Documenting a residency @ Nectar’s, Burlington, VT

April, 2014

In the Fall of 2012, Jake Mayers and Mike Dondero jammed for the first time and immediately got hooked on that funky pocket groove. From there forth, the rest of the band slowly accumu-lated through grungy base-ment parties and jams. When the rest of the preexisting members of the band, Ja-cob Ungerleider, Chris Jor-dan and Steph Heaghney all got together as a whole, we realized we had unearthed something very special.

Regular get togethers in Jake’s basement shed light on our seemingly seam-less songwriting process. We were generating content at an overwhelmingly fast rate and fortunately were adamant about recording all of it.

Come summertime, we were faced with time apart, which gave us a chance to listen back on what we had devel-oped during our basement sessions. Whilst organiz-ing our ideas into songs, we were also looking for-ward to sharing our music with others in the fall, so we stayed in contact and continued to collaborate. After spending a majori-ty of the summer apart, we re-united and headed down to Baltimore, Maryland to record. We spent every day together for a week straight and really got to know each

other for the first time. After the week was up, we headed back up to Burly.

We returned to Burly with spirits high, and before even choosing a band name were invited to play Otis Mountain Get Down, by Quil-lan. We trekked across the lake in Steph and her hus-band Tim’s customized RV, which instilled a sort of “on tour” vibe in all of us. We started our set on the side stage right after sun down. A stand of pine trees surrounded the energized crowd that was lit up sole-ly by the Christmas and rope lights on stage. The amount of positive feedback and re-sponse from that performance was truly inspiring.

From there forth, momentum picked up with pleasingly packed shows at both Metronome and Nec-tars, until winter hit. Steph took off for her annu-al 3-months rock climbing vacation and we were forced to adjust our style; Jacob and Chris had to assume more lead roles during our per-formances. As a result of Steph’s absence, we matured as a group in ways we may not have without it, but it goes without saying that we were ecstatic to have her back.

We experienced an intense surge of creativity directly prior to her return, so new original material accumulated very fluidly just in time for our residency at Nectars.

The past month has been peppered with unbelievable shows at both Nectars and Radio Bean, each presenting unique, impressionable atmo-spheres for both us and the au-diences. Performing a few times a week has forced us to pump out new material, and find new and ex-citing ways to play our songs and interact with the audience. We are so grateful for this incredible group, the opportunities we have had thus far, and all the love and support each of you have shown, and we look forward to continuing this journey.

Once....In the Mojarra, Camped on the edge of Chica-mocha, I woke early in the morning to find the whole valley en-veloped in thick fog. The morning sun burned orange behind it. The falcons coasted up and around the cliff tops and as the fog cleared a waterfall appears in the distance. I walk down into the valley with my best friend. We follow the river-bed through forest and pastures. We stop to pick clementines from the trees and when we finally arrive, blue butterflies and red dragon flies dance around my head, the tree vines dance in

the wind and I laugh and dance under the waterfall.

Once....I followed my best friend through the glacier capped peaks of Cocuy. Jeweled lakes scatter the landscape. Snow cracks and shatters above me as I struggle to reach the top. At 16000ft my body aches and my lungs are tired. We set up camp by a glis-tening tourqoise lake right on the glacier line. At night the sky expands from one hori-zon to another and ex-plodes with stars. I’m reminded again of how small we all are.

Steph on her inspiration for the SA song “Once”:

Before starting the residency we teamed up with our incredibly talented friend, Zach Allott and created a series of 5 posters.

We wanted each week to have a theme that would reflect an element of the band and would evolve into a grand finale.

We also wanted to encourage people to dress up and have fun.

reflects the fluidity of our smooth jams.

reflects the musical land-scape the band creates, and ebb and flow of our dynamics, and the journey Steph and Mike’s lyrics explore.

reflects the floaty, elevated feeling our music invokes

reflects the most important element of our music, the space.

reflects the core of our music… the pocket. The pock-et is what keeps peoples heads knoddin’ and what locks down the groove.

Wk 1 - (The Core of The Earth):

Wk 2 - (Water):

Wk 3 - (Trees, Mountains, and Landscapes):

Wk 5- (Space): Wk 4- (The Sky):

Thank you for coming out and showing love. -Smooth Antics

35mm & digital photography,layout design: Casey Joseph

disposable 35mm photography: Danny Graham

logo:Zach Allott

foreword :Mike Dondero