Though Dallas Smith has embarked on a successful second career as a country musician, he returns to his youth with Vancouver based rockers Default, who stop by Average Joes, Sunday, Oct. 28 with Age of Days.
“I don’t like having any restrictions being put upon me. I want to do what makes me happy, so I’ll do them both,” said Smith on a dying cell phone, of reconciling his burgeoning country career with returning to a successful alternative rock career.
“So when the opportunity came up to play with the guys, I said yes. It’s a great opportunity,” he said, adding getting to play with Stone Temple Pilots for a good chunk of their Canadian tour, along with getting everybody’s schedule to coincide lead to the reunion.
“My booking agent who also handles my country career said there could be opportunities with Default as well,” Smith said.
“I’m feeling really blessed I’m able to do both,” he said adding it has been great to reconnect with his old band mates.
“I’ve spent more time with these guys in the past two months than I have over the past 10 years, so it‘s been great to reconnect with them, not only as musicians but guys who I consider to be brothers,” he said adding he is looking forward to opening for Stone Temple Pilots.
“The first time I got up to sing in front of people after a long while, I sang ‘Plush,’ with the guys who would become Default and now we‘re opening for them, so it really has come full circle for me,” he enthused.
He is looking forward to the tour and revisiting Default songs.
“I’m bringing my guitarist from my band with me, Darren Savard, who has been with me for the past six years. He’s a talented kid. He’s evolved into one of Canada’s best guitarists. And he’s doing work as music director for the CCMAs,” he said.
“So we’ll sound heavier and beefier,” he continued.
“ It’s funny, he was telling me he used to play Default songs in his high school band and now he’ll be playing those songs with us,” he observed. He noted he will often sneak a few Default songs into his country show, but there are no plans to add his country songs into the Default show.
There are also no plans to record new music with Default.
“We haven’t planned anything. But we will be recording every show, so we’ll release a live album after this tour. We’ll pick the best performances or shows that are really special to us. Some venues might not be conducive to a live recording. But we’ve never done anything like it before,” he said.
“ The country career is still the priority,” he continued.
One special show will be at the Commodore in their home city of Vancouver.
“We’re doing our own show there. That’s really special for us. Our first show ever was opening for Nickelback at the Commodore. it’s where we cut our teeth,” he said.
Default began their meteoric rise with the release of their debut album “The Fallout”. With the number one singles “Deny” and “Wasting My Time”, “The Fallout” earned the band the 2002 JUNO Award for “Best New Group” and, having sold over 1 Million copies in the United States Platinum certification in both the United States and Canada. Their Gold-certified sophomore release “Elocation” garnered a nomination for “Best Rock Album” at the 2005 JUNO Awards and follow-up “One Thing Remains” spawned their third #1 hit with “Count on Me”.
They have just released an EP “Re-Cuts” featuring some of their best known hits.
“ Honestly we just looked at which songs had the most plays on Spotify and we recorded one song ‘Let You Down,’ which was on ‘the Fallout,’ but which we were never really happy with,” he said, adding they may rerecord some of the other hits.
Default plays Average Joes, Sunday, Oct. 28. at 8 p.m. Tickets are $35 in advance, $40 day of the show.
