Say it With a Smile
Champaign, Illinois, United States
Music
Press
New bands in town? There are? Yes, friends — there are. Common Loon joins new music scene player, Say it with a Smile, and changed-name players You and Yourn (they were once Casados, remember them?) on stage in the Void Room of The Canopy Club on Thursday night. Say it with a Smile consists of married songwriting couple Jaron and Katherine Kamin, joined by Tim Koons (not making that up), Kyle Buffo (or that), and Max Jacobs (that’s benign, at least). They play a jangling pop music reminiscent of bands like Death Cab for Cutie, The Shins and the like. They have ambitions, as indicated by their myspace page, that shows that they are performing at both Midpoint Music Festival (a great one in Cincinnati taking place every September) and Playback:StL Festival (a terrible one in, yeah, St. Louis, taking place every September, as well). - www.smilepolitely.com
http://the217.com/articles/view/say_it_with_a_smile
buzz Magazine recently got a chance to talk with Jaron Kamin of Say It With A Smile about their first EP and upcoming performance at the Canopy Club.
buzz: For those who aren’t familiar with your work, what can you tell us about Say It With A Smile?
Jaron Kamin: Our band is an honest, casual, little alternative rock five-piece. We’re pretty new to the scene, to the area, and we have a great time playing music. We try to bring different musical elements together emphasizing melody and harmony, and bringing in the cello. Our music wrestles with questions in life. Sometimes you come out hopeful, and sometimes not. When you hear us, come out and have a good time, and maybe ponder some things.
buzz: You just moved to Champaign last summer. After a year in town, how are you enjoying the CU music scene?
Jaron Kamin: We really like [CU’s music scene] a lot. There’s a lot going on, the people are really cool, and there is a lot of good music around. You don’t normally think a small town, albeit with a massive college, would necessarily have this really cool music scene, but it does and that’s great.
buzz: You just recorded your first EP, Samples. What can you tell us about that?
Jaron Kamin: The EP is four songs that we put out just to get the word out about our band. It is a lot of fun and you can download it for free at http://www.noisetrade.com. We’re giving it away. Anyone who wants to have it, we want them to have it. Stylistically, it’s kind of a mix; some songs are on the acoustic side, some are more electronic. People describe it as fairly laid back.
buzz: What do you enjoy most about performing?
Jaron Kamin: I love playing music with other people — listening to how things come together, you know? I started writing music for this a couple of years ago, without any band and it’s so cool when you bring it together. The songs take on a new form. Having people there enjoying your music, us enjoying their company, it’s a great relationship.
buzz: What can the audience expect from your Thursday evening show at Canopy Club?
Jaron Kamin: We have energetic, soulful music. It’s music we believe in, stuff we’ve wrestled with, questions we ask. It’ll be great music and a good time.
buzz: What’s next for Say It With A Smile?
Jaron Kamin: We are playing at Midpoint Music Festival in Cincinnati. We’re playing in St. Louis at the STL Music Festival in September. We’re really excited about those. We’ve got a WEFT session on September 7 that we’re stoked about as well. We’re working on the full-length album, tentatively titled The Places We Call Home, that we hope to get out sometime early next year.
For more information on Say It With A Smile, visit their website at or head out to the Canopy Club on Thursday, August 13. Tickets are $7 and doors open at 8 p.m. - the217.com
Say It With A Smile played at Bentley’s Pub Friday night… And I’m glad they did. I often get caught up with who “rocks the hardest”, etc. SIWAS is not that kind of band. Don’t get me wrong, they ROCK… But it’s different.
Say It With A Smile makes beautiful music.
Beautiful harmonies, cello, fantastic guitar tones (love the telecaster) make Say It With A Smile one of Champaign’s most unique, musical, and classy bands. I hope you get a chance to check them out. - Champaign Rock
Discography
EP - "Samples"
Photos
Bio
Life is not neat. Take band, Say it with a Smile. Part pop, folk, alternative, indie, even blues, this set up is anything but straight forward. But married song-writers Jaron and Katherine Kamin love to exploit boundaries. He grew up going to Jewish Community Center after school; she was raised at a Dutch reformed school. He was a rocker in high school. She was (and is) a jock and closet song-writer.
Needless to say this is not typical, easy-answers pop. The tongue-in-cheek style of the band couples cynical lyrics with the music's upbeat mood. Says Katherine, "We're not bothered by the questions... we'd just be bothered if we weren't asking them."
"The first time I proposed, she wasn't sure," said Jaron. "We went 13 months unsure of the future of our relationship... but we wouldn't take that time back now for anything. I guess we've always been comfortable living in the questions. There's still hope in the questions."
Backed by Tim Koons on cello and electric guitar, Kyle Buffo on bass, and Max Jacobs on drums, Say it with a Smile relishes in questioning the status quo. Largely focusing on their love/ hate relationship with the media, their first full-length album is set to be out early 2010.
This fall they will be on the road in the Midwest to support the recent release of their preview EP, "Samples" which is available for free download on Noisetrade.
Links
