The latest Constant Smiles album, Moonflowers’ is out in the big wide world. We suggest that you give it a listen and check out the tour dates below. That’s not all! For your convenience you can listen to ‘When You’re Gone’ below, plus you can get to know Constant Smiles a little more in this fab little DeClunk Q & A. Enjoy!
Hello Constant Smiles…..welcome to the DeClunk universe
Heyo!
Please describe your surroundings so that we can all cosy up.
I’m in my apartment in Ridgewood on this cold November morning after returning from tour. I’m surrounded by my house plants which were happy to have me back because they were in need of some water. I awoke this morning missing my cat who passed away last year at this time. So I feel a little sad but also happy to be back nesting.
Please introduce the band and what each member brings to it.
Well there are so many people in the band so that might take a while but I’ll try and be brief!
Nora Knight – the grounding force – drums, vocals, songwriter and all around incredibly inspiring person.
Spike Currier – bass and vibe technician, handsome man
Jen Ho – Violin to make you fly in the cosmos
Mike Mackey aka Mackey, aka Sticky, Stax McGrax, – producer
Chris Liberato aka Libby Auto – Producer
Emma Young – the sage – poet
Noa Maxner – zen master and one of my favorite people to work out ideas with. Taught me about silence in music. – cello
Emma Conley – longest member and one of the all time greats – violin
Wednesday Knudsen – the cosmos incarnate
Adam Howell – can’t keep a good man down even when he falls off a roof.
Adam Lipsky – Mushroom man, keys in hand
Shahzad – the wizard
Phil Weinrobe – the master and we’re all in class
Cassandra Jenkins – we’re all swimming in her wake
Jonathan Schenke – the scientist, sound chemist
Leon Johnson – nobody does it better and one shouldn’t even try
Katie Von Schleicher – the focuser, critical examiner
Fred Thomas – the historian showing us where we’ve been and where we’re going
Frances Rae-Christine – the style council and taste maker
P.G. Six – soft sounds that hit you like bricks
Steven R Smith – from the darkness comes the light
Constants Smiles is a name with a feeling of warmth, optimism. Are you folks generally smiley and optimistic?
In my older age I am certainly becoming that which actually makes me feel uncomfortable with having the band name be Constant Smiles. I made the band name when I was a very different and depressed person. Even though I didn’t come up with it, the idea was to invoke “Invasion of the body snatchers” or the Wilco song “How to fight loneliness, you smile all the time”.
How does the band go about writing a song? Is there one of you that takes the lead on ideas?
For the most part, I write and demo the songs first, and then we talk them through as a band. Mike and Chris always have great feedback and are honest about what they do and don’t like. From there, we pick the best 10 or so songs from the batch and decide who fits the vibe to play on them, and then we re-record everything together as a band.
For Moonflowers, though, a lot of the writing happened on tour as a trio – Spike, Nora, and me – trying ideas out during soundchecks, following what felt natural, and fine-tuning the songs night after night.
Tell us about the album ‘Moonflowers’. The songs sound as if they are crafted from personal experiences. Is that so?
Definitely! This one feels very personal for us. It’s about how you quietly chip away at things in life, whether it’s gardening, music, or self-care, and then suddenly realize you’ve built real experience and knowledge. Like a Moonflower blooming at night, it shows how all the unseen, subconscious work can lead to something unexpectedly beautiful.
How do you seek out musicians that you want to collaborate with? Is it with friends? Or do you write a song, a piece of music and think ‘We want this or that person’? Or something else?
It’s mostly friends I want to stay connected with by working on a project together. I find them so talented and inspiring, and I love getting them excited to create something special. And for example, this album was inspired in part by Cassandra Jenkins, so of course I had to try to get her on the record.
There is a tour. Does it involve a big bus? What’s on your rider?
I wish! We took my car on this run and kept things really lean. In each city, different local friends joined us on stage. In NYC we had a seven-piece band, and in Boston we had another seven-piece lineup with completely different members. Our piano player Leon even joined us in Bloomington, though he played violin instead!
The best part of tour is hanging with friends and having different collaborators jump in each night. It creates a new vibe every show, and half the time we don’t even know what they’re going to play until it happens.
As for my rider: fruit and seltzer!
DeClunk recommends for you the following albums. Tongues by Tanya Tagaq, Braindrops by Tropical Fuck Storm and PF1 by Pill Fangs. Your turn.
Awesome! I can’t wait to listen!
Do any of you have any hidden talents away from music? Maybe one of you is talented at spinning plates or brilliant at making strawberry jam, for example.
Gardening! Spike, Nora, and I are all gardeners, which was one of the inspirations for this album. I started gardening after high school for my favorite person, Carly Look, who took me under her wing and became like a second family to me. I still go back home once a year or so to work with her and get my hands in the dirt. Spike and I also worked at Holy Wood and Vine in NYC when we first moved here, gardening alongside Amen Dunes and Dan from Excepter, such a cool spot. I still love the owner, Bob, and remain friends with him.
If each of you wrote an autobiography, what would the catchy titles be and who would play you in the films?
haha I have thought of this before! The old band I was in (Drawing guts) always said he would have one called “A life of first songs” which I always loved. I’ll have to think about mine but maybe I would call it “Long crooked mirrors of self worth” or “Constant Change” or something like that.
Thanks for taking the time with DeClunk. We hope to catch you doing your thing in the near future, somewhere in the north of England.
I’ll be in England in March so come out and let’s hang!
—–Tour dates:
17 January – Seattle, WA @ Vera Project
18 January – Portland, OR @ Bunk Bar
19 January – Eugene, OR @ Axe and Fiddle
20 January – Roseburg, OR @ Rosebud Theatre
21 January – Redding, CA @ The Dip
22 January – San Francisco, CA @ Knockout
23 January – Los Angeles, CA @ Permanent Records Roadhouse
24 January – Long Beach, CA @ The G’rage
25 January – San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar
05 March – Paris, FR @ Supersonic Record Store
06 March – London, UK @ The Grace
07 March – Coventry, UK @ Just Dropped In Records
08 March – Nottingham, UK @ Billy Bootleggers
09 March – Brighton, UK @ The Oak
11 March – Manchester, UK @ Gulliver
13 March – Giessen, DE @ Band of Friends
14 March – Saarbrücken, DE @ Terminus
15 March – Frankfurt, DE @ Hafen 2
16 March – Berlin, DE @ Schokoladen
18 March – Neuchâtel, CH @ Queen Kong Club
19 March – Ravenna, IT @ Bronson
20 March – Firenze, IT @ ExFila
21 March – Ebensee, AT @ Kino
22 March – Vicenza, IT @ Vinile
DeClunk 