About Me
Go to www.shakeitrecords.com and buy our cd!BAND BIOSmiley Baldazar is (in order of appearance) :Steve "Thorax" Smith - Guitar and VocalsJason "The Truth" Burns - Bass and Vocals"Best Guy" Liney Woodrum - Drums and VocalsMike Jacobs "Tornado-heimer-Schmidt" - Guitar and VocalsMcGannahan Skyjellyfetti, esq. - Feedback SpecialistRising from the ashes of a rock band called Jitamin Var, Smiley Baldazar formed in Lakewood Ohio in late 2004 as put together by Var members Steve Smith (guitar, vocals / Jitamin Var, Overlook, Orchard Groove, etc...) & Jay McDaniels, and the pieces quickly fell into place. Fellow Lakewood music vet Jason Burns (bass, vocals / Kirkendahl Void, Gloo, Tracy Marie Band, etc...) hopped on board. Immediately the need for a drummer arose, and new neighbor Liney Woodrum (drums, vocals / Sanford Drive, The Jotnar, Colorado Biosphere, etc...) Was just the man for the job! After cutting a demo in Sanford Drive Studios and playing a few shows, the longtime collaborator guitarist Jay McDaniels left the group and now there was a new hole to be filled. Liney's longtime musical cohort Mike Jacobs (guitar, vocals / Sanford Drive, The Jotnar, Splurge, etc...) was asked and stated he would be honoured to join the crew.Thus began in Jan. 2005 the current lineup of this young and motivated group! Having accomplished so much in so little time (first rehearsal in jan 2005, cd release in aug 2005!!!!!!!!) seems to make sense for this tight knit group. Together the fearsome foursome have 40+ years experience jamming in the area, all four having played their first club dates before being old enough to vote, and have been through EVERY POSSIBLE BAND DRAMA, which helps the professional attitudes as well as assuring it will always be a fun, open minded environment to nurture each other's creativity! However, all the jamming experience in the world can not prevent run on sentences and bad grammar! :)//////////THE LINEAGE////////////////////STEVE'S BIO//////////
Steve's Jamming Career...An Attempted Recollection : I got my first guitar when I was 16 years old. My friend Max Shutze played bass and convinced me that I needed to jam. The first tune I learned was "House of the rising sun" - my Dad taught me that one. I was never really serious about playing - just sort of messing around. After a few years spent learning how to play along with songs and playing myself to sleep at night with songs from Pink Floyd, I met my freind Jason McDaniel. We both liked to hang out and play our acoustic guitars, particularly Grateful Dead tunes. One day Jay and I went out to the Magic Unicorn and played a handful of covers (Dead/Dylan/Niel Young - I still have a DAT recording of that one). About a week later, our freind Matt Henely suggested that we bring our gear down to the U.S.B. (currently Bobby O's) and play some songs - and he would give us free beer. FREE BEER. Those two magical words prompted Jay and I to draw up a flyer and invite some folks to watch us jam. The place was packed. The owner liked us so much that he gave us each $30 and invited us back in two weeks. Free Beer and MONEY!!!!!!! Holy shit! Just for doing what we loved to do anyway! We did another gig at the U.S.B. and decided that we needed a drummer and bass player. (rewind briefly to about a year before - Me, Jason burns on bass, Dennis Mijalevic on guitar, and Jason McDaniel on drums dabbled with the never meant to be "Lumpy toad orchestra". It went nowhere.) We met new freind Donovan Kenaga and he hopped on board as drummer. Our search for a bass player led us to Mike Guinther, who dropped out after a short while because Burns "made him feel weird". On several occasions while we were practicing in my house on Idlewood, my phone would ring, the answering machine would pick it up, and we would hear Burns voice...." I know you guys are in there! I can hear you jamming! Answer your phone!". Well, now that Guinther split, FINE. Burns got the job. We began playing regularly around town - mostly covers, some originals - as "Overlook" and soon we hired Mike McDonald (Big Toe Recordings) to record our first and only release titled "Highland". Soon after that, Donovan left the band and the viod was briefly filled by Mike Sekula. That lasted about a month. He disappeared two days before a gig and we thought we were screwed. Screwed, that is. until my brother Josh saved the day by revealing that he was secretly an excellent drummer. Josh stayed on with us for almost a year, leaving to head out to California and play his Saxophone. Donovan rejoined the band and we did a few more gigs. Jay and I also did a lot of acoustic gigs along the way. We met a lot of cool guys in the Root Road band, and after Overlook had died Jay (McD), Donovan, and I hooked up and did a few gigs with Mike Emmerich (keys) and Ed Holmok (bass). We were pretty much just fucking around and never really accomplished anything. A short time later, Jay, Ed, and I hooked up with a drummer named Mike Krakowski (Krak), and resumed our lollygagging as Black Box. We soon decided to call ourselves Jitamin Var and write some original tunes. After a while, Jay and Ed said that they could'nt play with Krak anymore and he needed to be fired. I could see their point, but I liked Krak a great deal and had to make a tough decision. When it came time to fire Krak, Jay and Ed conveniently wussed out and I had to be the bad guy and fire my freind. That sucked. Enter Christopher Johnson as the new drummer for Jitamin Var. JV was a definite change for me, as our playing went from classic rock/hippie jam/acid music to a much more agressive, punchy, powerful format. We had a handful of good songs and tried to get a good recording of them on several occasions, but we had no money and were never satisfied with what we came up with. Before too long, McDaniel had decided that he could no longer jam with Chris and Jitamin Var fell to pieces. An attempt was made to do a gig without Jay, and my freinds Chris Onyak and Dan Sweeney joined the band for one gig. That did'nt really work and now there was nothing. Before long, the boredom set in and I invited some people to my garage to jam. Donovan, Ed, Josh, Dave Behrend, and guitar monster Dave Franduto showed up once a week to have some fun. Before too long, the opportunity for a gig arose and we played out as "The Tuesday Project" - soon to be renamed "The Orchard Groove". The groove was more of a have fun party band, playing covers and originals, many of which Franduto had written in his long jamming career. A knock on the garage door one evening resulted in the acquaintance if Mike Jacobs. He was very excited and immediately invited us to play at Mikes Barn for his Front Porch Awareness Project show. What a great time that was! Soon the urge to play some more agressive music returned, and McDaniel and I contemplated re-starting Jitamin Var. But we wanted it to be different. Jason Burns happily took the bass player slot, and we asked Liney Woodrum if he would like to be the drummer. We decided to come up with a new name. Smiley Baldazar had come up and was breifly considered, but not for sure. About a week later, Liney and I were fishing in Pennsylvania and we kept saying the name 'Smiley Baldazar' and laughing about it because it was fun to say. I think that was the determining moment in choosing that name. We did a couple gigs and recorded a three song demo at the Sanford Drive house with the help of Ron Taylor. On December 3rd, 2004 we were set to play at Bobby O's. Jason McDaniel decided that it would be a good idea to hang out with the guys from his other band "Shadyside" and show up 45 minutes late, prompting everybody in the place to greet him by calling him "Rockstar" when he showed up. I said to Mike "Geez, before you know it we are going to be begging you to join this band" to which he immediately responded something along the lines of "Begging? I would be honoured to join!". That was it. The icing on the cake. Why jam with a guy who does'nt really want to do it anyway - especially when Mike Jacobs wants to be a part of our team! Jason left that night, quit the band, Mike joined, and Smiley Baldazar as we know it was officially born. If you have read this entire thing, you have way too much time on your hands and probably have a pretty boring life - so quit all this damn reading and go do something fun!
//////////JASON'S BIO (coming soon)////////////////////LINEY AND MIKE'S BIO//////////In the summer of 1994, Mike Jacobs was the drummer/singer in a band called Junction 83. They had been together for about a year and a half,. featuring Doug Deitz on bass, Jeff Rak on guitar, Rob Armstrong on Keyboards, and Devin Allen on guitar. That band broke up, and Mike fled to California to find himself. What he found was that 300 dollars is not a lot of money. He came back to Ohio with his tail between his legs and randomly had dinner with his folks. During that fateful dinner Jeremy Moen, a friend from middle school, called and asked if he still played bass because his band Splurge was looking for a bass player. Excited, Jacobs immediately left and auditioned for the group. This was September 1994, and Splurge was : Liney Woodrum - vocals, Jeremy Moen - Guitar, Bones on Drums, Jones on Guitar, and Jacobs on bass. Liney and Mike immediately began a songwriting relationship that would stand the test of time. In 1995, Splurge took a turn and a new lineup was intact : Liney - vocals, Jones - guitar, Jacobs - guitar, Bones on Drums, and Ian Morrison on bass. For a single gig, a band called Project Elk was formed that played floyd, janes addiction, and other madness. This was Ian on bass, mike and jones on guitars, Mark Rhodes on vocals, and Chad Szeliga on Drums. This band's formation pointed Liney and Mike in a richer musical direction, and Bones was then replaced by Bobby Schnieder on Drums...plus, a "side project" was then formed called The Colorado Biosphere! In early 1996, with Bobby on drums for only a month or so, Splurge recorded a cd called "What Are You Hiding". This would be the brief swan song, as Splurge broke up and The Colorado Biosphere took over as the cheif band in Liney and Mike's lives. The band moved to Bowling Green and consisted of members of Splurge and Projeck Elk. Mark Rhodes and Mike Jacobs on guitars, Ian Morrison on Bass, Liney Woodrum on Drums, and Ben Burdick as singer and creative whirlwind. This band played many insane shows and were destined to take on the world! Then in early 1997, internal struggles forced the group to go their separate ways. A few hundred recordings still exist of this volatile group, one of which is a 4 hour live show at Howards Club H featuring Rob Armstrong (a friend from the past...) on Keyboards. Mike and Ian moved back to the Elyria area, Mark stayed in Bowling Green and eventually moved to Ohio State, Ben went back to NYU to finish his degree, and Liney stayed in Bowling Green and moved in with Rob and began a year of musical discovery! Mike and Ian were determined to continue the musical journey of Splurge, Project Elk, and The Colorado Biosphere. They hooked up with a crazy guitar hero named Jim Mattey (from The Mr. Esterhouse Allenfest Party Band) and began to write songs. A friend named Leslie Cook brainstormed a list of a billion band names that were better than Splurge, and the name they picked was The Jotnar. This was Summer of 1997. Liney finished school and moved back to Elyria to catch up with The Jotnar. Thus began the album "Thermopolis" featuring Nate Scott on vocals. Nate abruptly left, and "thermopolis" quickly became the anti-wyoming campaign, a way to convince everyone to move out of Wyoming so they could live there alone and own the property on which Thermopolis lay. For winter break, Rob Armstrong joined up and in January of 1998 The Jotnar recorded their first album "The Anti-Wyoming Campaign". Liney Woodrum on drums and vocals, Ian Morrison on Bass and vocals, Rob Armstrong on keyboards, trumpet, and vocals, Jim Mattey on Guitar and Vocals, Mike Jacobs on guitar and vocals. It was quite a journey musically, and they immediately were lumped into the Jam-Band category. After a few lackluster gigs and indecision on mass-production and distribution, the Jotnar took hiatus in summer of 1998. Rob went back to BG to finish school, Liney and Ian went on the road to work as furniture movers, and Mike and Jim stayed home to work on music. A short attempt to re-hook-up with Nate Scott, titled Project Vehicle, led to the sessions that would become the next Jotnar album. At first, Mike and Jim began rehearsing new songs with mike on drums and jim on guitar. Rob declined an invitation to join as school was pretty intense. In November of 1998, Ian returned from the road with new inspiration and joined in the weekly rehearsals. 12 new songs were compiled, and The Jotnar was ready to record again, this time as a 3 piece with Mike laying down the drums on the first takes, then overdubbing guitars etc...ON THE NIGHT BEFORE THE FIRST STUDIO DATE, Liney returned from the road and found Mike Ian and Jim at a bar drinking and planning the first session! Upon finding out about recording plans, Liney was asked to be involved, and The Jotnar went to the practice space for a SINGLE FRIGGIN REHEARSAL the night before the first studio date. It was just crazy enough to work, and the marathon rehearsal led to the formation of what is widely regarded as the Jotnar's master work! In January of 1999, The Jotnar recorded a 13 song cd, titled "The Power of the Great" after an experiment with the I Ching. This Cd led to college radio time, some awesome gigs, and a nice long year of musical madness! At the end of 1999, Jim Mattey moved far far away for work, and the Jotnar was again a 3 piece. By this time, Rob Armstrong was done with school, and moved back to the area, and rejoined the group as keyboardist! The Jotnar began a rigorous 4 year constant "tour" of the NE Ohio area. Just as plans to record a third cd were in the works, Liney went back on the road moving furniture, and Mike jumped back behind the drums. Not knowing when Liney would return, The Jotnar recorded their 3rd CD of brand new jams. "Cod Fish Unit : The Ralph Macchio EP" was an obscure and ultra jammed out 5 song ep, the opus of which was a superb new jam called Trap Door To The Burrito Room. This cd was Ian Morrison - bass, guitar, and vocals, Rob Armstrong - keyboards and vocals, and Mike Jacobs - Drums, guitar and vocals. The "hit song" from this ep was a reggae version of "Africa" by Toto, and it became the most requested song for the rest of The Jotnar's career, even Tracy Marie joined them onstage for a version of this song at The Agora. A buzz was already formed about The Jotnar, and the best venue around, Mike's Barn, invited The Jotnar to play at it's annual Big Barn Blues. Local ultra-musician Curtis E. Leonard played drums for The Jotnar at shows in Liney's absence, and at the Big Barn Blues show Liney returned from the road to watch his own band play without him. He was sitting next to on-again off-again collaborator Nate Scott in the audience, and it must have been surreal. Liney's days on the road were over, and he rejoined The Jotnar in summer 2000 for good! The re-addition of Liney inspired The Jotnar to record it's 4th CD. A reworking of two songs from "...Macchio..." and a few new songs became the 4th Jotnar CD "Support Mental Health Or I'll Kill You". With only 7 songs and upwards of 76 minutes, this CD was the jammiest of them all. The Jotnar became the house band of Mike's Barn, and played a bazillion shows between 2000 and 2003. To distract themselves from the frustration of playing 4 hour all-original shows for years and years with still no attention from rich people who could help them quit their day jobs, The Jotnar formed a cover band called The Jerks. Liney was lead singer, Mike went behind the drums, Ian and Rob stayed on bass and keyboards respectively, and a rotating guitar lineup of Jason Vanmeter and Ill Will Vokac happened...plus once in a while Jimbo Alexander played harmonica. During this time, The Jotnar recorded their 5 newest songs, and added 5 live trax and made their 5th cd, "Live At Mike's Barn". The Jerks played some killer gigs, but fizzled as did the Jotnar. After hundreds of shows, 5 CD's, and a nice fanbase, The Jotnar was still at square one financially. Rob left to try and start a career...Ian left to join an already established band (what a cop out...he he)...And Liney and Mike started a group called Sanford Drive...Actually, Sanford Drive was an extrapolation of a band called Roanoke and/or Frayed Handlebars in which Liney first began playing a drumset, and Mike first started playing "leads" and Ronnie only ever played bass in this group. Ronnie is Liney's cousin, and way back in '95 Ronnie was hangin' in E-Town and was in the 'Biosphere before Liney and Mike ever were! Damn Right! So, in 2003, and 2002, the inception of Sanford Drive overlaps with the end of The Jotnar. Anyway, about 4 months before the end of the Jotnar, Sanford Drive sneaked into the studio and began recording what would become "How It Was And What It Could Be" as Ronnie moved up to the Cleveland area from P-Town. A chance outdoor encounter involving frisbees, other people's pools, and their own guitars eventually led to the first Sanford Drive song : Spacedance. Since Ronnie was there at the start of The Colorado Biosphere, but not at the end, and had nothing to do with the demise of The Jotnar, and he was first friggin cousins with Liney, Sanford Drive seemed to make a crapload of sense. So for a whole year, they recorded, gigged out, recorded some more, and then bought the masters and finished the recording and mixing in their new home in Lakewood. With Ronnie's help, Liney and Mike were able to pick up where they left off creatively in The Jotnar. Also, Liney, Mike, and Ronnie were open to all styles of music, and were immediately able to do WHATEVER musically! With Liney and Mike's help, Ronnie was able to start over musically and once in a while forget about all of the insanely heavy objects adorning his conscience. So, shortly after moving into Lakewood, Sanford Drive released "How It Was And What It Could Be" after a year of recording and remixing. And the song, 820, written by Ronnie and Mike while Liney was fishing with his folks, featured the very first musical guest on an album in the recorded history of Liney and Mike. They invited Mista Zell, an accomplished rap artist from Chicago who moved to the Cleveland area sooner that year, to lay down some verses on that track. It was loved by many! People still dig on it actually! But for whatever reasons, the band began to melt and gurgle, and they expanded and begat new lineups (for a few months, Mike and Ronnie played guitars, Liney played drums, and Jason Mcgoran played bass, and Jeremy played drums, and Anthony Cancian played bass, and Dustin Rodriguez played bass) and they played a bunch of gigs, and Ronnie suddenly moved on! So then Dustin, Mike, and Liney continued to play! Then there was no Sanford Drive all of a sudden. During the crossover of Jotnar into Sanford Drive, Mike and fellow Jerk Ill Will Vokac began to organize festivals under the guise of The Cardboard Cricket Moonbeam Experiment. Their first show was "The Front Porch Awareness Project" at Mike's Barn with a whole bunch of cool acts. When Mike and Liney first moved to Lakewood, the idea came into fruition. Mike heard a band 2 houses down from his, and he crept up to the garage door and asked some dude named "Steve" if he wanted his band to play at a festival. ... Thus ends "Liney and Mike - The Dis Funk Shunal Pre-Baldazar Lineage" That is kinda how Liney and Mike met Steve and Burns. Read the Steve and Jason lineage to see exactly how these four crazy cats finally began the penultimate musical journey...Footnotes :Jeff Rak is currently in the band OrbitorRob Armstrong currently owns his own businessJeremy Moen is currently in a band called CC Jr.Ian Morrison is currently in a band called Yellow DeliciousMark Rhodes is currently in a band called Mescalito FunkChad Szeliga is currently in a band called Breaking BenjaminBen Burdick currently works in television and for The lakewood LibraryTracy Marie is still jamming all over the placeCurtis Leonard currently plays and records with many exciting actsJotnar Merch is still available at cafepress.coma peak at the illustrious carrer of Jason Vanmeter, as well as Jimbo Alexander and Curtis E. Leonard is www.jasonvanmeter.comMista Zell is currently pursuing a career in musicSanford Drive still has a website, though it is never updated www.sanforddrive.comRonnie is...on myspaceAnthony... - myspace alsoJason... - myspace tooJeremy...- myspace as well
