Hood Smoke - Live at Sleeping Village (EARS&EYES RECORDS 2018)

In the midst of an eleven show run from Colorado to Ohio in the spring of 2018, Hood Smoke performed in their hometown of Chicago at Sleeping Village. Opening with a cover of a Randy Newman song, the band continued its performance with a list of originals bursting with an energy only found outside the studio. 

Influenced by improvised music, and detailed songwriting respectively, Hood Smoke––Bryan Doherty, Jim Tashjian, Matt Gold, Michael Caskey, and Rob Clearfield––unleashed a unique sense of structure, as well as an appetite for musical adventure, that resonated within the walls of the recently opened and sonically sophisticated Sleeping Village on April 28, 2018.

Bryan Doherty - bass and vocals

Michael Caskey - drums

Rob Clearfield - organ

Jim Tashjian - guitar and vocals

Matt Gold - guitar

1. Little Criminals 03:55

2. Keeps Me Around 05:32

3. Porcelain Flowers 05:25

4. Blue Janie 04:24

5. Seneca Lake 07:01

6. Anything But The Answer 04:38

7. Regular Neurotic 07:00

8. Lone Lorraine 05:33

Recorded live at Sleeping Village in Chicago, IL on April 28, 2018 

Mixed and mastered at The Drake in Chicago, IL 

Recording Engineer - Greg Obis Chicago, IL 

Front of House Engineer - Hunter Korgel Chicago, IL

Hood Smoke - Cannonball Porch (EARS&EYES RECORDS)

Bridging both genres and generations with original music steeped in the history of its influences, Hood Smoke’s sonic narrative illustrates timeless stories using beautifully simple melodies set to a rhythmic foundation built firmly from the bass up. 

Since the release of their debut album, Laid Up In Ordinary (2012), Chicago’s Hood Smoke has continued to narrow the gap between retro and modern sounds in a unique and sincere way. 

The band is a tour de force whose past and present members have performed with Quincy Jones, Earth, Wind & Fire, Koko Taylor, Rhymefest, Nick Lowe, Chris Thile, and Umphrey’s Mcgee. 

With their second album, Regular Neurotic (2014), the band began its collaboration with producer and engineer Anthony Gravino. The record’s anthem “Never Suffering” gained the band recognition from American Songwriter and the Chicago Sun-Times declared Hood Smoke a “must-see act.” 

With their third release Rough Around The Hedges (2016), which Newcity described as “whip-smart jazz-funk-fusion” whose “lyrics are top-notch throughout,” Doherty proved his prolificacy as a composer and lyricist. 2016 also marked the band’s first national tour as they wooed audiences at large rock festivals and intimate jazz clubs, alike. 

The band’s fourth album Cannonball Porch (2018) showcases Doherty’s vulnerable and melancholic voice on what he promises to be “the most simplistic, lyrically creative, and to the point” Hood Smoke album to date. 

1. Storybook 05:24

2. Porcelain Flowers 04:43

3. Blue Janie 03:57

4. Seneca Lake 03:08

5. El Salvador 03:39

6. Feel Lost 04:07

7. Crackerjack 04:51

8. Easy To Obsess (So Much Of One) 04:44

9. Depending On The Fool 03:29

10. Off Clouds 04:18