SWATCHES
On Friday, June 24, 2016, Zane Smith of Lithonia, Georgia released his debut album “Swatches,” illustrating his collegiate experience. The pressures of family and friends, defining oneself, and pursuing dreams are a few topics of discussion in this audio narrative. Skip a chapter, and you skip a piece of the story.
Purchase SWATCHES via preferred digital retailer.
Purchase SWATCHES via preferred digital retailer.
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Concept
The album title "SWATCHES," is a design term, related to a sample size of something. As a New Media Arts student, the major pertained to visual communication, including graphic design among several other art forms. Therefore, the album cover displays the color spectrum and various print related marks. "The green in the middle forms a cross. This was like, this is my dedication. I was thinking, I don't know what direction my music will take in the future, but this one, this one is for you, the higher powers. Keep it clean, say something real." Using Ableton Live, one beat was made at a time. Hooks and verses were written as inspiration came. Life, music, and movies played a role in the album's concept and story. The 1999 comedy film, Trippin' was originally sampled on the SWATCHES album, later removed when becoming commercially available. "December 2014 on Winter Break, I decided I was going to start rapping. I wrote a couple verses right then; I knew I could do it. Slowly, my diary turned from stories to poems. One day I went back, to re-read some of my writing, I realized it was nothing but poems. Not all of them were good, but it was a start. I had material that could be revised for the album." |
Execution
"Thrifting, I saw this old Casio keyboard. I immediately thought of Hustle & Flow, how DJay started. To me it was the sign, get serious, if you're gonna do it, do it! I bought the big keyboard and stand, carrying it all the way back to campus. Someone shouted "you're ugly" out a passing car I walked (rolls eyes, shakes head). In college, I slowly purchased one item at a time. Flipping shoes at the time, every $100 or so dollars meant I could afford a new piece of equipment for my music. First came the MIDI keyboard, then speakers, a USB microphone, and then I bought a microphone shield to help with recording sounds. Paying for studio time was out of the question! I had a basic setup. Not the best looking, but it worked. I recorded the album in the downstairs room of my parent's house. It's a bedroom/office space/laundy room. There was always so much noise, traffic in-and-out. If it wasn't the washing machine, it was people needing to use the computer, print, just too many people around. It was annoying. Often, I had to record at night while everyone was sleep, and even then, people might open the door and peek in. The room is directly under my parents room. I'm sure they would hear a muffled voice through the house, not to mention the vents. The project was clean, no profanity. I had no problems with them hearing what I said or recorded, I just didn't really want them to (laughs)." - Zane Smith |
Music Videos
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Eight music videos accompanied the debut album. Zane Smith filmed and/or edited all eight videos to promote the album before and after its release.
Zane expresses his love for cameras in the song below. "Canon" was filmed by Zane Smith himself and Tyrus Jr.
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"I love music videos! And I think they are very important! They allow the viewer to see the artist, get an idea of who they are, their style, persona. Most importantly, the music video allows viewers to see what the artist sees when they hear the song, or created the song, or just what they want the viewer to see. The visual adds to the overall experience, implanting scenes in the listeners mind from here-on-out."
- Zane Smith |
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Promotion
The album was originally uploaded and promoted via DatPiff. For $500, the tape was listed on the mixtape site's homepage for one weeks time. Within seven days, SWATCHES was downloaded about 116 times with over 1,000 streams and a couple thousand views. The stats were not the best, but it was a start. Several viewers came to the Zane Smith Music YouTube channel, commenting on the album and the music videos. Maybe they liked what they heard? Maybe they searched for more and found it? Maybe. Hopefully. "I sent the tape to a lot of family and 'friends' on Facebook." - Zane Smith Either way, the foundation had been laid, people began to acknowledge Zane Smith's music. |
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SWATCHES singles
Each song was released (in order from left to right) with a self-produced music video.
Each song was released (in order from left to right) with a self-produced music video.
Twenty-One
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Han Solo
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Die Today, Fly Away
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Destiny
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Counting down...
"I pulled some of my favorite lyrics from the album and created promotional graphics. Seven colors, seven quotes. R-O-Y-G-B-I-V, starting off with red, each graphic was posted on social media as I counted down the album's release." - Zane Smith
"I pulled some of my favorite lyrics from the album and created promotional graphics. Seven colors, seven quotes. R-O-Y-G-B-I-V, starting off with red, each graphic was posted on social media as I counted down the album's release." - Zane Smith
SHOWTIME
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My First Show
The Masquerade - Atlanta, GA July 19, 2016 "Local music venue, The Masquerade ATL, was accepting local acts as openers for select concerts. After sending an e-mail including links to my music videos, I was contacted to perform. The news arrived when I was out of town on a road trip, just days before the concert date! I was allowed to perform for my very first time! Listed at second to perform, I went first. The guy originally set to go asked me to switch. I foolishly accepted, not thinking the crowd would grow as the lineup got closer to the headliner. "Live and learn," but hey, it was all good. I got to set the tone. I was first, so the crowd had no clue what to expect. Most of my music was slow, sentimental, poetic. A couple people nodded their heads, clapped. It was weird, dancing around the stage, trying to win people over, people not even there for me." |
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"It was weird, dancing around the stage, trying to win people over, people not even there for me."
-Zane Smith
