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2/26-27 rIVErfroNT PlAZA: WINTErlAND IV fT. huNx AND hIS PuNx, CArolINE roSE, rEggIE WATTS, SloThruST, l.o.V.E. CulTurE, lPT, gloVE, TAMA guCCI, lA NuBES, DoNZII, KAIroS CrEATurE CluB, Dl IS oK, NASyAE, ThE glooMIES, EBoNy PAyNE ENglISh, BluNT BANgS, DIgDog, MADrE VACA, ANIMAl ClINIC, foK IS PEoPlE, TEAl PEEl, DEAN WINTEr AND ThE hEAT, BoBBy KID, PATSy’S DAyDrEAM, Soul PArTIClES, Pool BoI, rEElS, SAIlor gooN, Cory DrISColl, JACKIE STrANgEr, CulT of uglINESS. VISuAlS By TAChyoNS+ 2/26 REVOLUTION LIVE: BadfIsh, Kash’d OUT, Dale & The Z-Dubs 2/27 KrAVIS CENTEr: KAKI KINg MoDErN yESTErDAyS 3/1 ResPeCTable sTReeT: DaRk TRanquiliTy, kaTaklysm, naileD To obsCuRiTy CulTuRe Room: half alive, Daisy The GReaT
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THE APPLES
THE APPLESEED CAST
But like every other subset of counterculture, Marketing. So in the early aughts it was goth-y in for the whole.
And then there are bands like The Appleseed the terminology had a face. Formed in 199 albums that feel aggressive and riddled with melody. At the helm is Christopher Crisci, the formed in Southern California and made a ho Kansas. Crisci today is still building on the em tracks such as “Marigold & Patchwork” and whose tension between yearning and fury re to-commodify traits.
The Appleseed Cast’s ongoing tour with headl (formerly the head of Lee “Scratch” Perry’s early winter: People got infected; dates were the proverbial show goes on. Perhaps one d artists who saw their livelihoods almost vanish generational level of uncertainty about the w
Thursday with Cursive, The Appleseed Cast March 5 at the Culture Room in Fort Lauderd
peel dream magazine
by Abel Folgar A benefit of LPs and the like making comebacks is the commitment to presentation — creating a visual anchor to the music that can make the whole listening experience feel heightened. Pour a scotch, crack open the gatefold, and you’re bound to learn something.
Which leads us to Peel Dream Magazine. Launched in Brooklyn in 2018 by Los Angeles transplant Joe Stevens, Peel Dream Magazine pays homage in name to the late John Peel, LP-era British DJ and champion of youth culture. The music is primarily a product of Stevens’ very PEEL DREAM MAGAZINE wide-ranging tastes — so much so that it’s not out of bounds to ask how deep, really, does his musical knowledge run beyond hip citations. Pretty deep, it turns out, based on two full-lengths and a solid EP. These ornate, lush pop concoctions satisfy saccharine needs and, at the same time, amplify the underlying rock ’n’ roll darkness propelling the music. Picture the outward bliss of ’60s psych and the lo-fi rumblings of ’80s punk rendered with an exaltation of smoky, small-venue glory. Stevens’ most recent Peel effort, the EP “Moral Panics,” landed almost on top of the sophomore LP “Agitprop Alterna,“ both early 2020 releases. Here’s hoping for more, because Stevens is starting to build an enviable catalog. With Peel Dream Magazine’s critically acclaimed 2018 debut, “Modern Meta Physic,” he elevated bedroom tinkering through savvy studio manipulation to create an instantly recognizable sound. One might think “shoegaze” on first hearing, and one wouldn’t be wrong. The antecedents like My Bloody Valentine are there. But one wouldn’t be right, either. Bands like Mission of Burma that are less attached to immersive audio also register as influences. The groovy, electronic avant-pop of Stereolab can also be heard. Peel Dream Magazine records demand multiple, consecutive spins and possibly a notepad next to the aforementioned cocktail so you can follow Stevens to the bottom of the well. And even if you’re not sitting with an illustrated sleeve or printed liner notes, it might feel like you are.
Peel Dream Magazine with Soccer Mommy perform 8pm Wednesday, March 16 at Gramps in Miami. slumberlandrecords.com
SEED CAST
by Tim Moffatt For the last 20 years the term “emo” has been bandied about by flabbergasted parents to define truculent youths decked in the latest Hot Topic garb and eye shadow — proof that the word and the genre of the same name aren’t necessarily aligned. Once upon a time “emo” conjured up the likes of bands such as Hot Water Music — bearded dudes in cargo shorts with ankle and forearm tattoos — or The Get Up Kids — whom one could mistake as the cooler members of your high school math league.
Even those explanations are a little unjust. emo got devoured and shorthanded by Big y pop punk kids in Jnco’s and black standing
d Cast that have been around since before 96, they have consistently released riveting h anguish while championing musicality and last original member of a revolving crew that ome in the college-town scene of Lawrence, motionally wistful, sonically direct vibe of early d “Forever Longing the Golden Sunsets” — emains one of emo’s strongest and hardest-
liner Thursday, plus Cursive and Nate Bergman touring band), hit pandemic roadblocks in e postponed. But everyone regrouped, and day Covid will be an afterthought for touring h. In the meantime, music that represents a world may be the perfect refuge.
and Nate Bergman play 6:30pm Saturday, dale. facebook.com/TheAppleseedCast
big freedia by Tim Moffatt
Some people, like sharks, have got to keep moving in order to survive. This work ethic is rare for most and non-existent for many, but for Big Freedia, the gender-blending rap queen of New Orleans bounce music, working it is what she does. This restless entertainer has bettered everything from Beyonce’s Grammyaward winning “Formation” and Drake’s “Nice For What” to Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rocking Eve. Her own show, “Big Freedia Bounces Back,” ran six seasons on Fuse TV. Her 2015 memoir, “God Save The Queen Diva!” is out in paperback. Making Ebony magazine’s Power 100 list in October was, for Big Freedia (pronounced “Frida” like Frida Kahlo), a culmination of work that began in the ’90s. None of this is overnight. BIG FREEDIA
She has come to personify Big Easy bounce, with its hypersexy call-and-response chants over infectious beats and dance hall call-outs, and a physical mix of crunk, vogue and twerk that is death defying and an absolute embodiment of joy. Big Freedia presides in a resonant voice and an orator’s style, sounding both serious and irreverent on thumpers like her cover of “Judas,” for Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way Reimagined” tenth anniversary album, and “Not Today,” a collaboration with Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters and NOLA compadre Anjelika “Jelly” Joseph of Tank and the Bangas and Galactic. “‘Not Today’ is a track about setting limits with people,” Big Freedia has said of this standout from “Big Diva Energy,” a six-song EP she released in September. “It’s about the people who use you and think you aren’t paying attention. I’m saying, ‘I see you and it’s not gonna happen today, not tomorrow –– not never bitch!’” Big Freedia is also an advocate for LGBTQ causes, and for racial and gender equality. So, basically, everyone is invited to this party. But be prepared to do it like they do in New Orleans — they won’t wait for you; you just gotta catch up and lay it down low to the ground. Big Freedia performs with Otto Von Shirach, Mr. Feathers at 8pm Tuesday, March 15 at Gramps in Miami. bigfreedia.com
spirit of the beehive PEGGY PIORETTI
by Abel Folgar
SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE
Bee populations face a complicated future… so with that in mind, and a classic cinematic critique of Francoist Spain as guide, and the forgotten musical swamps of South Florida as the creative estuary, Philadelphia’s The Spirit of the Beehive have forged an unlikely popularity within the realms of indie music. This is electronic, psychedelic rock bored by the norm so it reinvents itself through a visceral cycle of experimentation that you don’t need your Captain Beefheart hat on in order to enjoy.
For a band entering its eighth productive year, The Spirit of the Beehive’s birth and passage through the intricate basement network of Philadelphia’s DIY punk scene makes perfect sense. They’re an evolutionary byproduct of singer/guitarist Zack Schwartz’s relocating his previous outfit, South Florida’s Glocca Morra, to the City of Brotherly Love: With Glocca Morra, Schwartz distilled Miami’s early-aughts scene into another hard-to-pin musical excursion that tickled nerves through indie, emo and punk rock circles while keeping itself a weird outlier. After disbanding in Philly and taking inspiration in the layered symbolism of the 1973 Spanish film of the same name, Spirit arrived, and stayed, like a contentious lover you can’t quit. Schwartz is joined by Rivka Ravede and Corey Wichlin. Their latest release, the critically acclaimed “Entertainment, Death,” produced during and, in a way, assisted by the pandemic, has been racking up the acclaim from the indie cognoscenti for an intricacy that recalls the lysergic excess of their previous work and an experimentalism made possible by working remotely. Don’t think of the album as a thoroughly rehearsed orchestra committing to one take but rather as a journey assembled with the digital Legos of a Minecraft drippyeyeballs acid trip. There’s ennui dangling in corners that gets blasted by unorthodox beeps and bloops as crescendos degenerate into primordial soup. At 11 tracks, it’s really one long song meant for contemplating eusociality in bee colonies and the hierarchies of their haplodiploidy. You know, music for pleasure. Spirit of the Beehive, Body Meat and Palomino Blond perform 9pm Monday, March 7 at Gramps in Miami. spiritofthebeehiveband.com
SUBCULTURE FILM FESTIVAL the reel revolution by Olivia Feldman
From nightlife to dining to live music, the people behind the Subculture Group are responsible for a lot of West Palm Beach’s cultural growth and sophistication. And they haven’t stopped working yet. With the inaugural Subculture Film Festival happening in March, local cinema buffs can rejoice at an another event in their backyard that will bring creatives together. Scene from The Rabbit Hunt The three-day festival will feature work from across the U.S., and will focus on homegrown films and champion local talents. Restaurateur Rodney Mayo’s Subculture Group is producing the festival in partnership with the Palm Beach County Film and Television Commission and the local film and sketch comedy collective I Am SUS.
“It’s sort of a passion project that’s a labor of love by local people to promote local work,” the festival’s co-founder, Jose Jesus Zaragoza, tells PureHoney. “If we get this right, we think it’ll be a really great thing for West Palm Beach.” Zaragosa is a former journalist who has always had an interest in art and filmmaking. A Florida resident since 2000, he tells us that his local filmmaker friends are doing “excellent work” and he wants more people to know. “What I envision is a forum where everyone can come, gather, have conversations about their work, show it and consume it,” says Zaragosa. “Just really expose the talent pool we have in Palm Beach County on a larger scale.” Zaragoza and Mayo met after the former filmed the George Floyd protests in West Palm Beach in June 2020. The two became friends and, together with event promoter Denley Murat, got to talking about favorite movies and documentaries, which led to the idea of a festival. They found a promising location in The Peach, a versatile studio and gallery recently opened by Mayo and artist Craig McInnis. With a large screening area and six artist bays, the film festival organizers felt it could properly showcase cinematic work.
Scene from Hierophony
The festival will award a total of $5,000 in cash prizes to festival picks, and Zaragoza is looking to recruit judges with local connections and filmmaking backgrounds. Honors in three categories will go to: short films of 25 minutes or less; medium- and feature-length films; and films shot and edited exclusively on smartphones. Beyond that, the festival is accepting submissions of all lengths and genres, including music videos, student films, films shot specifically in Palm Beach County, and documentaries highlighting civil unrest and the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizers say they’re already encouraged by the variety of submissions both from filmmakers they know and total strangers. The initial deadline for submissions at filmfreeway.com/subculturefilmfestival is Feb. 21, and the late deadline is March 14. Besides tons of screenings, opening and closing parties, live music and art, the festival will present an online panel discussion with filmmakers Patrick Bresnan and Ivete Lucas. The husband-andwife duo’s filmed works about Pahokee and Belle Glade were of particular interest to Zaragoza, who is director of communications for the Glades Initiative community aid organization. Watching the couple’s documentary short, “The Rabbit Hunt,” about young AfricanAmerican men hunting coneys in the Everglades, Zaragoza says he was “blown away by the artistry.” Bresnan, who divides his time between here and Austin, Texas, tells PureHoney that to have a film community in West Palm Beach, there needs to be a local film headquarters and year-round programming. The festival could jump-start both. He says a supportive local network of venues and restaurants — like Subculture Group’s — can also help a film festival really thrive. I Am SUS, the festival’s other producing partner, will showcase some of their cinematic work from the last five or six years. With members from Palm Beach County, the collective emphasizes Florida’s natural surroundings in their films. Ryan Kelly, the group’s cinematographer and film editor, sees the coming festival as further proof that West Palm Beach is holding its own culturally against Miami and other Florida cities (some with film festivals of their own). “There’s so much the city has to offer,” he says. “I think it’s slowly gaining traction.” The Subculture Film Festival runs Friday-Sunday March 18-20 at The Peach in West Palm Beach. subculturefilmfestival.com
DONNA THE BUFFALO
EDWIN CARDONA
Once upon a time, a band from a small town put on a music festival and donated proceeds to organizations fighting AIDS. The vibrations were so good at the inaugural Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music & Dance in 1991 in upstate New York that the founders, Americana band Donna the Buffalo, made it a regular thing. As attendance grew and word spread, companion events sprouted — one on a farm in North Carolina and one near the shore in Miami. The ninth Virginia Key GrassRoots Festival of Music & Dance takes ELECTRIC PIQUETE place March 1113 with weekend campers welcome and the band that started it all, Donna the Buffalo, headlining. As the flagship event in Trumansburg, N.Y., prepares for its 30th edition this summer, GrassRoots spokesperson Russ Friedell tells PureHoney how a version landed in South Florida. “The festivals were going so well we wanted to make them a seasonal thing,” Friedell says. Looking for a winter location they found Historic Virginia Key Park — isolated, with camping, yet just a couple bridges away from downtown Miami. Once a segregated beach for Black Miamians, the park had hosted the Bob Marley Caribbean Festival in 2002 — the same year the site joined the National Register of Historic Places. But when GrassRoots settled in at Virginia Key beginning in 2012, other festivals followed — most famously Ultra in 2019.
“I’ve always been amazed at the amount of talent in Miami,” he says.Among the locals at GrassRoots this year, Locos Por Juana mix bilingual lyrics with cumbia, champeta and Afro-Colombian CORTADITO rhythms, with the occasional snippet of hip-hop like in “For the Ladies,” their collaboration with rapper Talib Kweli.
LUIS OLAZABAL
RICH LEVINE
by David Rolland
Along with the zydeco-infused Americana of the festival’s visiting headliner, there is a big South Florida contingent in the 30-act lineup — and a unifying theme of Latin rhythm. “When we’re in New York or North Carolina we feature a lot of African bands,” says Friedell. “When we’re in Miami we can connect with Latin music.”
Afrobeta — spouses Cristina “Cuci” Amador and Tony Smurphio — marry electro-pop beats to a danceable Afro-Latino pulse. The instrumental quartet Electric Kif play “post-nuclear fusion,” in the words of bassist Rodrigo Zambrano —“electronic music with analog instruments” and “progressive rock with funk and jazz.” “It’s modern, weird, and not commercial,” Zambrano tells PureHoney. Miami Killian Senior High School alumnus Roosevelt Collier, famed for his pedal steel guitar playing, has shared stages with B.B. King and The Allman Brothers Band. Elastic Bond are soulful in both Spanish and English. Juke call themselves “anti-blues” although it’s clear from listening that they’re not anti-harmonica. The idea, singer Eric Garcia tells PureHoney, is “something more grooveoriented that wasn’t just a guy singing his complaints” and an audience willing to forgo “traditional blues songs played traditional ways.” Los Wizzards conjure with three horns, bass, drums, cuatro and a beatboxer on vocals. Electric Piquete, led by bassist Michael Mut are Latin funk freaks — heavy on percussion and melodious horn play. Jose Albizu leads a jazz trio influenced equally by Dizzy Gillespie and Buena Vista Social Club. Jesus Hidalgo is a Venezuelan shaman and musician scheduled to both perform and lead a workshop on healing. It’s a lineup that attracts “communities that don’t come together ordinarily,” Friedell says, “and gets everyone dancing together.”
Friedell is quick to note the differences: “This festival is world music-focused and family-friendly. All kids under 16 get in free. We have yoga, dance workshops, and health and wellness vendors.”
Singer and guitarist Matthew Sabatella, who will lead the old-timey Rambling String Band at GrassRoots, tells PureHoney that “organizers have created their own definition of grassroots music. It’s not a single genre. They pick up artists in each location that embody the local culture. Then they bring some of those artists to perform at the other festivals.” “And it all seems to fit,” he says.
“What differentiates us from other festivals,” he says, “is this is really about the audience coming together as a community. It keeps alive that generations-old vibe of a
VIRGINIA KEY GRASSROOTS FESTIVAL March 11-13. Gates open 9am Friday, March 11. Single day tickets start at $25. virginiakeygrassroots.org
RICHARD RAWSON
virginia key Grassroots festival
community dancing together under a tent.”
MUS ICA
MUS I C
BA I LE
DA N C E
ARTE
March 11-13, 2022
DONNA THE BUFFALO • LOCOS POR JUANA
ROOSEVELT COLLIER GRASSROOTS GET DOWN JESUS HIDALGO • LOS WIZZARDS • MANNYSWAGG ELECTRIC KIF • CORTADITO • FABI • ELASTIC BOND AFROBETA • RICHIE STEARNS • ITAWE & POCKIT! PEPE MONTES CONJUNTO • JOSE ALBIZU TRIO HOUSE SAVAGE • JUKE • MIAMIBLOCO • TWYN AND TH E
LEMON CITY TRIO • SPANGLISH CITY • OIGO ELECTRIC PIQUETE • TYLER WESTCOTT • DOM MARTYR MACHAKA BAND • MADDY WALSH & FRIENDS MIAMI ROOM • SCHOOL OF ROCK N MIAMI MATTHEW SABATELLA & RAMBLING STRING BAND
3 Day 3 Stage
CAMPING • YOGA • FOOD TRUCKS • WORKSHOPS JAM SESSIONS • ARTISANS • KIDS AREA • & MORE
www.VirginiaKeyGrassRoots.org
ART
TARA BOOTH by Amanda Moore
TARA BOOTH
Thumbing through artist Tara Booth’s Instagram feels forbidden yet right. It’s the sensation of stumbling upon a secret diary only to realize the main character is you. Booth’s relatable and fearlessly transparent art provides solace and a sense of shared vulnerability, and starting on February 25th her childlike works will be on view at mtn space gallery in Lake Worth. Booth herself will also be in South Florida as mtn space’s first official artist in residence. It’s a big development for the new-ish gallery that sits across Lake Avenue from the county Cultural Council offices, and for the Portland, Oregon-based Booth. When gallery founder Melissa DelPrete came to Palm Beach County from the opposite corner of the country, Seattle, she found a community of emerging and established artists, and wasted no time fitting in. She opened mtn space in 2020 and asked a longtime friend to help run it. A little over a year later, mtn space tapped Booth to launch a residency program. Like DelPrete, Booth is well-traveled, relocating from Philadelphia to a Pacific Northwest art scene known for offbeat cartoonists such as Gary Larson, Lynda Barry and the late John Callahan. Booth and her comic-style art — including a pair of wordless graphic-novel memoirs, “DUII” and “Nocturne” — have appeared in Hyperallergic, Vice and The New York Times.
“Tara’s work has always blown us away,” mtn space director Kenneth Schofield tells PureHoney. “She is extremely driven, and has a unique voice and aesthetic. Her ability to reach so many at such an authentic level is astounding and inspiring.” Booth — who paints, draws, collages and designs clothing — says in an email interview that she found her calling early. “I’ve always been an art maker,” she tells PureHoney. “I think it started when my classmates in pre-school were impressed by my ninja turtle drawings. I liked that feeling, haha.”
experimental comics.”
She studied fine art in college and moonlighted as a nanny. Working with kids brought her back to the simplicity of those ninja turtles, and she found herself more inspired by the freedom in her young charges’ drawings. “I’ve probably been most influenced by self-taught artists,” she says. “I’m drawn to low-brow art making, and I have developed a deep love and appreciation for folk art and autobiographical/
With more than 135,000 followers on Instagram, it’s clear that she’s appreciated, too, for the raw, sincere and playful freedom of expression in her work. Pieces such as “How to be Alive,” “How to Stay Afloat” and “Things to do Instead of Killing Yourself” offer coming-of-age, young-adult commentary on mental health — a topic illuminated by the pandemic. Booth breaks down social media portrayals of glamorized FOMO lifestyles to reveal the tenderness of moments that can leave any of us feeling exposed and alone. “I make paintings and drawings based on experience. I use art as a way to document my life … as a diary, really,” she says. “Art really is therapy for me, and by sharing my personal experiences in an accessible, honest and vibrant way, I’ve received a ton of support and a real sense of community with those who see themselves in my paintings.” She plans to spend her time at mtn space creating and exploring new artistic forms, including larger scale pieces, hardcover collections of her comics, and animation. Her arrival helps the gallery establish itself as a local and global contemporary arts hub. It furthers the mission that DelPrete and Schofield set for themselves to create relevant, diverse and self-aware programming that centers the artist, and gives resident artists room to grow and evolve in an expansive, adaptable work space down the street from the gallery. They also plan to publish an application process for future residencies. They chose Booth for her authenticity and ability to capture intimate realities of a generation coming of age in unsettled times. The residency includes an exhibition of her work February 25-May 3. Though the art scene has been acquainted with Booth for some time, it feels like the beginning of limitless possibilities for her — and for mtn space. Poster to the right is titled “In Dreams”. mtn space in Lake Worth features inaugural artist in residence Tara Booth February 25May 3, mtnspace.com. Follow her on Instagram at @tarabooth or at tarabooth.club
CLAUDIA FRANKE
toM smith
by Daniel A. Brown When Tom Smith succumbed to cancer in January at age 65, he died peerless but left a world of family, friends and collaborators to mourn his passing. The loss reverberated every place this pioneering experimental noise musician operated, including South Florida, where Smith helped to build a thriving avant-garde scene on the fringes of a nightclubbing capital.
TOM SMITH
In the early ’90s in Miami, Smith and a creative accomplice, Frank “Rat Bastard” Falestra, formed To Live and Shave in L.A. (TLASILA), a fierce and prolific experimental band that used skill, guile, tape decks and guitars to make music out of accidents and chance. In the process they helped to galvanize a global movement.
“His death was a real shocker,” Falestra tells PureHoney. “It came out of nowhere.” It’s February, the 18th annual International Noise Conference at Churchill’s Pub has just quieted down, and Falestra has made his last airport run, shuttling performers back to their departing gates from the festival he created that put Miami on the experimental music map. A highlight of the five-day audio crawl was the “Shave Tribute,” with guitarists Falestra, Mark Morgan and Sonic Youth co-founder Thurston Moore raising a wall of looping, shuddering noise for their mate. A last blast for Tom Smith. The Bandcamp page for TLASILA boasts a staggering 80-plus releases. “We’re great, everybody else sucks,” is Falestra’s succinct mantra for TLASILA’s career arc, which attracted devotees-collaborators including Moore and Andrew W.K. “Tom respected some other artists: but not many,” says Falestra.
PHIL KRIEG
As a deejay at Valdosta State University’s WVVS-FM in the ’70s, he applied his nascent dubinspired collage techniques on air to a possibly displeased audience. In mid-’80s Washington, D.C., he encountered an activist, DIY-ready, straight-edge punk scene. “Tom was like a used car salesman,” says guitarist Julia Cafritz of Pussy Galore, a D.C. band Smith worked with. “He had this kind of sleazy, southern DJ voice. But you’d want to keep buying his cars!” Cafritz remembers Smith as a kind of antidote to his surroundings: “When they’d play everyone was so somber and intense. And Tom is wearing a white muscle t-shirt with his big fuckin’ Cheshire Cat grin. He was hilarious.”
PUSSY GALORE L-R Tom Smith, John Hammill, Neil Hagerty, Julie Cafritz, JonSpencer On his own or as a collaborator, Smith issued a deluge of vinyl, cassette, CD, and digital download releases that cleverly exposed “The Emperor’s New Clothes” syndrome that can plague much “out” music. With Smith, there were subtleties that seemed to roar out of the grossness. “When I first heard “30-minuten männercreme,” I thought it was totally insane,” experimental musician and label owner Aaron Dilloway says of TLASILA’s 1994 debut. “So, I bought it. I think Andrew W.K. bought it. I’ve never heard anything even close to that, you know? So, we just became obsessed.” Dilloway also made the shift from fan to friend. “He was funny and he was a walking encyclopedia of avant-garde music and film,” says Dilloway. “When I first met him, he had like, white frosted tips in his hair! People didn’t know how to process Tom. He was a whirlwind. If he stayed at your house, he would just start ripping your CDs into his hard drive.” Smith moved to Germany in the early 2000s and founded a label, Karl Schmidt Verlag, that has hundreds of releases to date. “Jesus, I’m a huge fan and I couldn’t keep up with all of it,” says Dilloway. Buried in the sidebar of the Verlag site is Smith’s terse credo: “Genre is obsolete!” Cafritz says she is “still amazed” at how Smith inspired his successors. “But then again, I’m also not too surprised.” Back in Miami, Falestra offers a clue to Smith’s disciplined output and the onstage onslaught of their performances as TLASILA. “Every band has a trick, right?” he says. “Before we toured, Tom and I would run six miles on the beach, three times a week, so we would be in shape. And we were scary onstage, man! We were brutal, just banging around into each other. I think that’s what made us stand out: our physical intensity and this wall of improvisation. When we performed, we went the full round.” toliveandshaveinla.bandcamp.com