version of Leonard Cohen fronting a country-twinged indie rock group that fully embraces dynamics but rarely strays from its repetitive, droning song structure that serves as the perfect device for Bill to deliver his keynote baritone over, playing with lyrical rhythms and whatnot. Verbose? Probably. Necessary? Probably. Spot on, 100% correct? Probably not. But that's the best I can do.

They played what seemed to be a good amount from the new record A River Ain't Too Much In Love (I looked up the song titles after the show). I know I for sure heard "Drinking At The Dam," "In The Pines," and "I Feel Like The Mother Of The World." They also played my favorite song by them (meaning it was the only one I could remember from the LP that they played me before the show), "Cold Blooded Old Times." Then they played other songs too, totaling a little over an hour's worth of music. And it was great, start to finish.

If Bill's voice and guitar plucking weren't enough to drag you in, the drummer was the most amazing drummer I've seen live. He fully embraced the use of sticks, jazz sticks, mallets, and brushes, integrating them all as he built solid foundations for every song and wowing me with every little fill. The guitarist and bass player (sorry, couldn't find anyone else's names!) were standardly good, but nothing special. It's clear that last night's performance was a dialogue between Bill and the drummer.

So yeah, Smog was pretty damn sweet live, but if you don't have patience for long, repetitive songs, then don't go see them.

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Jesse (July 7, 2005)

John Irving is a talented fellow. See also, A Prayer For Owen Meenie, adapted as Simon Birch.

rkl (July 7, 2005)

the book is fantastic, written by the same guy who wrote the cider house rules.

as far as the movie, starring robin williams, ive heard it was good, but i had to turn it off about 20m in. too many idiosyncracies when compared to the novel.

stevejonestherealbones (July 6, 2005)

rkl,

na. it wasnt really a reference to anything. i just wrote it i guess.

i've never seen/read the world according to garp...is it good/worth it?

- jones

Anonymous (July 6, 2005)

Again, prague is a beautiful city

rkl (July 6, 2005)

jones, was your whore comment a reference to the world according to garp?

Anonymous (July 5, 2005)

If you're interested in Smog, I'd definitely check out Knock Knock first.

ElVaquero (July 5, 2005)

good review.

Anonymous (July 5, 2005)

score is for a review not done by anchors.

stevejonestherealbones (July 5, 2005)

" "Yeah…" I replied, hoping they wouldn't ridicule me for not knowing Smog"

score is for the fact that you cared.

you dont have to know every band in the world to be cool, jesse

now go get a whore

- jones the bones

- stevejones8770@yahoo.com

stevejonestherealbones (July 5, 2005)

"They are some very poor areas in the Czech Republic but Prague seems pretty affluent on the whole.

It's fairly typical of this board bashing anything that isn't American due to most people's general patriotism and belief that anything outside of their homeland doesn't matter.

U-S-A! U-S-A!"

ok asspussyfuck

that person wasnt "bashing" prague by calling it poor. if anything he was bashing jesse and american hipsters who go to poor run down places just because its a hip place to go get coffee. if anything that was a shot at close minded egocentric americans...not prague

it wasnt a "prague is poor. poor cities suck. usa ROCKS"

but now, i havent been to prague and i dont know if its poor or not. and the guy who wrote that prague is run down could be totally wrong. but so are you

- jones the bones

- stevejones8770@yahoo.com

Anonymous (July 5, 2005)

Also prague is a beautiful city, lighten up guys

Anonymous (July 5, 2005)

i dont see how liking sonic youth can be consider bad, more less being call having bad taste......

Anonymous (July 5, 2005)

They are some very poor areas in the Czech Republic but Prague seems pretty affluent on the whole.

It's fairly typical of this board bashing anything that isn't American due to most people's general patriotism and belief that anything outside of their homeland doesn't matter.

U-S-A! U-S-A!

Anonymous (July 5, 2005)

Prague is not a city in horrible shape, there are not homeless people everywhere, and hipsters certainly don't visit every summer to go to art museums and cafes.

They go for the cheap beer like everyone else.

Also, Jaksi Taksi is the best Czech punk band. Check them out: www.jaksitaksi.cz

Jesse (July 5, 2005)

Dude? Homeless people everywhere? A) Have you ever been to Prague? B) Have you ever been to Chicago?

I've ran into maybe 20-30 homeless people here total, and I've been here for 4 weeks. I run into 20-30 homeless people a DAY in Chicago.

I rest my case.

I'm in Prague because that's where my school's writing program goes for all the writing history - Meyrink, Hasek, Kafka, Kundera, Capek. But Prague (and the Czech Republic in general) isn't in sorry shape at all. The Czech Republic just joined the EU not too long ago and unemployment rate is falling, if anything.

And I've always admitted to liking Sonic Youth.

jamespastepunk (July 5, 2005)

Now we have proof that Jesse is a plant from Pitchfork.

Anonymous (July 5, 2005)

Jesse, fuck, i'd just started thinking about you as "just another guy on punknews" instead of an arty indie rock sonic youth loving (but never admits it) pisser.

And now you review a country-tinged indie rock band in PRAGUE?!?!?!

PRAGUE?!?!?! For you who don't know, prague is a city in horrible shape, homeless people everywhere, but hipsters visit every´summer to go to art museums and go to cafés.

Seriously Jesse, you let me down now, totally. Go back to liking poppunk, i liked that side of you.