Features

Summer Stars: Smith Westerns

Here is another of our “Summer Stars,” emerging acts featured in the 2011 Relix Festival Guide who will be making the rounds this summer…

Cullen Omori and Max Kakacek formed Smith Westerns when they were students at Chicago’s Northside College Preparatory High School. But while their classmates were preparing for college and white-collar careers, Omori and Kakacek were studying the roots of punk rock. “We listened to as much music as we could and started making this really bad punk music—but opened for all these touring bands at 17,” says Omori whose younger brother Cameron also plays bass in the group. “We became part of this DIY scene in Chicago. We went to college but we stopped to go on tour with [the band] Girls. We were really poor on the road but they took care of us.”

Life on the road warped the band’s sound into the blend of garage rock, power pop, psychedelia and glam heard on its 2011 sophomore blog hit, Dye It Blonde. “The guys in Girls and [our recent tourmates] MGMT turned us onto music and inspired us to make something that could stand up to what they were doing,” Omori continues. “It is guitar rock but it’s become more refined—more organic—which comes with playing live all the time.” Though the oldest member of Smith Westerns is still in his late-teens, Omori has already learned a few important festival lessons through his years opening for other acts. “It is very different to play in front of 600 people than in front of a few thousand,” he says. “Never get too drunk too early at a festival.”

Appearing at: Sasquatch!, Bonnaroo and more.