Smoke Theory at the Crossroads
You might not be able to recognize the shape from its use in the cover image above, but SR-420 is a state road in Smoke Theory’s native Ohio that runs south of the rockers’ native Toledo as an offshoot of the Ohio Turnpike/I-80 highway system. I’ve driven past it before and gotten a chuckle from its weedian implications, and no doubt that’s what Smoke Theory had in mind as well in naming their new, self-released platter Junction 420. The disc, housed in a true, old school full jewel case but with inkjet artwork, is seven songs of straightforward, easygoing riff rock, not quite fuzzy in the dual guitars of Chris Graves and Mark Barbour, but not far from it and definitely taking influence from the stoner end of the spectrum. Even before the music starts, the title’s a big clue there.
When last heard from, Smoke Theory offered up their debut in the Blood and Sin EP, the sound of which was hampered by a digital compression that sounded like poor quality MP3s. The seven songs of Junction 420 suffer no such ailments, and while it’s still not the liveliest of productions – they’re DIY’ing it all the way and this is the age of the cheap but lifeless digital recording – everything is clear and gives a definite idea of what Graves, Barbour, bassist Dave Hamblin and drummer Don Hooligan want from the songs. As regards the production sound, Hooligan’s snare sound is bright and forward in the mix, probably more than it needs to be on a song like “Potbelly Parrot,” which otherwise is a highlight of the release, featuring Smoke Theory’s catchiest chorus of “Send me away to the taxidermist/Hang me on your wall/I’ll be satisfied.”
My big complaint with Blood and Sin, apart from the actual sound of it, was that the material was generic, and that holds true for parts of Junction 420 as well, but there are a couple nod-worthy rocking moments, on the aforementioned “Potbelly Parrot” and elsewhere. The Clutch-style start-stop riffing on “Iron Skillet Killer” works until the flange of the guitar in the chorus kicks in, and the slower opening of “Richie” does a good job of setting up the crunchier, more metal side of Smoke Theory, who aren’t shy about showing off their punk roots on opener “Start the Fire” or “It’s Gone,” on which Hooligan breaks out the tambourine as well to add a ‘90s feel to the chorus. Like a lot of the moves Smoke Theory make on Junction 420, as with the lightly psych flourishes of “Embers (After the Fire),” it doesn’t really seem like they’re going as far into exploring their sound as they could, so the result isn’t so much half-hearted as it is just lackluster and reminiscent of a lot of other heavy rock acts.
Where Junction 420 is most successful, however, is in reaffirming (or at least leading me to reassert) my suspicion from last time that Smoke Theory probably sound way better live than they do on plastic. As Junction 420 rounds out with “Lucifer Rising” – the title of Black Sabbath’s famed Asbury Park 1975 bootleg that Leif Edling also used for Candlemass’ 2008 EP – Smoke Theory give probably their best performance of the album, balancing the rock and punk sides of what they’re doing with uptempo crunch. If you’re an experienced listener, there isn’t going to be much about Junction 420 to catch you off guard, but Smoke Theory are beginning to show through in some of these songs. If they can work toward developing more intricacies in their tones and songwriting methods, they might be able to really bring out that individuality, but either way, if I was swinging through Toledo on a Saturday night, I’d be glad to catch them at whatever bar it might be.
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Tags: Ohio, Smoke Theory, Toledo, Unsigned bands
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