The Smithereens formed in 1980 in Carteret, New Jersey. Known for their catchy, guitar-driven sound that blends elements of power pop, rock, and alternative rock, The Smithereens gained popularity in the 1980s and early 1990s with hits like “A Girl Like You,” “Only a Memory,” and “Blood and Roses.”
The band’s core lineup included Pat DiNizio on vocals and rhythm guitar, Jim Babjak on lead guitar, Mike Mesaros on bass, and Dennis Diken on drums. DiNizio’s distinct, soulful voice and the band’s straightforward rock sound, influenced by bands like The Beatles, The Who, and The Kinks, gave The Smithereens their unique appeal. Their music often explored themes of love, loss, and longing, combining melancholic lyrics with energetic melodies.
Throughout their career, The Smithereens released several well-received albums, including Especially for You (1986), Green Thoughts (1988), and 11 (1989), which showcased their knack for memorable hooks and rock sensibility. Despite the changing music landscape, The Smithereens maintained a dedicated fan base and continued to tour and release music over the decades.
In 2017, the band suffered a major loss when Pat DiNizio passed away. Since then, they have continued performing, with guest vocalists including Marshall Crenshaw and Robin Wilson of the Gin Blossoms. The band is currently on a tour with Wilson behind the mic.
Music Life Magazine recently caught up with Diken, ahead of the band’s Nov. 20th show at West Herr Riviera Theatre in North Tonawanda, NY.
You guys are going on 45 years and counting. Congratulations. I want to go back a bit. How did you guys get together in the first place? And did you ever think it would last as long as it has and still be going today?
I’ll start with the first question. How we got together. We’ve known each other a long, long time. Mike Mesaros is our bass player. Jimmy and I both knew him since like second or third grade, even though we weren’t playing music together. I knew Mike from grammar school. Jimmy went to in Carteret, New Jersey. And Jimmy went to a different grammar school, different school zone. But he knew Mike because they attended the same church. So, I met Jimmy in high school, the first day of high school. It’s funny because it was the first period of the first day of freshman year. And it was the first row and the first seat. There’s Jimmy sitting. And my idea was I really wanted to form a band.
And if I could, my thought was if I could find a guitarist who could play, I Can’t Explain by The Who, that would be
a fine starting point. So, this kid in the first row opens up his loose leaf and he’s got colored pictures of The Who plastered in there from Hit Parader magazine. My eyes kind of lightened up and I thought to myself, “I’m going to talk to this kid.” And I introduced myself after class. It turns out he did play guitar and we started playing together that week in September of 1971. So, the roots of the band goes back quite a ways.
And then Mike eventually learned to play bass. The three of us really wanted to have a band. We were in search of a lead singer. In the late 70s, we met Pat through a classified ad. By 1980, we had joined forces and Pat was writing a lot.
We started playing around. Our first gig was in March of 1980. So, it was a long haul. And then it was a long haul to get signed after that, too. But it was something that we really wanted to do. And like anything in life, if you really want to do it and you persevere, chances are you’ll get it. You’ll do it.
And the second question is, did we think it would last this long? You know, I think you put your horse blinders on if you’re doing something you love. And you don’t even think about that too much. I think you just keep on keeping on. Because if there’s no reason to stop, you keep going. And there was never a reason for us to stop what we do. We love what we do. It’s the only thing we know how to do, really.
When you guys first started out, did you set goals for yourself, saying if we don’t do something in two, three years, whatever, we’re going to go and do something else in life? What was your thought process? Do you remember?
Well, I think we didn’t really set tangible goals. We put out our first seven-inch EP in 1980. And that put us on the local scene, New York and New Jersey, a little bit in Pennsylvania and Connecticut. And actually, in Ohio, too. And so, we just kind of rolled with the punches. In 1983, we put out our Beauty and Sadness EP. And after that, it was a little bit of a discouraging time, because we weren’t getting much action. But I don’t know. I don’t think we ever actually verbalized anything, saying that if we don’t do this by then, we’ll hang it up. I think we were just too blind to anything.
We almost willed ourselves to succeed in a way. When we did our first album, we didn’t have huge expectations. We thought when we did Especially for You, and it came out on Enigma Records, we thought, well, if we sell 10,000 copies, maybe we can keep gigging. It was just we rolled with every step. And of course, that album ended up doing a lot better than 10,000 copies. But that’s just the way it happened. I don’t think we were smart enough to make goals.
With the passing of Pat in 2017, did you guys talk amongst yourselves as a band whether or not you wanted to continue as The Smithereens? Or did you talk about maybe continuing music in other ways?
Well, it was interesting how things transpired. It’s hard to believe that in December, it will be seven years since Pat left us. But that was December of 2017. And at that time, obviously, we were shell-shocked when Pat died. And it took us a few beats for us to catch our breath and figure out what we wanted to do.
We knew that we wanted to play together because that’s what we’ve been doing for so many years. We’re good friends, and we liked hanging out with each other as well as playing together. The interesting thing is already at that point, we had a gig scheduled for January of 2018, just a month later after Pat’s passing. It was a show that was being produced by Little Steven Van Zandt. And there were some other artists on the bill, too.
He (Van Zandt) suggested that we keep the date and have the Smithereens perform and bring on a bunch of singers to sing with us, and we would turn it into a tribute night to Pat. And that’s exactly what we did. And it really felt right that night. There was such a sense of love in the audience and in the room.
It was a very special night that we’ll never forget. And two of the singers of all the folks that sang with us that night, Marshall Crenshaw and Robin Wilson, just felt right. We had known Marshall since the early 80s. We opened shows for him going back to 81, 82. We shared a record producer. We sat in with him once in a while.
And he even played some keyboard on our first album, Especially For You. And I don’t think he ever sang with us prior to that, but it just felt like old home week when he did. It felt right. And he felt like part of the family. So that seemed like that might work moving forward. And also, Robin Wilson of Gin Blossoms, unbeknownst to us, was a huge fan of the Smithereens.
Turns out that where he came from, Tempe, Arizona area, Gin Blossoms and other bands from there were heavily influenced by the Smithereens. So, he made it very clear to us that we were one of his favorite bands. And if there was ever an opportunity to sing with us moving forward, that he would be all about it.
So, both of those artists interpreted the music. We certainly weren’t thinking of trying to find anybody that was a lookalike or a sound alike for Pat. But being that we had these fellas who can interpret the music in their own way, yet still maintain the integrity of it, that, OK, this might work. And happily, it did.
Since 1980, you guys put out 12 studio records, live records, cover records. So, what does the setlist look like for this tour? Besides the common stuff, A Girl Like You, Only A Memory, Miles From Nowhere, Blood and Roses, what can fans expect to hear when they see you this month?
Yeah, we obviously do the familiar songs that people know from the radio. And if anybody was around watching MTV back in the day, we do all the songs you mentioned and other well-known titles. But we also like to dig into the catalog and pull out some deeper album cuts, throw in some covers. You know, the whole idea is to have fun.
When Jimmy and I take the stage, we really feel like the kids we were in his garage when we were practicing playing Who songs, Kinks songs and Beatles songs. We feel like teenagers again. And I think it’s that attitude and that feel that we have that comes through and translates to the audience. And we’re lucky that our fans and our audience has remained so loyal and loving and supportive all these years. It’s really incredible. We certainly couldn’t have made it 45 years without them being there.
Do you have a favorite song you like to play live? Is there a certain song that you look forward to or that the audience responds to more than others that you like?
For me, I guess it depends. My answer would depend on when you ask me. But I have a certain fondness for a song called Spellbound from the Green Thoughts album. I just love the mood. I love the groove on that. And it’s one of the songs where I try to actually replicate what I did on the record. And I don’t do that with every song.
But I just like what I did on the recording so I do play the same way I did on the record every time. There’s something about that pattern that I use that really speaks to me. And I just dig it so much. And it’s a bit of a departure too. It’s a bit softer. It’s a ballad so it’s a little more downhead. But it’s a song that people dig. So that’s the one that comes to mind. There’s a lot of them. But that’s the one that springs to mind when you ask that question.
In 2022, you put out the Lost Album, which was your first studio record in 11 years. But this was something you guys had completed over 25 years ago. I think, 1993? What made you guys decide to finally release it? What can you tell me about that?
Yeah, in 1993, we were between labels. We were no longer with Capitol. And later that year, we did sign with RCA. But in the interim, we had a bunch of tunes. About 24 songs, actually, thereabouts. So, we dipped into our pockets and went to a studio in New York City called Crystal Sound on West 19th Street. And we set up camp there for two different sets of sessions, actually, about a month at a time, and recorded all these tunes, 12 of which we ended up re-recording for the Date with the Smithereens album.
But the other 12, we didn’t release or re-record. They just sat in our vault for all those years. And I guess it was around COVID time when we were all hanging out at home. We were going through our cupboards. And I have a DAT tape. You remember DAT tapes? Digital Audio Tapes. Maybe some of the younger listeners don’t know what I’m talking about. But that was the way you would, before you could burn a CD, this was the way you could digitally archive or master, in some cases, your record. So, I had a DAT of these 12 songs. And unfortunately, the DAT played, sometimes they were a bit temperamental. But the tunes held up, we thought.
They were well-recorded, and they were good songs, and our performances were quite good, we thought. So, we thought it held together as an album. We had a lot of photos from those sessions. We put together a package and decided to put it out there. And lo and behold, it got a really amazing response. But we were quite surprised.
We thought it was a quality album. But some people were saying, it’s our best album, and why’d you wait so long? We were very, very surprised and pleased at the reaction that that album got. Yeah, it was fun to see that album come to life after all those years.
Is there anything else in the archives you think you might put out?
Yeah, there’s tons of stuff. It’s just got to make the time to deal with it. But there are a lot of archival releases that will come out from us. And we are gearing up to make a new studio album of all original new material.
When can we expect that?
Next year, in ’25. We started recording a few tracks already, and we’ll be doing more. And it’s just a matter of finding the time right now. It’s been kind of a busy year for us, professionally and personally. So, we’re hoping to clear the deck and refocus on it early in the new year.
Are you going to have Marshall or Robin singing?
Yeah, we hope to have both of them. And Jimmy and I will be singing. And also, we’re going to be doing some shows in ’25. We’ve done one already with John Cowsill of the Cowsills singing lead with us. So, he might join in on that as well. So yeah, we’re excited about it.
You guys have been influenced by many artists – The Beatles, The Who, Kinks, Springsteen. But for you as a drummer, who do you look up to as a drummer?
Oh, my goodness, there’s so many. I mean, I always have to say Ringo. He’s still somebody I listen to for inspiration. I love the way he addresses a song. I love his feel, his sense of swing, and his sense of his style. He’s really the ultimate rock and roll drummer. Then there’s guys like Earl Palmer from New Orleans who invented rock and roll drumming. Hal Blaine, another great studio drummer.
Buddy Saltzman, a New York Session drummer who played on the Four Seasons records. Roger Hawkins from Muscle Shoals, the big inspiration to me. Dino Danelli from The Rascals.
Kenny Jones from The Small Faces. Charlie Watts, Keith Moon, Mitch Mitchell. I can go on and on. We could probably talk for an hour about that.
Pretty much everybody you grew up with.
That’s right. And of course, the Motown drummers, you know, and Al Jackson. Yeah, exactly. It’s who I grew up with because we’re all self-taught. We admire the people who taught us, which were the people who played on the records we listened to when we were kids.
Were you one of these kids who stayed in your bedroom or in your basement practicing every day?
When I was a kid, yeah, man. I couldn’t wait to get home from school and throw my books down, run in the basement, put on a Gary Lewis and the Playboys record or whatever, and play along with it. It’s, I mean, I really started teaching myself when I was about two or three years old. I picked up back then. There were these toys called Lincoln Logs, these wooden sticks that you could build like log cabins with, little toy log cabins or Tinker Toys. I don’t know if you remember those, but I would take those and play on coffee cans.
And American Bandstand, a great TV show that was on every day that Dick Clark would highlight the top songs of the day. And so, as a little kid from watching TV, I was turned on to this. I gravitated towards the rhythm of the songs. And really, when I was very young, I knew I was going to be a drummer. So, this is just a lifelong passion for all of us.
Is there anything in life that you haven’t done yet or that you’d like to try? Or are there any hobbies you do besides music?
Is there anything? It’s mostly music related. I mean, when I was a kid, if you asked me, what do you want to be when you grow up? I wanted to play drums. And I wanted to be a disc jockey. That was a big thing for me when I was a little kid. And I did get to do that. And I still get to do it once in a while. I am a staff member at WFMU, Freeform Listener Supported Station in New Jersey.
And I’ve been doing fill-ins on that station since 1996. And then during the lockdown, during the pandemic, I got to have my own show called Denny’s Den on one of their streams. It was a streaming show on the Rock and Soul stream. The archives are still up. If anybody goes to WFMU.org and goes to the Rock and Soul archives, you can find Denny’s Den there and hear all my shows.
I will have to go check it out.
Yeah. So those were the things that I wanted to do. And, you know, I never have been into sports or hunting, or things like that. But my wife is really a great cook and she’s a gardener. When she retires, I think I’d like to spend time with her doing that kind of stuff. But those, you know, those are my ambitions.
I like to play drums. I like to write songs. And I like to play records. That’s really what I dig do. I like to read. But I don’t have any lofty ambitions beyond that, really.
I live on the Canadian side, as I said earlier. Do you guys have any plans on coming over here?
I wish. Nothing right now. But I’ve always loved playing in Canada. We started, I think the first time we played in Canada was 1985 or maybe 86. We played Lee’s Palace in Toronto. Remember that place?
And on our first major tour, our first tour to promote Especially For You, we did a pretty wild tour of Canada. We started on the East Coast and this was wintertime and we drove through the Rockies, making stops heading west. That’s a beautiful drive, man. We had an RV. It was a little dodgy. But I remember loving spending time in Canada.
And my wife and I spent a good part of our honeymoon there. We went to Niagara Falls and went to Toronto and Montreal and a few other places. I have a real soft spot in my heart for Canada. I really do love it. I do hope we get to come back there.
We hope so too, because that would be great to see you guys coming over and even if it’s just a small tour of Southern Ontario or something, because there’s a lot of places you could still play at. We would love to have you guys.
Well, that’d be great. Do you remember a place, I don’t know if this is before your time or not, but a place in Oshawa called The Star Club. Do you remember that?
I’ve heard of it, but I’ve never been there, so I couldn’t tell you if it’s still there or not.
Yeah, I have a feeling it’s not because I know the owner passed away a few years ago…Lee’s Palace and The Star Club were our first gigs in Canada. I think that was 85 or 86. So those were adventures for us back in the day. You know, it was crossing the border and all that and going into it.
Thank you for your time. I’m looking forward to seeing you guys next Wednesday at the Riviera Theatre.
Oh, great. Come by and say hello.
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