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‘This Way’

Smackdab To Celebrate New Album Release With Saturday Concert

Smackdab will celebrate the release of its third full-length studio album “This Way” with a CD release party performance at Shawbucks on Saturday from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. The band will perform three sets of old material, the new album in its entirety and “secret song” covers it has performed at the Great Blue Heron Music Festival throughout the years. Submitted photo

Smackdab’s newest album will be officially released with much fanfare along with a retrospective take on the band’s more than 15-year career.

The Jamestown-based funk and soul group will hold a CD release party for its most recent album “This Way,” which has enjoyed acclaim among the community since its soft release over the summer, on Saturday at Shawbucks from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Smackdab’s third full-length album — and the first to be recorded since the 2013 release of its second album, “Smackdab II” — “This Way” is comprised of seven tracks, several of which had been written and performed by the group for the past few years. The Saturday release party concert will consist of three sets: the first will feature the band’s older songs, the second will be “This Way” in its entirety, and the final will feature songs that the band has covered for its regular appearance at the Great Blue Heron Music Festival over the years.

Mark Cooper, keys, organ and backing vocals, described “This Way” as having taken the band’s sound into some new territory.

“‘This Way’ was approached differently than our other stuff in terms of writing and recording,” he said. “It doesn’t sound like any of our other releases and I really like that.”

Jon Marc Johnson, lead vocals and auxiliary percussion, said the album is emblematic of the band’s growth and maturity as a collective unit.

“There isn’t any unnecessary or extraneous parts in the arrangements,” he said. “I think we were efficient in creating the songs without compromising our creativity or fun. I hope people enjoy listening to this album as much as we enjoyed making it.”

Cooper added that some of the album’s lyrical content has personal and specific meaning. For example, he shared that the lead track “Native Pipe” was inspired by the recent controversy surrounding the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline through Native American-owned land.

“That song was written about the Dakota Access Pipeline, and how the disgusting greedy powers that be are smothering the voice of protest over sacred land. I am 100 percent against that kind of thing,” he said.

According to Matt Baxter, guitar and backing vocals, the band was initially unsure of how “This Way” would turn out, given that it was unsatisfied with the original mastering of “Smackdab II,” but added that working with producer Ben Juul at Tone Hill Studio and Productions eased the minds of Smackdab’s members and yielded a quality product.

“It’s a been a few years since we recorded anything new,” Baxter said. “We were kind of skeptical going into the studio this time because none of us were happy with the end results of the last album. There were time and money constraints on the last one that prevented us from getting it sounding the way we wanted. We are planning to remix and re-release that second album soon, with Ben this time.”

Cooper echoed Baxter’s confidence in working with Juul.

“Ben was great to work with in his studio; I had great experience mixing those songs with him,” Cooper said.

Shawbucks is located at 212 W. Second St. in Jamestown. Physical copies of the CD will be available at Saturday’s release party for $10. The album, along with Smackdab’s other releases, can also be heard online at listentosmackdab.com.

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