Smash was originally called "Lompoc". The group consisted of John Rock on vocals, Phil Schraub on guitar, Don Ruiz on bass, and Dennis Schraub on drums. The group had only one public performance prior to Don leaving the group. The three remaining members decided to shelf live performances and do some demo recording as the group Smash. Drummer Dennis had assembled a small 4 track (the good old Teac 2340 enters the picture here) studio at a rented townhouse in Mountain View, California and with the understanding of some very tolerant neighbors and wife, proceeded to record these demo tracks:
1. Love & Devotion
2. Slippin' Away
3. After All The Heartaches
4. Yes I Will
5. Way Down Inside
6. That Rock
7. Come On
8. Last Night
9. Takin' The Easy Way
10. Give It Up
All the tracks were penned by Phil and John, or some variation thereof. John took care of lead vocals, except on Slippin' Away ( a song that would surface many years later on a Responsibles LP), in which Phil took the lead. Phil played all the guitars and bass parts except the slide on "After All The Heartaches" which was played by old friend Bill Stapelton, who had finished a stint with Steam (Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye). Dennis took care of drums and recording. It's probably appropriate to mention the obvious Steve Marriott influence in Phil's supporting vocals behind several of John's lead tracks.
Of these 10 tracks, only "That Rock" and "Give It Up" made it to The Rockers set list. In hindsight, both Phil and John have wondered why they did not use most all the tracks, as they were certainly appropriate for both future bands. The version of Slippin' Away on this recording still, at least in Phil and Dennis' opinion, represents the best version of this song to be put to tape.
The various influences of all three members are quite evident in this recording, as well as very early attempts (sometimes quite successful) at recording effects they had heard but didn't know quite how to duplicate. The phasing effects in Love & Devotion and Way Down Inside were done the hard way, and the bass sound in After All The Heartaches proves the ruggedness of a very small Vox amplifier literally beat to sonic death combined with some very odd microphone techniques. In fact, we used a very old Vox tube Cambridge Reverb amp with a 10 to make all of the guitar and bass sounds on this recording.
This was a fun recording to make, and considering it was 1978/79 and we were all learning how to record, we think it a very successful slice of 70's power pop.
1978/1979
