Smashing Blue

There is a rapidly disappearing remnant of music groups who have what can really move you, right down to your heels.  Smashing Blue may just be one of those rare groups. The amplifiers know exactly what to do with this sort.  If it’s real, then the music will find a way to stay around.  Smashing Blue has been around for a good seven years, with stops and starts along the way, and it had a spirit that would spin and spin like a gyroscope because the spirit knew that it had to stay.  

The founder of the band, Lakiya “Raspberry” Hunter, will tell you that she had no choice but to make this work, bound to it by a higher calling.  When asked about the reason for her commitment to music, she explains, “I play music because I am music.”  You can hear that when you listen to the songs, and more importantly—when you hear it, live. The songs she has created are drawn from a melting pot of influences, including a strong dose of Japanese rock, in addition to 90s alternative rock, R&B, hip hop, and others unbeknownst to all, which may be responsible for the bust-you-in-the-head rock with an undercurrent of heart-wrenching, haunting melodies.  Her voice can easily distract you from every other aspect of the music, or the rest of the room where you are, for that matter. The palpable energy coming from her at a show is unassuming, but her passion comes through as if she were standing on a rooftop alone, sending out a jet-blast to whoever could hear.  Even though Raspberry’s devotion to Smashing Blue runs deep, she says that the new members of the band compose its truest form.  

Colin Bondy, 27, aka Mr. Bondy is SB’s bass player extraordinaire and most conscionable backup vocalist. His influences range from classical to metal, all the way through bluegrass, folk, alternative, industrial and punk rock. He loves the stage, loves the exploration of what he does—and it is vividly apparent that his heart’s desire is to give away what he has on the inside and discover how many people it can reach.  Mr. Bondy is a full-time lover and an all-time fighter.  No matter what endeavors he finds, he admits, “I keep coming back because music is very much a part of me.”  Colin refers to the “unnamable transaction” when he speaks of his experience with the audience.  He understands that what happens at a show is something much greater than the transfer and volley between performers and patrons, while at the same time realizing the crucial role of the listener. 

John Bautista, a.k.a. “Johnny B.”, is the youngest member of SB at 21, but he is by no means less apt than the others. John has been playing music since a young, eventually picking up the electric guitar and to studying it exclusively, institutionally and privately, while writing a large collection of original songs on his own that would provide the backdrop for his performance with Smashing Blue. “It is a platform for me to discover parts of me that have been there, that I have not been able to express in the music I have usually played.”  John has a thirst for knowledge and a powerful lust to melt faces; he’s here to learn, but also to melt.  Johnny B, kick that one time!!

Micah Dempsey is the best kind of drummer.  Micah, 23, believes in Zen Habits.  He believes in the connection between all things, and he believes in the things that happen in between.  In keeping with what seems to be the custom of this band, he has his fingers in many pies.  The leader and avid proponent of a separate project, ongoing as we speak, Micah diversifies by playing and investing in music as much as is humanly possible.  He’s from Anniston, Bama, and he’s here to give you what you’ve lost in lesser drummers. Micah gave himself mostly to classic rock, listening as he could on his dad’s cassette tapes of Zeppelin, Sabbath, Van Halen, and the like.  Beyond that, his influences go way deeper, branching off into the 80s’ persuasion and the kinds of music that you might hear if you lived on the Grand Canyon, if it floated.  You might meet Micah one day, and you will probably think that he was born straight out of the mountain, itself, like a long-haired Dixie gazelle, playing a gut-busting drum solo as he emerged from the earth.  Micah’s connection with music is commensurate with the connection he has to the cosmos.  It’s a wonder that he can tether himself to the ground.          

There is no question that Smashing Blue will be coming to a music theatre near you, by way of all those that already love them and those that will love them for sure.  The band has seen other cast members in the past who have served it well, but these new ones are humans who are dead-set on bringing it right out into the open.  With an unrelenting power of new emotion, Smashing Blue will get to you.