Jim Babjak on The Smithereens' Tommy

In the time since I last reported on The Smithereens live from South by Southwest in Texas, the band has been busier than ever with a live CD, an additional album of Beatles cover songs and more touring.  If that wasn't enough, this past weekend The Smithereens a released their treatment of The Who's "Tommy" commemorating the album's 40th anniversary.

"The Smithereens Play Tommy" is as good a tribute album as you can get, pulling in the power of The Who's classic material with the energetic playing and harmonies that helped define The Smithereens "The Jersey beat meets the Mersey beat" power pop sound.  Growing up in New Jersey in the 60's, The Smithereens were influenced by bands like The Who as well as The Beatles and The Ramones. with powerful guitars & drums and great pop hooks. 

I caught up with Smithereens guitar player Jim Babjak, to find out more about this new Tommy Album.  As Babjak mentions in the liner notes, the formation of The Smithereens owes a lot to The Who.  If it weren't for a fan photo in his looseleaf binder seen by drummer Dennis Diken on the first day of high school, the band might never have formed. 

This isn't the first cover album by The Smithereens.  They've now done two Beatles tribute albums going back to the early days of the fab four.  But this album harkens back to Babjak and Diken's roots as teenagers.

"In many ways, recording the Who album was more fun for me ripping through those power chords. The Beatles cover albums required me to figure out chords that were foreign to me, especially a song like "Till There Was You".  It was a challange for sure, not that the Who material wasn't, it was just more up my alley.

As teenagers, Babjak and Diken cut their teeth playing Who songs as a two man instrumental group.  Babjak wanted to recreate that raw youthful energy in this new CD:

"I definitely captured the same sound and vibe I had as a young guitar player on this Who album. Playing with Dennis on those songs put me right back in time and forced me to keep up with his incredible drumming. 

"Dennis has been an exciting drummer ever since we were kids. He's a powerhouse. In the late 80's I felt that he was stifled by the powers that be to play a certain way on our records so they would be 'radio friendly'. They just wanted a straight beat and to me, the songs were always more exciting when we played live concerts."

 

The cover art, in classic EC Comics form, is by William Stout, famous for his work in Bomp! and Heavy Metal magazines as well as some classic bootleg albums and movie posters.  The idea for the cover art, and even the idea for the Tommy album, came from vocalist Pat Dinizio.

"As a matter of fact, it was Pat's idea to record this tribute in the first place.  It's the 40th anniversary of the original release date and I guess he figured that Dennis and I could handle most of the music because he's heard us screwing around with Who songs for the 30 years he's known us.

 

"There's a section in one of our own songs, "House We Used To Live In" where there is a space to jam during our live show and I could play anything I want on the key of E. About 7 years ago, I decided to throw everyone off and play "Sparks" in it's entirety in that space.

 

I didn't tell anyone and Dennis jumped right in as if we were 14 again. "Sparks" is one of my favorite pieces of music. It has great dynamics combining soft tender moments and then some real muscular workouts on the guitar."

 

So if you're a fan of The Smithereens or The Who, or just looking for a fresh take on a classic album, check out "The Smithereens Play Tommy."

• The Smithereens: Web Site, Jim Babjak, News, Gigs, Wikipedia
• Amazon: Smithereens 11, Best of, Live in Concert, Meet The Smithereens, Tommy
• GuitarVibe: Interview, Smithereens Austin, Smithereens SF
• Video, Photos: YouTube, PicasaWeb