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Oct 21, 2015 Smith Westerns By Christopher Roberts

Smith Westerns somewhat quietly broke up last December after releasing three albums. Now frontman and singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Cullen Omori has announced that he’s signed to Sub Pop. The plan is for him to release his solo debut album next spring. He will make his live solo debut next Friday, October 30, at Schuba’s in Chicago. In a new interview with Chicago Reader Omori discussed Smith Westerns’ breakup, his solo album, and signing to Sub Pop.

In the interview he says that he considered putting music on hold and going back to school:

“It definitely got kind of dark for a while. I mean, there was no breather between becoming an adult and figuring out what you want to do: It was chosen for me, because we had early success with Smith Westerns. After doing Smith Westerns for seven years and then having it stop, you go, ‘All right, what do I do?’ Other than having some records that did critically all right, what do I really have? Because I don’t have any money. It’s not like I can go live on island for the rest of my life. I’m going to have to continue working.

It also was that thing where, for the rest of my life, is what defines me going to be Smith Westerns? Is that going to be the cool thing for the rest of my life, and I’m always going to be trying to live up to that? Am I always going to be, like, ‘Oh man, back when I was 22 it was fucking sick!’ Or am I going to take that and then do something that I feel like is a stepping stone to something better? Instead of having the Smith Westerns experience be some cool trophy of my life, I decided I’d rather use it to do something more representative of myself as a whole.”

Omori also said that the Smith Westerns song closest to his solo music is “Varsity.” Watch the video for that below.