Mid-aged musos to release first album

by Katherine Ferguson

May 6, 2008

FREMANTLE band Kevin Smith and the Seven Storey Jumpers is set to celebrate its one year anniversary by releasing its first album next month.

Kevin Smith formed the band with his long term friends Richard Woollett and Garry Shuttleworth who then invited local musos Ben Crappsley, Mo Wilson and Martyn P Casey to join them.

The band has been playing in and around Fremantle for the past year gaining popularity and recognition amongst locals.

Lead vocalist Kevin Smith has been living around the Fremantle area for the past 12 years and enjoys being able to walk or catch the bus to his gigs. He said the band loves the Freo atmosphere.

 “We love performing in Fremantle because it has a really vibrant and supportive music community and the people are receptive to good original music,” he said. “It’s also encouraging because we get a lot of younger audience interest, which is surprising for us mid-aged musos.”   

Smith won best blues & roots song in 2005 at the West Australian Music Industry’s song writing awards. This encouraged him to write original music for his own band.

The forthcoming album is titled “... Souls of Men, the Breath of Kings ...” and contains eight original rock n roll songs, written by Smith.

The band’s name might seem a little unusual, but Smith says it relates to the misunderstood and troubled characters in his songs. The group’s main aim is simply to keep playing music and making records.

“We don’t play for money, and any money we do make goes back into the band,” Smith said. “We just want to continue playing and hopefully release a new album every year so we have something to show for what we’ve done.”