A yack with Rhizome and the Flavonoids

aka Wes Smith

AKA Western Smith.

An interview for BLB by Dave Graney with Wes Smith from Rhizome and the Flavonoids. Out of the Gold Coast/Brisbane (Qld) and into Melbourne. Punk exotica and now ? Kind of No Wave New Wave electro funk rock? Very creative and productive and isolated. Latest album is out digitally and on cassette.

I think I should just stick to the facts. Wes kept opening the curtain on his activities a little wider as he talked.

I had seen Rhizome and the Flavonoids once about a year ago. A friend was playing keyboards in the band and I went to to catch them playing on the floor of a very much trad rock/ Americana front bar in inner city Melbourne.

The band somehow found time to change into their stage outfits which all had a very early 60s tv scifi look to them. They had a drum machine, my friend Curtis on keys, a bass player, a guitarist and Wes out front on guitar and vocals. The songs were all high energy and delivered with force. They took no prisoners.

The album SUPERIMPOSER is available here, digitally and on cassette.

Wes plays mostly everything.

Cruislinin’ is the lead track of the album.

Here is a Youtube playlist for Rhizome and the Flavonoids. It might give a person a clue as to what they like or have been inspired by.

Here is a live clip of them as a band playing at the same venue I caught them in. Their clothes are a bit toned down on this occasion.

During the interview, Wes drops some intel that he made a scifi comedy series called EXONAUTS about seven years ago. Inspired by early 60s tv scifi shows, Gerry Anderson, Ren and Stimpy….. etc?

There was also a period where Wes was Chick Vekters, an artist who made instrumental music inspired by exotica.