Appropriately, we last spoke with Pop/Rock chanteuse April Smith in April in the Atlas Plugged Earth Day edition, as she & her band,
The Great Picture Show, were about to embark on an eco-friendly tour in Mr. Belvedere – a van she converted to run on veggie oil. Now back home re-tooling her van, April discusses life on the road…
AP: You’ve been mostly a solo act with pick-up bands for the past
5 years, now you’re billed as April Smith and The Great Picture Show – who’s in the band and who does what? AS: This lineup is really solid though we’ve only been playng together for about 6 months. I’m vox and rhythm guitar; Marty O’Kane takes the lead guitar; Stevens plays bass; Brandon Lowry tickles the keys &
Elliot Jacobson is on drums. The music is sort of raucous, fun and jangly…totally retro pop. If the Kinks produced the Andrews Sister, it would sound like this.
AP: How does your group divide the business duties? AS: My manager does a lot of the business stuff so I don’t have to deal with that. Sometimes my manager books and sometimes my booking agent gets the shows. It all depends on who has the relationship with the talent buyer.
And we have a street team that promotes and does all kinds of fun stuff. I like to keep a relationship with my fans so I’m always talking to them online or after shows. The guys are pretty popular with the ladies so I’m lucky for that.
AP: What’s a key consideration before you accept a gig? AS: Sound!!!! It has to have good sound. It also has to be a place that
I think my fans will enjoy coming to. I played a club a few months back where they kicked everyone out at 10 to have a dance party. Rude.
Never playing there again. And I don’t like playing to people that are seated. My music makes people want to get up and dance. If they are sitting, it’s not going to be as much fun.
AP: In April you set out on your first bio-fuel tour how far did you get? AS: We got to Chicago and back and did half of our trip on veggie!
It was awesome. It helped us get to know our system and learn about modifications we need to make to have things run properly. So this summer, we’re staying home to do some pimping on our veggie bus,
Mr. Belvedere, as we call him, to get him ready for the fall and cold winter. So we’ve kept our summer shows limited to NJ and NYC until he’s ready to go!
AP: What was it like touring for the first time running on veggie oil? Any mishaps? AS: Surprisingly, it was really easy. We had people tripping over each other to give us oil and everyone was super nice. The only problem is parking...Mr. B is a big dude. You feel better about touring when you're not polluting as much. It also inspires you to reduce your carbon footprint in other ways. I'm thinking about installing solar panels to power and charge our electronic devices. I want us to cut down on waste in general as a band. I'm buying everyone water bottles that filter tap water so we can cut down on plastic bottles. Plus, I hate cleaning up after my band. Boys! Jeez!
AP: What’s your plan for the fall – will it be your usual route or will you be hitting new areas? AS: All new areas for sure. We’ll probably do some mini tours in the fall. I’d like to avoid snow and cold temperatures at all costs so maybe we’ll do a west coast residency. And, I have some fans in Denmark that have been working on getting me out there too. We’ve been playing more shows and bigger shows. We just had a big show with Pete and J at the Mercury Lounge and we're playing Toms River Fest in August with
Carrie Underwood and Gavin De Graw. I know...totally not the same style but it's a big show so we're happy to play. Plus, Toms River is my hometown. We're also doing a Rocks Off Boat cruise on September 6th. We play a show on a boat that cruises around Manhattan! I can't wait for that!
AP: How does a veggie-fueled tour bus affect your budget? AS: Running a veggie bus is a lot less expensive than a regular bus.
But there are still costs involved. You still have to run it on diesel at start up and shut down. And you need to figure in road tax too. But it’s so much less expensive than gas or diesel. A week on the road can cost you $1,000 to 5,000.
AP: You seem to have a strong street team - how do you keep them motivated? AS: We give rewards for the person who does the most promotion.
We track the flyers and see who’s been posting the most and they get rewards. Our t-shirts are really everyone’s favorite.
AP: Are you finding that audiences are getting smaller because less people can afford to go to shows? AS: Not really. We encourage our fans to carpool and use mass transit.
AP: Do you think that live music is thriving or just surviving? AS:Depends on who you are. But I think that if a band sucks live,
they are doomed. Auto tune can’t save them anymore. People aren’t going to waste money on studio bands anymore.
