Tributes to Gary Smith
If you missed the sad news last month, the music world has lost Gary Smith after a long illness.
As Fort Apache studio owner, producer, and manager, Gary had a huge role in Juliana’s career as well as working with Pixies, Throwing Muses, and more.
There’s an obituary and condolences page at legacy.com
John P. Strohm posted on Facebook:
If anyone ever really ”discovered” a band, Gary discovered Blake Babies. We were struggling when we met Gary. We’d made an album, but had no idea what to do with it. Months after getting 1,000 LPs delivered to our apartment, we still had about 900 copies and no clue what to do with them. It was a struggle.
Gary came to our show one night at The Rat, strode right up to us when we came offstage and said, ”I love your band. I own a studio. Would you like to make a record?” Storybook stuff. We went to Fort Apache that night, and it instantly became our favorite place on earth.
Read John’s full words below:
Billy Bragg, also on Facebook:
The Fort was an amazing place where young bands making challenging music could find in Gary a sympathetic ear and a lot of good advice. He produced the Accident Waiting To Happen single which I recorded there with the Red Stars, as well the b-side 'Sulk' which was written during the session.