'80s Post-Punk Band Get Smart! 40th Anniversary Show Nov. 6 in Lawrence, Kansas

 

• Get Smart! 40+1 Anniversary Show, November 6, 2021 @ The Bottleneck

• Get Smart!, The Pedaljets, Other Geese, Boy Soprano, Ray Velasquez

• November 6, 2021, The Bottleneck, Lawrence, KS at 8:00 pm, Doors Open: 7:00 PM

• Tickets: ADVANCED: $20.00, DAY OF: $25.00

LAWRENCE -- Get Smart! -- a 1980s post-punk band that formed in Lawrence by KU students -- celebrates their coronavirus-delayed 40th anniversary show on November 6 at The Bottleneck.

Joining the bill are Kansas City jangle-pop powerhouse The Pedaljets (with special appearance by Other Geese), upcoming Lawrence, KS 3-piece Boy Soprano, and KJHK alumnus DJ Ray Velasquez spinning tunes.

Distance, obligations and other decisions made it improbable for a reunion before 2020, then the arrival of Covid-19 scratched their previously scheduled show. Now, Get Smart! are ready to showcase the music that made them a local favorite and college radio staple.

Guitarist/vocalist Marcus Koch is excited, “Playing our music again, after all of these years, has been exceptionally rewarding and I cannot wait to perform live!” Adds Lisa Wertman Crowe, bass player and vocalist, In some ways, it’s like no time has passed, and in other ways, it’s really satisfying to see how each of us has progressed both musically and personally. For me, it’s like a family reunion, only better."

In the early 1980s, Get Smart! became prime movers in the regional music scene, it was among the bands that put Lawrence on the map as a hot music city. They played live often, released their first single as a flexi-disc in Talk Talk Magazine, then put out the self-released four track EP Words Move, while almost simultaneously contributing very well-received songs to the historic Fresh Sounds from Middle America four-band compilation, which garnered significant press in the burgeoning indie band underground.

Their first LP Action Reaction was recorded prior to their relocation to Chicago in ’83, and eventually released in 1984 from Fever Records and distributed by Enigma. 1986 found them putting out Swimming With Sharks through Restless Records, a subsidiary of Enigma. These releases made the charts at college rock stations while the band spent the seven years blazing the road to play venues from coast to coast.

Despite living hundreds of miles apart, the trio has been practicing together frequently. Says drummer and some-time singer Frank Loose, “We’re all having a lot of fun, but it’s also been quite a process to put together a set list. The songs we're going to play span our seven years together, and include later originals never recorded.” This includes those recorded in 1987 for their third album, but not released until 2020, as Oh Yeah No, named after its volatile title track. Recorded at the time by the English sound engineer Iain Burgess (Naked Raygun, The Effigies) at the Chicago Recording Company, recordings have been given final mixes by another studio legend, Steve Albini. 

Still fit and fighting to play out live again, their 40+1 Anniversary show is a reset, and they plan to keep the mission alive by collaborating and playing more live shows as Get Smart! Plans are open for 2022, but include recording more unreleased songs, releasing out-of-print vinyl, and writing more new music.

The band formed on Jan. 1, 1980 in Lawrence.

"We were founded approximately January 1, 1980 when Marcus asked Lisa and me to play together," wrote Frank in an email. "We were already friends and, picking up on the DIY punk ethos of the time decided to form a band. Small problem was that I didn’t know how to play the drums! So I bought a set and spent the summer of 1980 learning to play (mostly to The Ramones). Lisa played guitar, but had never picked up the bass. In August, Marcus returned after a summer in Chicago and we started practicing and writing songs in earnest. Our first show was October 31, 1980 at a place called The Greek Sports Desk. By early 1987 we had played more than 300 shows coast-to-coast and release numerous records, tapes, appeared on compilations..."

Our first meeting of the minds:

"Marcus and I met when I heard him playing The Sex Pistols through the walls in my dorm room at KU," Frank wrote. "Kinda blew me away that there was a like-minded music listener. That was fall, 1978 and there were not many punk rock enthusiasts around at that time. A short while later we met Lisa and became friends. It took us awhile to decide we would form a band, mostly as a response to the dreadful state of music on the radio at the time."

Get Smart! is a three-piece indie alternative rock ‘n roll band that formed while Marcus Koch (guitar/vocals), Lisa Wertman Crowe (bass/vocals) and Frank Loose (drums/vocals), were attending the University of Kansas.

The group was prominent in the local music scene, and along with a cohort of other bands, helped to solidify Lawrence as an alternative music hotbed and a touring destination for many other regional and national acts. Along with frequent local shows, the band toured coast-to-coast, performing more than 300 gigs in a six-year span.

They released their first recording in 1981, a flexi-disc released through Talk Talk magazine. This was followed by Words Move, a self-released 4-track EP, and next was a four-band split cassette, Fresh Sounds from Middle America. They recorded their first LP, Action Reaction, prior to relocating to Chicago in late 1982. The debut was released in 1984 by Fever Records and distributed by Enigma and received positive reviews and climbed the ranks for college radio playlists. In 1986, they released their second LP, Swimming With Sharks through Enigma’s subsidiary, Restless Records. Once again, the release high praise from critics and scored even higher on college radio playlists.

In 1987 plans for a third album were formally set into motion.  Half a dozen songs were cut with the late, great engineer Iain Burgess, but the band was unable to secure a label to release the recordings before gradually grinding to a halt in the late '80s, save for a couple of stray 1990 gigs.

The original lineup reformed in January, 2020, and in December, 2020, they released the collection of previously recorded (but never released) songs, titled Oh Yeah No, with the final mixes completed by Chicago scene contemporary Steve Albini.

The group plans to play a 40th anniversary show in Lawrence on November 6, 2021 and to continue to collaborate, play live when they can, and release more new music in the near future.

"The band has a truly impressive knack for three-piece writing and arranging. Their new LP, Swimming With Sharks, is full of tense, carefully crafted miniatures that meld unvarnished noise with unexpected pretty vocal harmonies" (Renaldo Migaldi; Chicago Reader; 1986).