The Smell
Encyclopedia
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
/noise
Noise
In common use, the word noise means any unwanted sound. In both analog and digital electronics, noise is random unwanted perturbation to a wanted signal; it is called noise as a generalisation of the acoustic noise heard when listening to a weak radio transmission with significant electrical noise...
/experimental
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
venue in Downtown
Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, United States, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area...
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. The Smell, notable for its DIY ethic
DIY ethic
The DIY ethic refers to the ethic of self-sufficiency through completing tasks oneself as opposed to having others who are more experienced or able complete them for one's behalf. It promotes the idea that an ordinary person can learn to do more than he or she thought was possible...
, is home to many of the area's avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
performers and artists. A few who are known as Smell "regulars" include Abe Vigoda
Abe Vigoda (band)
Abe Vigoda is a punk rock band based in Los Angeles, California, but are originally from Chino, California; a city in the Inland Empire. They frequently perform at The Smell. The May 2008 issue of The Fader magazine features an interview with the band....
, Anavan, Ancestors
Ancestors (band)
Ancestors is a five-piece psychedelic/progressive rock/doom metal ensemble residing in Los Angeles.-Biography:Justin Maranga, Nick Long and Brandon Pierce began a three-piece project in the summer of 2006, then shortly after added Englishman Chico Foley, who had met Brandon shortly after taking up...
, BARR
Brendan Fowler
Brendan Fowler is a musician and visual artist, best known for his work under the moniker BARR, based in Los Angeles. He is a regular performer at The Smell, a DIY music venue. He also co-runs Doggpony Records and is a co-editor of ANP Quarterly - an Orange County based arts and culture...
, Carla Bozulich
Carla Bozulich
Carla Bozulich is an American musician based in Los Angeles, known for her work as the lead singer, lyricist and founder of both The Geraldine Fibbers and and as a founding member of Ethyl Meatplow. Her 2006 album, Evangelista, was released by Constellation Records, that label's first release by a...
, Captain Ahab
Captain Ahab (band)
Captain Ahab is an electropop duo based in Los Angeles, California. They refer to their sound, a DIY take on dance music, as ravesploitation. The band is made up of Jonathan Snipes and Jim Merson....
, David Scott Stone
David Scott Stone
David Scott Stone is a musician who has recorded and toured with artists like The Melvins, Unwound, Fantômas, The Locust, Jello Biafra, Keiji Haino, Mike Patton, Adam Jones , Merzbow, Masonna, Big Business, No Age, Joe Lally and others. He is currently a member of LCD Soundsystem...
, Hawnay Troof
Hawnay Troof
Hawnay Troof is the electronic indie solo project of Vice Cooler formed in late 2001.Regardless of the bands American punk and electronic background, many untraditional ideas have been incorporated into its sound...
, Health
HEALTH (band)
Health is an American noise rock band from Los Angeles, California. The band's 2007 release with Crystal Castles charted at position nine in the UK indie singles chart.- History :...
, Laco$te, Lavender Diamond
Lavender Diamond
Lavender Diamond is a Los Angeles-based Folk/country-pop quartet known for its light-hearted, often winsome sound; its simple, romantic lyrics; and the charismatic, whimsical stage presence and ethereal vocals of frontwoman Becky Stark.-History:...
, Lucky Dragons
Lucky Dragons
Lucky Dragons is an experimental music group consisting of Luke Fischbeck and Sarah Rara. Based in Los Angeles, California, the band are noted for their unusual sound, described as having the ability to make "'everyday sounds' become alluringly other"....
, The Mae Shi
The Mae Shi
The Mae Shi are an experimental punk band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2002.-History:The band was formed by Tim Byron and Ezra Buchla, who had known each other for years, having spent time growing up in the Los Angeles suburb of Claremont together—Jeff Byron and Buchla were classmates at...
, Mika Miko
Mika Miko
Mika Miko was a band formed in 2003 in Los Angeles, California. In 2004 they gained local popularity for their frenetic live performances. Featuring Victor Fandgore , Jet Blanca , Michelle Suarez, Jessica Clavin, and Jon Erik Edrosa, the original line up of the band made its first demo CD-R, its...
, Moses Campbell, No Age
No Age
No Age is a two-person American indie rock group consisting of guitarist Randy Randall and drummer/vocalist Dean Allen Spunt. The band is based in Los Angeles and is currently signed to Sub Pop records...
, Pocahaunted
Pocahaunted
Pocahaunted was a psychedelic/drone/dub band based in Los Angeles, California founded in 2005 by Amanda Brown and Bethany Cosentino.-History:...
, Silver Daggers
Silver Daggers
Silver Daggers were an American Synthpunk/noise rock band formed in 2003. Known for combining intense, atonal music with post-apocalyptic political ideas, they form part of the circle of musicians in close affiliation with The Smell.-Discography:...
, Thrones
Thrones (band)
Thrones is the solo project of bassist Joe Preston.-Biography:Thrones began in 1994 with an untitled cassette on the Punk in My Vitamins? label. He soon released the "Reddleman" single. In 1996, Thrones signed to Communion Records to issue the full-length album Alraune...
, Upsilon Acrux
Upsilon Acrux
Upsilon Acrux is an American progressive rock band from Los Angeles, originally from San Diego, California.-History:Upsilon Acrux first appeared on record on a 1998 compilation entitled Trummerflora 2. Soon after they contributed a song to a compilation entitled Before the Pirates Came. They went...
and XBXRX
XBXRX
XBXRX is an American punk band formed in 1998 in Mobile, Alabama.Their early sound very new wave-influenced, but is now more improvised and deconstructed, moving away from using the synthesizers that typify new wave. They are a collective with a revolving cast of musicians, including Steve...
. Some of these bands are gathering a devout following nationally and have reached high levels of critical acclaim, including Smell "graduates" No Age
No Age
No Age is a two-person American indie rock group consisting of guitarist Randy Randall and drummer/vocalist Dean Allen Spunt. The band is based in Los Angeles and is currently signed to Sub Pop records...
. The venue is maintained by Jim Smith, one of the four original organizers of the club, a constantly evolving group of volunteers, and the Danny and Frank security street team.
The Smell continues in the tradition of Los-Angeles-based underground
Underground music
Underground music comprises a range of different musical genres that operate outside of mainstream culture. Such music can typically share common values, such as the valuing of sincerity and intimacy; an emphasis on freedom of creative expression; an appreciation of artistic creativity...
clubs such as The Masque
The Masque
The Masque was a small punk rock club in central Hollywood, California which existed intermittently from 1977 to 1979. It is remembered as a key part of the early L.A. punk scene.-History:...
and The Jabberjaw. Aside from its primary function as a live music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
and performance art
Performance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
space, The Smell hosts a library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
, a vegan
Veganism
Veganism is the practice of eliminating the use of animal products. Ethical vegans reject the commodity status of animals and the use of animal products for any purpose, while dietary vegans or strict vegetarians eliminate them from their diet only...
snack bar and a gallery space. The venue predates the conception of the Gallery Row
Gallery Row, Los Angeles, California
Gallery Row is a district in Downtown Los Angeles designated by the City Council in 2003 to promote the concentration of art galleries along Main Street and Spring Street and to create a thriving, pedestrian-friendly, culturally abundant, urban neighborhood...
district in which it is located. The Smell and the relatively new Gallery Row both border Skid Row.
History
The Smell was founded by Ara Shirinyan, Jarrett Silberman, and Jim Smith as one of the few all-ages art/performance spaces in Los Angeles, after the demise of two local venues, The Jabberjaw and The Impala Cafe, during the same week in late 1997. The Smell opened just a short time later, on January 8, 1998. It was originally located by the intersection of Magnolia and Lankershim in North HollywoodNorth Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
North Hollywood is a district in the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California, along the Tujunga Wash. It is bounded on the south by Moorpark Street and the Ventura Freeway, on the southwest by Burbank Blvd...
, but when the cost of rent rose during the NoHo Arts District
NoHo Arts District, Los Angeles, California
The NoHo Arts District is a new Los Angeles community, located near Valley Village, Burbank, Toluca Lake, Universal City and North Hollywood, that is home to contemporary theaters, art galleries, cafes, and shops. The community is generally bounded by Hatteras Street to the North, Cahuenga Blvd to...
boom in 1999, the venue relocated to cheaper Downtown Los Angeles. Shirinyan gave up his ownership before the venue's move, so Silberman, Smith, and Mac Mann constructed the new space. Silberman left in late 2000, leaving only Smith to carry on with its maintenance. The venue continued to thrive, serving as a community hub for punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
, experimental
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
, noise
Noise music
Noise music is a term used to describe varieties of avant-garde music and sound art that may use elements such as cacophony, dissonance, atonality, noise, indeterminacy, and repetition in their realization. Noise music can feature distortion, various types of acoustically or electronically...
and weirder electronic music fans, underage and otherwise. However, fire-code violations forced the club's closure in February 2003. Instead of shutting down for good, Smith, now its sole owner and its only full-time employee, used his own money and worked with volunteers to renovate the venue. Since reopening in September 2003, benefit shows help keep the space open and up to code.
The building along with Jim Smith, Kyle Mabson, and Imagymnist, were all featured in the video for Connection, a song by Hawnay Troof
Hawnay Troof
Hawnay Troof is the electronic indie solo project of Vice Cooler formed in late 2001.Regardless of the bands American punk and electronic background, many untraditional ideas have been incorporated into its sound...
. The video went on to become the number 2 indie video of 2008 on MTV2, number 1 on MTVU , and was featured on VH1 and IFC.
In 2009 a DVD Live at the Smell was released, featuring live performances in the Smell by the bands No Age
No Age
No Age is a two-person American indie rock group consisting of guitarist Randy Randall and drummer/vocalist Dean Allen Spunt. The band is based in Los Angeles and is currently signed to Sub Pop records...
, Foot Village
Foot Village
Foot Village is a tribal noise rock band from Los Angeles, consisting of four drummers of which two also do the vocals.Band members Brian Miller and Grace Lee come from the band Gang Wizard, Josh Taylor was in Friends Forever....
, Pre
Pre (band)
Pre, often written as PRE, is a British noise rock band on Skin Graft Records and Lovepump United. It is based in London and was formed around 2005 with singer Akiko Matsuura, known for taking the stage in only her underwear and extensive stage diving. Pre includes former members of Todd and Seafood...
, The Mae Shi
The Mae Shi
The Mae Shi are an experimental punk band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2002.-History:The band was formed by Tim Byron and Ezra Buchla, who had known each other for years, having spent time growing up in the Los Angeles suburb of Claremont together—Jeff Byron and Buchla were classmates at...
, Ponytail
Ponytail
A ponytail is a hairstyle in which most or all of the hair on the head is pulled away from the face, gathered and secured at the back of the head with a hair tie, clip or similar device, and allowed to hang freely from that point. It gets its name from its resemblance to the undocked tail of a...
, Abe Vigoda
Abe Vigoda
Abe Vigoda is an American movie and television actor. Vigoda is well known for his portrayal of Sal Tessio in The Godfather, and for his portrayal of Detective Sgt. Phil Fish on the sitcom television series Barney Miller from 1975–1977 and on its spinoff show Fish that aired from February 1977 to...
, High Places
High Places
High Places is a band originating from Brooklyn, NY, recently relocated to Los Angeles, CA. The band is a duo comprising multi-instrumentalist Rob Barber and vocalist Mary Pearson.-History:...
, Gowns, BARR
Barr
-Places:* Barr, Ayrshire, a village in Scotland* Barr, Bas-Rhin, a commune of the Bas-Rhin département in France* Barr Township, Daviess County, Indiana, US* Barr Township, Cambria County, Pennsylvania, US-Companies:...
, Health
HEALTH (band)
Health is an American noise rock band from Los Angeles, California. The band's 2007 release with Crystal Castles charted at position nine in the UK indie singles chart.- History :...
and Captain Ahab
Captain Ahab (band)
Captain Ahab is an electropop duo based in Los Angeles, California. They refer to their sound, a DIY take on dance music, as ravesploitation. The band is made up of Jonathan Snipes and Jim Merson....
.