Smooch - A Force To Be Rockin' With

SMOOCH is a rock'n'roll four piece from Melbourne, Australia.

Their debut full length, the aptly titled "A Force To Be Rockin' With" was initialy released in Australia on Legless Records in 2022 but this was so damn hard to purchase in Europe. So the German label WANDA Records made everybody in Europe a very huge favor by releasing it here as well.

The band describes itself as a mix of Kiss and The Runaways. And this is actually what you get. They have the riffs and they have the groove. And most of all, they have a great female singer. What more do you want? Purchase this at all cost!

And one more thing: you will read below that they cover Slade “Gudbye T’ Jane”. I can only hope they will include this on their sophomore album. That'll be the icing on the cake!

1) For the viewers of this blog who would not know you, What would you tell about your musical background to introduce Smooch? Can you also introduce all the members of the band.

Hi! Adam here, I play guitar and do backup Vocals. Ciarn my partner in life and crime is the lead vocalist & bassist, Steve whacks the tubs & and Mitch wails on 2nd guitar. Other bands we’ve played or play in include, Drunk Mums, Reaper, Red Red Krovvy, Rubber Room, Meat, Mesa Cosa, Dumb Punts. All of which don’t sound anything like SMOOCH, the purpose of this band was to get out of our comfort zone to push ourselves creatively and physically.

2) About your debut full length album "A Force To Be Rockin' With", what can you tell about the recording process? Was this a "live" in the studio recording or a track by track recording with lots of overdubs?

We recorded Drums, Bass & Rhythm Guitars all together on a 70’s Neve Console, the same used for Australian greats AC/DC & Cold Chisel, we then added double-tracked guitar solos, Vocals and a few little percussion things afterwards. We like to keep it live as possible to honour the 70’s feel of our predecessors.

3) Do you use the nowadays digital recording technology or do you only work with analog machines in analog studios? Have you recorded all your records in the same way or are there any changes in the recording process lately?

Our first 7” was done by me in the lounge room of the house we all lived in at the time. I used to record alot of bands but only really using Pro Tools & we worked on the songs for almost a year before recording so just wanted to smash something out and release it on cassette dubbed by ourselves as more of a PROMO copy which seemed to be a common thing in the past. 

For the LP we wanted to use analogue but the cost of doing so wasn’t in our budget, thankfully the Neve console we used was from the ’70s and was one of the first solid-state consoles so it still had a super warm sound.

4) How would you describe the music you are playing? 

Hard Rock, Proto-Metal & Early Glam

5) What is your favorite topic/topic that comes easily when you write the lyrics to a new song?

I think that the main thing for me personally is for the sounds of the words to be important before the message. For example, our song Glitter Thugs instantly paints a picture of a gang covered in sequins. Ciarn is the main writer of lyrics in the band though so I can’t speak for her. Alot of our topics include Gender Equality, Politics & others are more about rockin & havin a good time. Its important to have that balance. 

6) Do you have a new video on youtube featuring a track from the newly released LP?? 

We have a video for Feminine Touch which is the first track off the album. Wild Rose did an amazing job of capturing the look we are going for and understanding what we wanted in general.

      

7) What can concert goers expect at a Smooch gig? Are you playin' any famous cover songs during the concert? 

Heads boppin, boots stompin, butts boogin, wailin solos, thunderous drums and powerful vocals. We have covered Hector “Bye Bye Bad Days” & , we’ve worked on doing a priest and angels cover and plan to do some more but haven’t gotten round to it.

8) Are there any bands in Australia today you consider yourself close to, musically speaking?

The short answer is ROT TV & STREET SWEEPER. I think what we do is so specific that it’s hard to lump us in with other bands.  People see the image and think GLAM, oh yeah! But Hair Metal sucks and hate it when we are referred to that side of the genre.  

9) To what kind of music did you listen to as teenagers? What were your favorite bands as a teenagers? Name 3 bands that you consider still have an influence on your own work today.

I grew up listening to punk, grindcore & and death metal. Couldn't tear me away from bands like Ramones, Death or Black Flag so I can’t really say that any of that has influenced Smooch. The 3 main bands I think that Influence us are Kiss, The Runaways & Judas Priest, The Sweet, Girlschool. I know thats 5 ya lucky I stopped there.

10) What are the plans for for 2024 as far as Smooch is concerned? Do you guys plan to come over to Europe to promote the record?

What we plan to do is finish writing and eventually record our next album and I’m sorry to say but I don’t think we’ll be touring overseas until that comes out. We all play in other bands so we need to focus on those outputs. We take our time with Smooch cos we want it to be the best it can be.

11) Anything you wanna add?

Boogie Woogie All Night Long

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