Stereo Embers The Podcast 0461: Sandy Smallens (Too Much Joy, Surface Wound)

“Futility”

It’s true–the last time I saw Sandy Smallens was in the spring of 1989 when his band Too Much Joy came to the campus radio station to play on my weekly show. The band were incredibly cool and I’ve never forgotten that they took the time to traipse into the East Bay hills to get to my school and how nice they were. They even played an unrehearsed acoustic version of Clowns at my request, which was awesome. I’d play it for you now, but guess what? After the band left, I took out the tape and found that I hadn’t hit record. It’s bothered me for years. At any rate, Too Much Joy and Wonderlick which is Tim and Jay from TMJ, have a lot of news coming out their camp, so they do come up a bit in this chat, but really, the focus here is on Sandy’s other band Surface Wound. Informed by the undulating jagged basslines of bands like Gang Of Four and Wire, Surface Wound’s new album Futility is a riveting blast of post-punk magic. The Scarsdale-raised, Yale-educated Smallens played football in high school and as a result his bass playing has a real athleticism to it and not only that, but his voice has never sounded better. Filled with prowling basslines and muscular hooks, Futility is filled with fight songs for desperate times. Sandy Smallens is a busy guy–he’s in a bunch of bands, he hosts the Four Strings And The Truth podcast and as the guy who launched Spotify’s original content department, he now runs the podcast company Audiation. Not only that, but he’s a massive supporter of the arts . And, he’s one of the nicest guys around.

www.surfacewound.bandcamp.com

Sandy Smallens’ podcast: Four Chords And The Truth Podcast:
https://pod.link/1733284004

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Stereo Embers : The Podcast