Snapshot Who we are Zach Smith / Jonesport, Maine / Lobster
F
or Zach Smith, lobstering means 4 a.m. wake-up times,
“Performing is an act of
10-hour days, and hauling more than 300 traps four times
rebellion, because that’s what
a week. The six-month Maine lobster season from May to
self-expression is,” Smith says.
November is perfect for Smith because it affords him valuable time
“My purpose as an artist is to take
off to rest and focus on his other passion: Music.
people on a journey, to make them feel
Smith is sternman for his father, Chris, on the F/V Pamela Jane (named for his mom). The father-son crew works out of Jonesport,
something.” Smith’s lyrics often touch on bigger issues and conversations.
Maine, a small commercial fishing community with about 1,500 full-
“I think that until the presence of racism, sexism, transphobia,
time residents. Jonesport is a peninsula 6 miles out into the Gulf of
etc., at the very root of our civilization is acknowledged and
Maine, where boatyards, lobster boats, blueberries, loons, grebes
accepted by the powers that be and the public, we would finally be
and eagles are just about as common as people. As a youngster,
working toward a solution. There is a huge divide right now amongst
Smith would go out fishing with his dad, but he never imagined he
people, with so much misinformation and hatred, it’s scary.” In the world of commercial fishing, which the U.S. Department
would earn his own living on the ocean. “I worked other jobs in high school, studied sociology and
of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics has identified as a dangerous
theater in college,” Smith says. It was not until after Smith finished
occupation, it may seem just as risky for a sternman to perform
college that his father offered him a position on his boat.
in drag in communities that have not always been receptive to
He says his father has taught him a ton and that “it’s been a growing experience for us working together. I pick up things from him all the time on how to be a better person as well as a better
differences, of any sort. “Some fishermen know I do drag, but nobody seems to care,” says Smith. Beach Trash is currently on hiatus, but Smith says there may be
businessman.” While they typically don’t talk much while they’re out on the
a reunion. In the meantime, he is still out every day before sunrise
water, when they do, it’s “about music, the gear we are hauling,
with his dad, which he says “gives me a lot of creative ideas, but
marine life,” Smith says.
also it’s just a time to be present and work hard.”
Until recently, Smith was the lead singer of a five-piece surfadjacent punk band called Beach Trash, when he was on dry land. The band formed in 2017, and Smith says he started creating music “because I heard the calling to it, literally hearing music in my head.” In Beach Trash, Smith performed in drag, usually heels and brightly colored dresses, as Sandy River.
Smith also has a new blues album in the works. But for now, he says, “I am just trying to get through the lobster season.” In 20 years, Smith will be almost 50 years old. What might he be doing then? “Massage therapy practice? Famous singer?” Ultimately he lands on, “hopefully a full and happy life.”
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December 2021 \ National Fisherman 21
