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Smokestack Horizon’s future unclear
By JOHN BENSON
Even though local act Smokestack Horizon — Demos Papadimas (vocals, guitar, harmonica, bouzouki), Andre Ptichkin (upright bass) and Luke Theall (drums) — has been around only since the beginning of the year, the Americana trio has already made quite an impact on the local music scene with half a dozen shows at the Lemon Grove under its belt.
“The basis of the music is the blues,” said Papadimas, 25, a 2003 Howland High School graduate. “I’m a fan of later electric blues but also old time Robert Johnson blues. Blind Boy Fuller is a great influence for me, as well as Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash. It’s that sort of old-country sound, like something from ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ We do some jazz stuff. In fact, a few people have mentioned they hear a Django Reinhardt jazz sound.”
Up next for Smokestack Horizon — a name taken from an old blues song that Papadimas felt was apropos considering his Rust Belt city home — is a special CD release show Friday at the Lemon Grove. The self-titled album is the band’s debut effort, which aside from featuring many genres, also includes a foundation in Papadimas’ heritage.
“One song that describes us pretty well is ‘Soul of a Man,’” Papadimas said. “I play the bouzouki because I come from the Greek background, and I’m influenced by old Greek folk music. So that song mixes a Greek rhythm with a blues progression. A lot of what the band is to me is mixing a lot of different musical styles and musical worlds. Another track is ‘If I Had Religion,’ which is more or less a folk ballad.”
Despite Smokestack Horizon’s obvious momentum, the act’s future remains uncertain.
Papadimas will be leaving shortly for New York City soon where he’s studying for his masters degree in history at CUNY (The City University of New York).
“I guess I want to go into teaching, but you have to do other stuff, too,” Papadimas said. “I’m definitely continuing with music but at the same time I have to balance things out a bit.”
Even though he’s leaving Northeast Ohio for school, Papadimas is excited about the recent success of Smokestack Horizon. He singles out The Lemon Grove as playing a key role for not only his band but the local music scene in general.
“I think our reception has been pretty good, actually, which sort of surprises me,” Papadimas said. “I think the Lemon Grove has sort of helped us on some level because it’s provided the right audience for our music. It’s definitely a home venue for us, and I think what [owner] Jacob [Harver] has done there is a great job. He’s provided a real open and artistic venue where on any different night you have different kinds of music. And with our kind of music, which I guess on the simplest level you can call it folk, it shows that many people are interested in the area.”