Smoke the Bees are an alternative rock band from Turin, Italy, formed in 2012.
Smoke the Bees’ music combines diverse genres and influences creating an distinctive sound with a leading thread. It is intense, atmospheric, reflective, as well as tuneful, irreverent and catchy. This generates a natural empathy from the first listening, diverging from the local music scene and the Italian music in general. Source of inspiration are Radiohead, Sparklehorse, Syd Barrett, and the Icelandic music scene.
What does Smoke the Bees mean?
Smoking the bees is the bee-keeping stage where the bee-keeper injects smoke into the hive. Bees get confused because the smoke mixes up the smells preventing the production of the pheromone that informs the bees of the danger caused by someone breaching their hive. This is a modernist metaphor about society’s homogenisation and individual alienation. Bees in fact get lost and let life cheat them, just like us.
Line-up and Bio
• Lorenzo Rando (guitar, vocals)
• Maze (bass guitar)
• Samir Hadade (drums)
Garrincha EP released on 4th Sept 2015 © M&O Music. It includes the singles “Garrincha” and “Murder Song”. Its creation was as natural and organic as the relationship of its musicians. It came about as a necessity to leave a “mark” musically and artistically in a form that was not ethereal and fleeting as music normally is in the moment it is played.
The six songs almost constitute a challenge to the classical EP format, as it is closer to being an album in its own right. The challenge extends further in the various moods that are set during the course of the musical journey that it proposes; going from odd time signature and yet very catchy Yonder to the hit single radio-friendly Garrincha. The voyage continues ambitiously to include very groove orientated Wrong. Chief Seattle, an important historical figure in the not too optimistic past of North American colonisation, along with The Mule, a old Aesop’s fable, constitute a welcomed change of pace to then shift into the darker and menacing atmosphere of the ending track Murder Song.
Overall the Garrincha EP shows, without a doubt, the eclectic musical choices made by Smoke the Bees all the while keeping an overall artistic and musical cohesiveness that gives a very distinct and pleasurable sound to the listener. It makes a very clear statement and could only be the promise of very interesting musical ideas to follow in the near future in a full-length album. Instruments played have been exclusively electric guitar, bass guitar, and drums, with the purpose to make a record very close to the band’s live performances.
Smoke the Bees often play live in the local music scene, promoting their new EP and brand new tracks. Their intricate, high-energy live sets, which to date include more than 30 gigs in the North of Italy, have resulted in a large following – one that is also burgeoning soon in Europe as they continue to pick up tours in nearby countries. This alternative rock power trio is an accomplished live band that has an electrifying live set that the public enjoys. Current gigs look set to further cement Smoke the Bees as a band to watch heading into 2016.
On June 2015 a contract has been signed with the French recording label M&O Music, and in spring 2016 the band is planning a 2-week tour in the US.