The Smithereens
Where: State Theatre, 220 N. Washington St., Falls Church, Va.
When: 7 p.m. doors, 9 p.m. show Friday
Info: $20; 703-237-0300; thestatetheatre.com
If you love music, you owe it to yourself to check out the Smithereens.
Ever since the band came to prominence in the early 1980s it’s broken new musical ground with songs such as “Drown In My Own Tears.” In the past few years, the band has gained more critical and popular acclaim for albums with track-by-track re-creations of classics such as “Meet the Beatles” and the Who’s “Tommy.”
“Those were such big records for us growing up,” Smithereens co-founder and drummer Dennis Diken said. “It’s hard to explain how different things are now; they were the fabric of our lives.”
The Smithereens used the musical knowledge they began to build in those early days of fandom to create solo careers as well as music via the Smithereens.
“There was no turning back after hearing this LP and seeing the Beatles on the ‘Ed Sullivan Show,'” said Diken. “We were instantly hip to the fact that there can never be anything cooler than playing in a rock ‘n’ roll band.”
Diken has been especially prolific as a drummer, singer/songwriter and music historian. The new release “Late Music” by Diken and Bell Sound is surely slated to become a pop/psychedelic classic. The 13 songs on the just-released disc borrow freely from ’60s sounds such as heard in music by the Who, the Yardbirds and other classic bands.
“I don’t mind at all,” said Diken during a recent interview when the comparisons with other musicians were mentioned. “You always want the music to stand on its own but you have an idea of what comparisons you want to be offered and those are the [artists] you just mentioned.”
Diken wrote the songs on the album with long-time collaborator Pete DiBella. The duo teamed with others — notably producer/musician Andy Paley — and guest artists Jason Falkner, a member of Brian Wilson’s Band, and the Honeys a 1960s girl group.
“I was at a point in my career, in my life, where a lot of ideas were floating around,” Diken said. “If you are a deep listener, music is the best way to express those ideas, to get them out of you and share them with others. There are many others I want to share.”
