In conjunction with the album’s release, Smug Brothers will be performing May 31 at Blind Bob’s, with special guests Me Time, Chuck 2, and Motion Club.
Kyle Melton, lead singer and guitarist of the group, said Smug Brothers built the new album “out of the death of an old friend,” which is especially poignant considering the 4-track was an essential piece to the Brothers’ tape hiss iconography — like another member of the band. Melton and Don Thrasher, drummer and former DDN music writer, laid down all the album’s basic tracks in five sessions, with bass and overdubs recorded when they found the time. But as bassist Kyle Sowash was doing his parts, he noticed Melton’s guitars getting increasingly out of tune: the motor on the Tascam was dying.
The band was able to repair the machine last fall, but it still wasn’t able to hold its tuning. Left with no choice, the rhythm guitar tracks were rerecorded digitally, though the drums were salvaged since they weren’t tuned to the songs anyway.
There was also an attempt at buying a new Tascam altogether, but you know how online shopping can be, with its misrepresented conditions, descriptions, and sticky knobs not shown in the pictures.
But even in the earliest Smug Brothers songs the band always went digital for the finishing touches. So now, instead of starting with analog, the band is going to live solely in the digital domain.
“That’s what everybody does,” Melton said. “We’re not going to be super modern sounding probably ever, but there’s going to be less hiss in the end. We’re just trying to get our fidelity up to where everyone else has been for 20 years.”
Melton says the title “Stuck on Beta” — while seemingly a reference to the less macho Greek letter, or perhaps those aggressive little fish — predates its current cultural implications, and is much broader than a mere comparison to an “Alpha.” In fact, the phrase has been hanging around in his head since talk of beta cassette players.
“Stuck on Beta” does feel like a reference to the idea of technological stubbornness, to somehow refuse the influx of innovation. That can’t be entirely true, given the Brothers’ hybrid tracking methods over the past 20 years. But, in reference to how Smug Brothers has worked in the studio up until the 4-track’s recent retirement, it is apropos of the band’s overall oeuvre and sound.
By that same token, the album’s lead single, “Take It Out on Me,” released May 7, was written 25 years ago but is lyrically equally appropriate now as then: “Majority rules / We find new ways to disagree / It’s likely they will prevail / But you take it out on me.”
“It’s not necessarily calling out anyone or anything specifically,” Melton said, “but the gist of not seeing eye to eye with the world around you a bit is challenging. A lot of us struggle to coexist with a world that just doesn’t go the way we think it might go or should go, and the slightly sinister motives of those around us.”
Since 2023’s “In the Book of Bad Ideas,” Smug Brothers has been expanding its instrumentation, with saxophones and electric pianos taking on more starring roles. Melton has also started playing more leads on the recent tracks, which have simultaneously felt unique and recognizable, catchy and low-hanging fruit. Guitarist Ryan Shaffer contributed to several tracks on the past few releases, as well.
Everything evolves. Magnetic cassette tapes will flake, and motors that spin them will die. That’s just the nature of the world, that’s just how it goes.
Maybe 20-plus years was the right amount of time for the Smug Brothers to be married to its beloved tape deck. There is clearly no shortage of songs that came out of that relationship. Me Time and Montgomery Green, Melton’s old band, also recorded a great number of songs on it.
It’s a shame it has to go, but there are records to prove the good work it did while it was still functioning properly.
“I suppose the story of the 4-track is a good parallel to the themes of the album: Things are gonna get weird, fail, and die, but you might as well embrace the chaos, give it your best shot, and enjoy the ride,” Melton said. “In the end, you might get something good out of the adventure, like a new album.”
If anyone knows how to fix a Tascam 424 MKIII 4-track, please hit up any one of the Smug Brothers.
Brandon Berry writes about the Dayton and Southwest Ohio music and art scene. Have a story idea for him? Email branberry100@gmail.com.
How to go
What: Smug Brothers / Me Time / Chuck 2 / Motion Club
When: May 31
Where: Blind Bob’s, 430 E. 5th St., Dayton
Cost: $10
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