| Chapters of DAN SMITH from THE DEAR & DEPARTED and 'L.A. Ink'... |
| Written by Sarah Mudgway |
| Sunday, 09 January 2011 23:22 |
 The England born, New Zealand raised, now California-living DAN SMITH is a force to be reckoned with as one of New Zealand’s biggest (and busiest!) underground exports. Not only does he lend his voice to up and coming rock band THE DEAR & DEPARTED, he has also crafted his amazing talents as a tattoo artist, and for the past two years has shared his work with the world via his role on the hit television show 'L.A. INK'. With a quick visit back to New Zealand for the New Plymouth Tattoo & Art Festival, Coup De Main was lucky enough to sit down with the man himself to talk about music, art, creative influences and crazy tour stories... COUP DE MAIN: For those that aren't already familiar with you, could you please introduce yourself? THE DEAR & DEPARTED - DAN SMITH: My name is Dan Smith. I am a tattoo artist and I also sing in a band called The Dear & Departed. I have lived in Los Angeles, California, for the past seven years - but I’m a Kiwi and I’m happy to be home! I came back for a big tattoo convention in New Plymouth which was a huge success, and Angelo at Deadboy Records have put out our brand new EP called ‘Chapters’, so it’s all on and very exciting! CDM: And you also tattoo... DAN: Yeah, I’m a tattoo artist. I started here in NZ and learnt with the guys from Sacred Tattoo, with Dean Parkin. Then I moved to Australia for a couple of years and jumped into a busy shop there. Then from there I moved to America. About one and a half to two years ago, I started doing the TV show 'L.A. Ink' with my friend Kat Von D and I’ve done three seasons so far. CDM: How would you describe The Dear & Departed to someone who has never listened to your music before? DAN: Well, I think we all have a definite love of English music, maybe like an older style of new-wave, indie music. A lot of old Manchester bands, Factory Records bands that we all love. Our guitarist is from Liverpool so there is a splash of that. The other two are from the East Coast in the U.S. and we’re all old punk kids who grew up on punk and hardcore. CDM: You’re signed with Equal Vision Records in the 'States - what’s it like being signed to a label who has been the home to so many successful bands? DAN: It’s amazing. The music industry is so crazy now and it’s constantly changing, so it’s kind of hard to have faith in a lot of people as it's changing and that’s just how it goes. So just to know that the people you’re involved with genuinely like your band and genuinely are supportive and obviously have a great track record with bands you grew up with... it’s really cool. Obviously there’s a lot of hard work that you have to put into it yourself, you know, it’s not like anybody on any label is kicking back anymore. It’s a lot more peace of mind [for us] than [being signed to] any major or being on a newer label. CDM: Equal Vision always seems like a label who let their band retain their own creative style... DAN: 100% and that’s how it should be. Their heart is in the right place and it always has been. They never started it for money, it’s just been a platform for bands to express themselves and do what they do. CDM: Has being signed with them impacted on your day to day life as a band? DAN: Not really, it’s just having that faith in people. I’ve known one of the guys for a long time, so it takes it back to basics. It’s more about friendship and good music and people understanding each other, rather than: "Oh these guys might look crazy or this guy is a new born baby and singing already and can make me money."  CDM: Tour stories! Do you have a crazy The Dear & Departed tour story? DAN: Definitely. The scariest tour story I have is [from] at the beginning of the year - we toured with Alkaline Trio and Cursive and it was super awesome. It couldn’t have gone better for us. But in New Jersey there was insane weather, a giant storm day after day. We played at this venue which has been there forever in the middle of this bowl-like parking lot. So we get there and there’s like one foot of water there already and a river next to the venue - and of course the crazy weather meant the river bank broke and all the water just flooded into the venue like a bowl. So we watched the van and trailer become halfway submerged. We had our stuff on-stage and had sound-checked and everything and then some guy opened up the door to the venue and water just came flooding in and filled up the venue. So we were literally arm-pit deep in this venue. We had to shut the electricity off and we got evacuated to upstairs and we were just looking out into the car-park to see our van floating. The fire department came and we all had to be evacuated - there was a pregnant lady there, an old person, just like something you would see on TV and we were in it. We got zip-lined out to safety and luckily the water came a couple of inches short of the stage, so we managed to keep our gear, and the seals on the van worked well so it wasn’t that wet and we were able to just carry on. CDM: Do you think your involvement with 'L.A. Ink' has impacted the band? DAN: It’s made people very aware of the band, whether they like it or not. There's been a couple of episodes where the show has come to a show we’re playing and that came across well. I’m always hesitant because TV has a way of making things seem weird or whatever, but there was that episode when Kat came to the studio when we were recording and hung out for a minute, so yeah I guess people are more aware which is cool. If you’re a creative person you do it first and foremost to be creative and because you need to, and secondly if people can appreciate it then it makes you feel better for doing it. I’m sure there’s also a few people who see the show and think I’m not really in a band so when they see it on the show it’s like: oh he actually is. CDM: What's next for The Dear & Departed? DAN: We just finished recording our full-length, [now we're] just waiting for some guest vocalists - Davey from AFI and Robin Wilson from Gin Blossoms which is cool. Then it’ll be out in March/April so we’ll set up a lot of tours - [we] definitely want to try get down here [to NZ] sometime. CDM: Speaking of Davey, you’ve done guest-vocals on a few AFI albums. How did that come about? DAN: I met him maybe seven years ago when I just moved to the U.S.. I was going to a show and needed to get to L.A. and the venue was about 30 miles away. He was recording and he just offered me a lift. We had mutual friends, and I was just like: man this is crazy because I have an AFI tattoo... CDM: Did you tell him about your tattoo? DAN: Yeah totally, I believe in being honest with that kind of stuff. It’s not really just a fan thing if you just have respect. Living in NZ obviously we’re so far away from everything, and I think it just means a lot more if you come from here. Getting to travel and meet people who you’ve dug their music for a long time is super cool and I just tripped out that before too long you eventually end up meeting these people as you just do the same things as each other, just in a different place. So since then we’ve become like best friends.  CDM: You got into tattooing at Sacred in Auckland, do you think that influenced your style? DAN: 100% completely. Dean was the best influence I could have asked for and the greatest thing about it was that I didn’t even know it at the time. I was just young and wanted to do tattoos and be crazy. But him and his work ethic and Dan Anderson who worked there as well, it took it from being about something that could have been totally different, to what was literally sacred. Awesome friendship, awesome artwork, and I feel very lucky to have got that head start. You always have to work hard and do it yourself, which is kind of why I moved to Australia, but as far as my foundations, definitely getting tattooed a lot by them was fun and just seeing how they were was so awesome. It’s a lot fun being able to come back and work there now - and Dean came out and we filmed an episode of 'L.A. Ink'. CDM: Where do you get your creative energy/inspiration from? DAN: The people who have done it before me - from the greats who got tattooing to where it is today. I try not to pigeonhole myself into any specific thing and working in that tattoo shop in L.A. I get to do a lot of different stuff. Everything inspires me; I also have music to help push it along as well. My first tattoo was a band logo and it felt like every week either me or my friends were getting a music related tattoo - so definitely music and other artists. CDM: I found your blog online, do you feel that having a knowledge and awareness of photography or other visual arts helps you enhance your tattooing? DAN: I’m pretty useless with my blog, I feel terrible. But to answer your question, yeah I do. I mean, I guess for me it does. It’s hard because I don’t want to ever speak for anyone else, but for me I’m a huge fan of photography, I did it through school and like with album art I think photos are some of the best album art. Pictures say a thousand words and I’m a firm believer in that. I think different styles can say so much and for a band it can be the difference between being portrayed as fun and upbeat or being depressed.  CDM: Were you apprehensive about putting yourself out there on camera for 'L.A. Ink'? DAN: Yes, I was very apprehensive. It wasn’t until I talked to a lot of people [that] I respect about their opinion on it that I decided to go for it. It’s one of those things, like you do something you’re proud of and you are are trying to create something and you’re basically handed over to somebody to do what they see fit. Sometimes it gets a little frustrating but I always told myself: you know if you do the best you can do and are honest to yourself and tattooing and represent tattooing how you think it should be represented then you don’t have anyone to answer to. Everyone has an opinion and my stuff isn’t for everybody and that’s the beauty of it. You can take it or leave but if I’m being honest on there, it’s fine right? There are a lot of other things I thought about with the show but at the end of the day it's awareness, people get to see what I do. I don’t want to keep my stuff in a box. I don’t want to be that guy who thinks he is too cool for everybody. For the most part I can’t complain about it. It’s done me well and I also see it as a way to give back to the people who have helped me. Like Dean and also like clothing companies who have helped us out. Like Macbeth, I’ve done a couple of Macbeth designs and they’re some awesome people. When we first started out in the band they would give us free shoes, so to be able to show that on the show and give back a little, that’s what it’s about. CDM: What is Kat Von D like in real life? DAN: She's awesome. She's super hard working, definitely a very passionate and compassionate person. I met her when I first moved over and worked in a shop with her before she did any TV. I’ve seen the journey she has had, and I’d say to people don’t believe everything you’ve seen on TV. She’s the star of the show and people want drama and conflict you know, that’s just TV, and with the success of other shows it makes it hard for a show like ours when you are actually doing something with substance to not include that part of it when other reality shows are all about it. Don’t believe everything you see, she’s great, she has always supported me 100% and if anybody would say she doesn’t work hard they wouldn’t know what they’re talking about. CDM: Are there tattoos on yourself or that you’ve done on someone else that stand out? DAN: Yeah, with touring a lot usually at the end of a tour me and the rest of the band would have something ridiculous to remember the tour by. My favourite one I think would be my ribs that Kat did. She did that on the show before I started officially, it is of my best friend Bryce, his girlfriend and their daughter who passed away a few years ago. That stuff all kind of happened around the same time, and it’s something to remember and Kat is an amazing tattooer and I feel like it did them justice. CDM: Finally, do you have any advice for anyone out there who may want to get into tattooing? DAN: I get this question a lot and I want to be supportive but people learn in such different ways. I’ve learned a lot by trial and error and watching what other people do. I would say travelling is important - you need to meet people and see what they do and how this person did it compared to another. It’s just one of those things, generally whether it’s tattooing or music or art - just do it, jump in and go for it. Don’t be hesitant, give it your everything!  |
