SMASH PALACE DOING THINGS ON THEIR OWN TERMS RELEASE NEW CD 

By Rob Nagy 

The early 80’s found Philadelphia to be a hot bed of rock-n-roll. The Hooters, Robert Hazard, John Eddie, the A’s and Smash Palace led the pack with many other talented bands and artists following suit. All of these acts received different degrees of attention from major record labels deservedly landing deals right and left. Every time you turned around it seemed as if another Philly band was getting signed. If you had any promise at all Philadelphia seemed to be the place to be. While a select few received significant radio and media exposure “Smash Palace” quietly moved into the ranks of a band on the move and an act to be watched. A cross between U2 and the Psychedelic Furs, they seemed to come out of nowhere landing a major record deal, national exposure on MTV, concerts through-out the U.S. and a future that looked every bit as promising as anyone could have hoped. Everything seemed to be in place to take “Smash Palace” to new heights. 

As an offshoot of the popular Philly band “Quincy”, “Smash Palace” was founded by the Butler brothers, Stephen and Brian. While “Quincy” experienced moderate success, landing a recording contract with Columbia Records and subsequently releasing their debut in 1980, their future was short lived. Three years later, while putting the finishing touches on their follow-up “Quincy” broke-up. “Brian and I were unhappy with the direction of the new record”, says Stephen. “ The relationship we had with the producer was unworkable so we disbanded ‘Quincy’ and formed ‘Smash Palace’ before the record was finished.  We were able to get a new manager and within two months he landed a deal with Epic Records and we went into the studio to do the first ‘Smash Palace’ record”.  With a change in command at Epic and the bands manager struggling with personal issues “Smash Palace” was experiencing lots of instability in an industry that required you to be on your game in order to survive. Somehow “Smash Palace’s” debut managed to sell some 85,000 copies, a respectable number considering their situation, do a video for MTV and tour extensively both on their own as well as the opener for groups like the Talking Heads.  “When you’re in your early twenties, as we were, and you first get a record deal you think you’re going to sell millions of records. The reality, as in our case, can be very different”. After breaking ties with Epic and attempting to sign with Polygram Records, an effort that did not end up working out, Stephen and Brian temporarily folded “Smash Palace” and signed on with EMI as staff songwriters providing some stability for the Butler’s and a place they could continue to hone their craft. “We were having to write for people that we really didn’t like…a bit of prostitution is what it felt like”, recalls Stephen,  “But we hung in there for about five years, later doing another songwriting deal at BMG”. The Butler’s eventually broke ranks with BMG and took some much needed time off from the music business.

By the late 90’s the Butlers returned from their self imposed hiatus establishing their own recording studio where they started collaborating with other musicians while continuing to write at a feverish pace. Stephen worked closely with another Philly artist “Mary Lee Kortes” releasing five cd’s in all under the name of “Mary Lee’s Corvette”. Stephen and Brian’s desire to, eventually, put “Smash Palace” back together never seemed to be too far from their minds and in 1999 “Smash Palace” was, again, a reality. As Stephen recalls, “Brian and I put ‘Smash Palace’ back together with the idea of just doing some writing and recording ignoring the trends and the music business and just doing exactly what we wanted to do.”  In May of 2005 “Smash Palace” played at the legendary Cavern Club in Liverpool, England. A show that would prove to be pivotal to the future of the band as Stephen recalls, “We went on around 9 pm on a Saturday night and the place was packed. We played as if our lives depended on it...the vibes in the place were incredible. We tore it up. No band was allowed to take encores due to tight scheduling with the bands but the concert organizer came up on stage and brought us back to do one more song...it was one of the best shows of my life...the place was going nuts and it seemed like it was 100 degrees on that stage. Unknown to me, there were three different music writers in the club that night they liked what they saw and all three of them contacted Art Herman at Zip Records to tell him about our show. Then Art contacted me and the rest is history...so I guess you could say we were discovered in Liverpool playing the Cavern.”  The relationship between “Smash Palace” and Zip Records was instantly a good match. “When you’re on a major label everyone is so anal about every detail because there’s so much riding on it”, says Stephen. “When we started writing the new songs for the record Brian and I started hearing things the way we wanted to hear them. When I delivered the new record to Zip Records they loved it and thought it was great”.  The result is “Smash Palace: best of “99-‘06” which serves up sixteen of the bands best songs touching on the influences of the Beatles, Squeeze, the Animals and Elvis Costello. Every track is fresh and energetic. From the opening song “Thinking About Her”, which deserves as much airplay as anything on the radio today, “Smash Palace” has given us a solid record with each and every track unique and catchy in it’s own right.  It is hard to put this record down and not give it a listen over and over again. Other standout songs include “Dime Store Lies”, “Juliet To Me”, “Steal Her Thunder”, “Try” and “My New Sensation”.   

Smash Palace has seen lots of changes in a music industry that is no longer willing to take the financial risks and recognize the art as it did when the band first started out. “The climate has changed a lot”, says Stephen. “There’s not nearly the radio station support that there once was. There were also a lot of places to play that actually paid you. I remember when we did our first album 2,000 records came out that year. Last year 37,000 records came out. You can’t possibly listen to them all so everybody is out there shouting at the top of their lungs to be heard so it’s very frustrating in that respect.” With the U.S. music industry in a downward slide at every level “Smash Palace” is looking at a things on a much larger and realistic scope. “The deal we have with Zip Records is international”, says Stephen. “Initially they want to concentrate more on Europe where rock-n-roll is still going well. The rap and country thing, which dominates the charts here, is not as prevalent there”.  With all the pitfalls “Smash Palace” remains optimistic and focused on the essence of what they are truly after.  “I look at what we are doing as being like a painter”, says Stephen. “If I weren’t getting better with my songwriting, better at my guitar playing and better with my singing then I wouldn’t do it. We play music because we enjoy it and feel like we have to do it. When somebody comes up to you and says ‘Your record really meant a lot to me’ then it’s all worth it. There are not a lot of things that people do in life that anyone ever says to them ‘What you did meant something’”.  

On August 8th “Smash Palace” officially released “Smash Palace: Best of ’99 – ‘06” in the U.S., a compilation of the best of “Smash Palace” featuring Stephen Butler on lead vocals and guitar, DyAnne DiSalvo rhythm guitar and vocals, Anthony Bezich on drums, Phil Rizzo on bass. Original member and Stephen’s brother Brian Butler helped write and produce the record. He also performed on the record but is not a part of the touring band. With the album already released in Europe, “Smash Palace” has been playing shows throughout the region to pre-publicize the albums U.S. release.  They most recently played to a capacity crowd at Philly’s Tin Angel.  With little or no air conditioning, the room was a real steam bath. But that didn’t matter as no one left the building while “Smash Palace” was on stage. The foursome put out an intense and captivating set which featured the new album. Smash Palace will play be playing for a live TV studio audience on “The 10! Show August 24, 2006 at 10:00 A.M.  Free tickets can be obtained by contacting Channel 10 directly. Look for “Smash Palace” to return to the Philly area in the fall following a European tour. This is a band on the rise and one not be missed. For more info go to www.smashpalacemusic.com