About six years ago, vocalist Christopher “Smitty” Smith and guitarist Martin Small put together an eight-piece funk band while attending Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. They remain its two original members, and an insatiable attitude with club owners has brought their progressive-pop to New York and New Jersey area clubs.

Smith started out only as the band’s vocalist.  When Blues Traveler's bassist Brooklyn Bobby Sheehan died tragically in 1999, an opening was left for Smit-Haus' bassist at the time, Tad Kinchla, to join his brother, Chan, in Blues Traveler as Sheehan's replacement. Kinchla took the gig with Blues Traveler, but left his gear behind so Smith could learn the instrument. Smit-Haus stayed alive, and soon added drummer Brian Griffin along the way.

The band has a polished sound that keeps true to its raw roots. They meet the challenge of relaying their emotions through their musical instruments head-on without relenting when reaching that point. This is not easy, but both their recorded music and live show reflect their to desire to leave behind showing off their chops for the higher purpose of feeling the groove.

Crafting a great song comes first. Their songs mix moody verses with upbeat choruses painting a picture of the darkness and lightheartedness love can create. This sentiment is backed by brutally honest lyrics. Their words talk directly to the subject of the song, pleading for understanding, forgiveness or longing for the source of blame.

Smit-Haus looks past the mechanics of music and creates a chemistry that serves to foster the message within their lyrics. Their songs follow life’s moods musically and lyrically. They experiment in the studio and Small brings an assortment of effects to gigs that would make U2’s The Edge jealous. These additions open doors to their songs and never overshadow their main focus, feel.

Smith’s vocals are sarcastic and friendly to the melodies of the band’s songs. Griffin’s cymbal-heavy drumming brings life to them with heartbeat rhythms. Small is a master of the upbeat guitar upstroke, giving Smit-Haus a jazzy foundation. He paints pictures with effects and his overall guitar attack. Saxophone player Sam Albright hits the right spots with his note and phrase placement and smoothes the sound out with breezy solos.

The band’s work doesn’t end on stage. They assemble professional press kits and politely search the country for gigs. Persistence is important in a business where many close the door on you at first reflex. In the end, their insatiability on and off the stage tends to pay off.

Most of our interview with Smit-Haus took place April 12 at Toms River’s Silverton Hub.  Other portions were added at later dates.

Ok, I guess the boring stuff first. How did you guys form? What was the line-up, you know stuff like that, when you first started?

Martin: The band started, actually … Smitty and I went to college together. We went to Brown, up in Providence, Rhode Island. [That] was in the fall of ’96. And it actually used to be a big band. It was like a seven-piece funk band.

Ok.

Martin: So it had a full horn section. We had trumpet, saxophone and trombone, ah ...

Smitty: And a girl back-up singer.

Martin: And a girl back-up singer. So it was about eight people. We finished college in ’97, moved to New York City and a kept writing and stuff. And we put out a funk record called Basement Funk in May ’98, which we did ourselves. You know, pretty much marketed it ourselves. Not with overwhelming success or anything like that, but we definitely got some of the music out there. Um, started gigging a lot in the city and then the band kind of went through a couple of structural changes. Uh, our drummer left and then our bass player left.

Smitty: Yeah. Once we graduated college it was a little bit logistically different, difficult because, obviously, we were based in Providence at that point. And then, like, four or five of us moved down to the city. Three of the other people were displaced, you know, either in Boston or Providence. And so, depending on people’s commitment, it just kind of faded that way. We actually had … at one point, the last bass player we had was this guy Tad, and I guess that was ’98.

So, when you guys started was it just you two [Smitty and Martin] or was it all three of you guys?

Martin: It was the two of us and five other guys.

Smitty: I think the band is … in some ways I don’t even associate that band with this one but, you know, except for me and Martin.

Brian: And it’s the same name. That’s about it. Usually we play one or two of those tunes, from that early record.

Martin: I’d say the band, in this incarnation as a four-piece, really came together in 2000.

It was late ’99, early 2000, we re-grouped basically as a four-piece and we met Brian through our old trombone player in New York. He started filling in a little bit and eventually he started filling in forever. And he introduced us to Sam and some other folks. But, basically the band as it is now, I’d say is really a 1999 on [band] … and then we really started getting together and writing as many tunes as we could. And then went in to do the record, the six song CD in April of 2001. That’s kind of the story and then, since then, it’s been just this group of guys.

Are some of you musically trained?  Did you go to school for this?

Brian: Smitty studied some piano and he plays all the time. Martin studies guitar regularly and I happened to go to music school after college for a couple of years. So, in our own ways … I mean, you know, I’ve met a lot of people that are a lot more serious [about the] drums or any instrument [than] I am sometimes and I feel like ... It’s what gets me up in the morning.

Martin: Sam went to music school at Indiana University. Yeah, I mean there’s gotta be some formal musical training. I think that stuff just generates into chops, in terms [of] technique and stuff like that.

Brian: More than that, it gets us to hang around more musicians. Martin studied with Wayne Krantz. Smitty did a lot of open-mic nights, a lot of us just met other musicians. Just been around other musicians. More importantly than the text book material and learning your instrument and learning the music and mechanical stuff. You just start getting around people and you learn more and more about what the good feelings of other musicians are.

I mean, there’s people we go to see regularly in New York, just because it’s a good hang. A lot of what’s with this band is, it’s a good hang. You know Tad [Kinchla]? He plays in Blues Traveler now, but he was the bass player in this band. Awesome bass player. I mean, hands down, just an awesome, awesome bass player.

And then he left, you know, once he got the gig with Blues Traveler, and it was like, ‘What, are we gonna get another bass player?’ And we thought about it for a while. Smitty did some solo gigs. I didn’t see these guys [for] a couple of months.  Screw it, the hang is better, just the four of us, so Smitty’s like, ‘well, I’ll just learn bass.’

Smitty: Well, I was playing a little bit of guitar, some rhythm stuff at that point. So, I mean, I knew obviously the fret board.

And now you’re playing five string [bass]?

Smitty: Yeah, actually, it’s Tad’s bass. He’s actually been amazing. We’re still good buddies with him. All his gear I’m still using. And that’s Tad’s bass, but it was Bobby Sheehan’s [Blues Traveler's original bassist] bass before that. Then he handed it down to Tad.

Martin: That thing’s got some miles on it. Some real history.

What kind of bass is it?

Smitty: It’s a Modulus. They make their necks out of graphite. They’re great basses. They sound great. They look awesome. One of the ideas is people who sweat warp their necks a little bit. [It causes] serious problems with … whatever the minerals in their sweat or whatever.

How did you start to learn how to play bass?

Smitty: I mean, I knew, obviously, the fret board because I play guitar. Actually, when I learned guitar and stuff, a lot of it was finger picking. So I think, some of the technique kind of was like, ‘you do this again.’ And actually it came a little bit naturally. And that was it. I studied a little bit with this guy Carl Thompson. A lot of it’s been me just playing along to Sting stuff and different people that I’m interested in. And picking up some stuff from Tad. But there’s no like set course that I’ve been on.

So you [don't] all of a sudden start playing bass. Does that change who you start listening to musically? Do you start listening to more bass players and stuff?

Smitty: I don’t think it changed who I started listening to. I think it changed a little bit what I listened to in the songs. Definitely.

Do you listen to the bass [parts] more now?

Smitty: Yeah. A little bit listening to bass lines, but also particularly people that sing and play bass. Sting …

Martin: Winger. (Laughter.)

Smitty: You know, like the guy in Rush.

Geddy Lee, I was going to say. I think your voice sounds kind of like Geddy Lee.

Smitty: I don’t think it changed what I listen to, but a little bit how I listen to stuff. Some of the Meters stuff that we were into a long time ago. Focusing a lot more on feel and how they accomplish that feel.

That was great for me because I really had to listen and be like … I’m a crucial part of the rhythm section right now as oppose to some of the stuff when I was playing guitar. I was playing a lot [but] because Martin’s such a good player you couldn’t hear me as much in the mix per se. I’m gonna guess that’s the only thing that’s changed.