The New Band Smothered Is Denton AF

Denton alt-rock band Smothered is very DIY and so very Denton.

The four-piece band started in 2019 with only two members: Taylor Watt (vocals/rhythm guitar) and Simon Russell (drums). Later, Zach Palmer (vocals/lead guitar) and Mal Frenza (vocals/bass) joined the mix, adding much depth to the group’s genre-bending sound.

The band’s first songs came from a project on which Watt had worked before moving to Texas from Oregon. Back then, the singer wasn’t necessarily thinking of what it would become four years later.

“It’s really good for my mental health to write songs and go and play them – just de-stress and everything,”  Watt says. “We weren’t thinking big picture with something. We were just like, ‘Let’s play right now.'”

The group’s first piece was inspired by the mistreatment of women and queer people within the music and DIY scene.

“The origins of the band were in response to assault or creepy behavior in Portland,” Watt says.

Watt and Russell managed to perform one show together in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic forced their band online along with everyone else. Watt lost her job and Simon worked remotely. The two started recording their music that fall.

“We were throwing around ideas, but didn’t really have any money,” Watt says.

Luckily, Simon had a friend who suggested Zach Palmer record the duo’s music, and Palmer loved the songs and agreed.

Two trying years later, the band released their debut album, Digest, which featured songs Watt herself had written at 19.

“There’s literally a song on it called ’19,'” Palmer says.

The album came out of a dark point in Watt’s life: post-breakup and entering lockdown alone in an apartment overrun by roaches. She was in a tragic state of mind.

“I would sit under a tree for like four hours and listen to the little recordings I made on my phone, chain-smoking cigarettes and drinking because that’s all I could do,” Watt says. “I’d go to the laundromat, and I’d sit out there and I’d work on it and work on it. So a lot of the songs came from dark themes. … I didn’t know at the time that I was bipolar, and I definitely had PTSD from stuff I had experienced in the past couple of years.”

Palmer chimes in: “It’s an album of going through it,” he says.

Palmer recorded the album, his first full-length project in quite some time.

“It was a lot of figuring things out, trying to see what works and what doesn’t work,” he says. “When I heard the music I was like, ‘This is a guitar band.'”

Worries aside, Palmer embarked on guitar-first mixing and production for Watt and Russell, still making sure the other instruments punched through. Recording in Palmer’s home studio, the band got creative with their process.

“There was a day where we just did feedback. Your poor roommates,” Watt says to Palmer. “We had the amp cranked up, and we made the loudest feedback. We were scraping cans across it and all sorts of stuff.”

As live venues opened up, Watt and Russell hoped to have a bassist in the band – another role Palmer could fill. Luckily, he was on the same page.

Palmer remembers telling Watt and Russell, “I don’t know if this is too forward or anything, but can I be in the band?”

Their response was an astounding “Yes.”

Two became three, and, since then, Smothered has been playing on all sorts of bills.

“A lot of Denton [venues] book us with a lot of other LGBTQ and queer bands because we’re all gravitating towards that sort of scene,” Palmer says. “And I kind of think that’s where our home is, at the end of the day, because we don’t vibe with a hardcore scene … We don’t fit the metal scene because there’s a lot of toxicity there.”

They group been taking shows outside of Denton too.

“You go to Denton for the house show, for the venue that’s not all the way put together,” Palmer says. “You go to Dallas for the real, actual venue. And you go to Fort Worth whenever you get asked. Fort Worth always [has] this weird amorphous thing going on.”

Now, they are working on their next album, which is proving a much different process than the first. For one, Watt is in a much better place – no longer a roach-filled apartment.

“Of course, I started writing things with an extra guitar,” Watt says.

Palmer, a true musical chameleon, hopped on guitar, and they put out a private call for a new bassist. Friend-of-the-band Mal Frenza subsequently joined the band on bass, and the four started playing together within that month.

The process for this upcoming album has been much more collaborative.

“It was less [Watt] going off into a cave to write something,” Palmer says. “And it was more like, ‘I have a riff.’ I hand it off to her. She hands it off to me.”

“My Southern Girl,” the first single off the album, came out June 16.

“Definitely my favorite part of recording ‘My Southern Girl’ is the breakdown section where we touch on some psych rock vibes, and the background vocals in the chorus that I get to sing with Taylor,” Frenza says.

And the song happened to be the perfect single for Pride.

“The lyrics ended up being a really big innuendo for a lesbian relationship,” Watt says.

“For me, I hope, especially during Pride month and [when] things are so fucked right now, you can hear the song and relate to it and think it’s cute or whatever you get out of it,” Palmer says. “But then feel like you are represented, I suppose. It’s so hard to hear something you truly relate to when music like that is not being pushed to the forefront. There’s a lot of horrible shit happening, and it’s all really fucked up and depressing. So why don’t we listen to a song that’s so in your face about gay sex and is just really fun and catchy and feel a little bit of levity?”

Frenza agrees.

“I hope fans get a sense of community and connection with our sound and lyrics,” she says. “Releasing this during Pride month is really important to the band and to celebrate the love we have for and with our Smothered family.”

The Bandcamp proceeds for this single will be donated to PRIDENTON, which organizes Denton’s Official Pride Celebration and advocates for an LGBTQ+ community center for Denton.

“If you are in a scene and in a community and you don’t give back to the community, there is something missing there,” says Palmer. “You have to be contributing in ways other than art in my opinion, especially if you are trying to make an impact. That’s just … the responsible choice.”