Project Smithers is the work of Marc “Smithers†Smitham. He was born in Los Angeles, and raised in many different areas of greater Los Angeles and Southern California- in the city, in the suburbs, on farms, and in the mountains. When he was a teenager, his family moved to northern California where they lived on a couple of farms in the Sacramento area before moving into the city itself. He returned to his native L.A. after leaving home and began his professional music journey.
All of these different environments exposed Smithers to many musical styles- rock, blues, country, folk, jazz and classical, all of which have influenced his music. He picked up a guitar at age 14, and began to teach himself to play. After leaving home, he spent ten years in over 30 bands ranging in styles from rock, Top 40, country, show tunes and original music, getting his feet wet professionally and learning his chops as a guitarist. Along the way, Smithers learned to play a few more instruments- piano, electric bass, mandolin, dobro and a smattering of other assorted stringed instruments, by teaching himself and taking college classes. His sonic horizons expanded further when he discovered World music- he embraced the genre and added it to his other musical influences.
Also along that road Smithers took an off ramp into the world of computers and music, and began a new journey. Digital recording allowed him the ability to be his own band, engineer, and producer- and so Project Smithers was born. Although live performance is his first love (he still performs whenever the opportunity arises), Smithers has become somewhat of a studio recluse, spending long hours staring at computer screens, programming various and sundry plug-ins, and developing a deep studio tan.