Keith Smart on St Johns Wood Affair

Keith Smart speaks to Jason Barnard about the story behind the new reissue of St Johns Wood Affair’s debut album. Keith’s passion for music, from his time with M.I.5 to his custodianship of iconic guitars, bring a new perspective to the musical landscape. Join us as we dive into the psychedelic soundscape of the St Johns Wood Affair and Keith Smart.

Can you tell us about the new expanded edition of St Johns Wood Affair’s LP and what we can expect from this version?

Hi Jason, we recorded the original ST JOHNS WOOD AFFAIR album and released it ourselves in 2016. It received some good reviews. I was posting copies all over the world, plus selling a lot at gigs. I was contacted last year by Roger of THINK LIKE A KEY MUSIC label, he was reissuing a Nirvana album, called ORANGE AND BLUE. I have been playing with Nirvana since 1980 (the psychedelic group, not the grunge group). I have a lot of material in my archives, photos, videos and rough mixes of various groups I have been involved with. I supplied Roger with outtakes and photos of the album sessions from 1995. We got chatting, I sent him our album. I was so impressed by the remastering of the Nirvana album, I wondered if he could do the same with ours, plus I liked the label and the roster of artists and bands on there, a great eclectic mix.

For the ST JOHNS WOOD AFFAIR reissue, Roger put together some interesting demos recorded at my home studio, plus two cover version songs that were never released before. The whole package sounds so fresh now, the remastering has brought it to life. I get e mails from people who have both albums, telling me how much they enjoy the recording, plus the demos too. Roger updated the artwork to include a booklet of photographs taken recording the album, and some gigs, plus the lyrics! All in all a really impressive package. A week after the albums release, Roger told me it was the label’s best seller. It had sold out in a week, and more copies of the album were produced to cover the interest.

Could you share some insights into the unreleased tracks and why you decided to include them?

I always loved SKY SAXON and THE SEEDS, we originally came together in the studio to record a cover of WHERE IS THE ENTRANCEWAY TO PLAY? I had been approached by a record company in America and asked if I would like to cover a SEEDS song for a SKY SAXON tribute album. The recording turned out really well, and the musicians I got together enjoyed the sessions. I also wrote a song about Sky Saxon called SKY FOREVER. We recorded that too. The SKY tribute album has not been release yet. We have been waiting since 2010! Hawkwind, Iggy Pop, Davy Jones of the Monkees and the Bangles have all recorded tracks for the album. I had a different mix of WHERE IS THE ENTRANCEWAY TO PLAY in my archive, so thought it would be nice to let people hear it, especially as it was the catalyst in bringing ST JOHNS WOOD AFFAIR together. The Nirvana song ST JOHNS WOOD AFFAIR was a cover recorded for an album a released in 2020 of Nirvana cover versions called YESTERDAY’S SUNSHINE. It’s quite a whacky track, backwards guitars etc. Again another mix I had in the archive. I thought it would be cool to have that as a bonus track on the album.

“Sky Forever” is described as an ode to Sky Saxon of The Seeds. Could you share the inspiration behind this song and its significance to the album?

I have quite a few Seeds albums, and Sky Saxon albums. After recording WHERE IS THE ENTRANCEWAY TO PLAY? I sat down and wrote the song for Sky. A few unusual things happened during recording the demo, the phone rang. It was Patrick Campbell Lyons of Nirvana. It was in time with the music, so I kept it in. When I rerecorded the song in a studio, I sampled the phone call and put it in the song. Similarly, I was playing the keyboard part in my home studio, when I fell on the keyboard and landed on a strange sounding chord, I kept that in too. The lyrics are about some of the Seeds songs, if you are a fan of the group, you can pick them up. I sent a copy to Sky’s last wife, Sabrina, she really liked it. We always play it at our gigs, when I mention Sky, he gets a cheer!

So how did the members of St Johns Wood Affair come together, and how did the band’s shared love for psychedelic music influence your and the group’s musical journey?

As I mentioned before. I was approached to record a Seeds song. I didn’t have a group at the time, so I drafted in a musical friend, Anne Whittet on keyboards. I have played in a group with her before. She brought along Carlton Jarvis to drum, another friend John White played bass and my wife Francine (who records with me at my home studio) supplied backing vocals. We all had such a gas, we thought it cannot end here. I wrote more songs that we recorded, and we went out gigging them. The response was very good. Since I was at school, I have had a love of music, travelling back in time, discovering Beatles, Early Pink Floyd, early Who, Small Faces, Kinks, early Bowie, then when I was about 13 years old I started writing and recording my songs. I used two cassette tape recorder to do this in a very primitive way. The results were quite good, I still have them in the archive.

Could you introduce the members of St Johns Wood Affair and tell us about their roles within the band?

The current members of ST JOHNS WOOD AFFAIR are Keith Smart – Lead vocals/guitar, Anne Whittet – Keyboards, Carlton Jarvis – Drums, Francine Smart – Backing vocals and Adrian Hillier – Bass/backing vocals. That line up works really well. We had a few bass players before this line up, including John White, Pat Martin (from Unicorn, a band produced by Dave Gilmour).

Patrick Campbell-Lyons gave the band its name. Can you elaborate on how that conversation led to the name St Johns Wood Affair and its connection to the music?

Patrick was at our home in Surrey, we were running through songs for a gig Nirvana were playing in Spain at Felipop (Francine and Anne both played with us at that gig). I mentioned I was trying to think of a name. He said why not ST JOHNS WOOD AFFAIR? I thought, well at least there would not be another band with that name. People have their own ideas of why the band is called that, I think that is good. Patrick is a dear friend I have known since the 80s, we speak the same musical language.

You’ve had a diverse musical career, from M.I.5 to Eye to Eye. How has your past experience shaped your approach to songwriting and performing with St Johns Wood Affair?

ST JOHNS WOOD AFFAIR is really my ideal group. In previous groups I have always had to compromise. I do not do that now, I write the songs I want and I know SJWA can interpret my ideas. We play mainly our original songs, we do play a few covers, SEE EMILY PLAY by Pink Floyd (Anne replicates the amazing keyboard part that Richard Wright played), Lucy in the Sky with diamonds by the Beatles (Adrian has nailed Macca’s beautiful bass part), Moonage Daydream by Bowie (imagine playing that in front of Bowie’s drummer Woody Woodmansey and bassist/producer Tony Visconti – we did that at a Bowie festival in London). As well as 60s groups, I was brought up on Sex Pistols (I never imagined then, I would play with Glen Matlock), Stooges, Oasis, they are all in my DNA.

M.I.5 spent two days recording at Ringo’s home studio Tittenhurst Park, what do you recall of that experience?

I recall those days in every detail! I could write a few pages on that alone. Of course I was aware of the history of that studio, John Lennon’s old Ascot home, I had seen it in the promo film for Imagine. It really was a rock star’s mansion, though a little tired when Ringo owned it. In the lounge, they still had the shutters that Yoko closes in the film of Imagine. There was a huge stainless steel industrial washing machine cover on the wall, when you opened it, a fire was inside. Upstairs in John and Yoko’s bedroom, the light switch did not have “On” and “Off” on it. It had “John” and “Yoko”. The headboard of the bed had jack sockets, so you could lay in bed and be connected to the studio downstairs. I write more about it on my web site www.keithsmart.co.uk M.I.5 section.

As a guitar historian, you’re the custodian of Mike Oldfield’s Fender Telecaster and Ronnie Lane’s Zemaitis Resonator guitar. How do these iconic instruments influence your music, and what stories do they carry?

I always like to say I am a Custodian, those guitars are treasures to enjoy while you have them. The Mike Oldfield Tele, Mike writes in his autobiography how he got the guitar from Marc Bolan, so it has been owned by two amazing artists! I recorded quite a few SJWA songs with that Telecaster, you can hear it on the album. They have a Mojo about them. Sadly, they had to go to pay some bills. I do have another interesting Telecaster now, it belonged to PETER GREEN of FLEETWOOD MAC! That has tons of Mojo too! The Peter Green Tele is being recorded for the next ST JOHNS WOOD AFFAIR album!

What’s coming up for you and St Johns Wood Affair?

We are busy recording our new album. I am always writing songs, a number of the songs we have played live and they always get a great response. Still psych-rock with a modern twist. Looking forward to playing more festivals next year.