John Wolfington

John Wolfington began his road to becoming a Smells Like Records recording artist when he changed trains on the subway and landed next to Thurston Moore, who was engrossed in a novel, but accepted the tape that Wolfington handed him — a song called "Coney Island Freak" that contained references to Sonic Youth. The tape made little impact, but in 1999 when Wolfington sent a five-song demo to Smells Like Records recording artist Tim Foljahn of Two Dollar Guitar, Foljahn was so impressed that he passed the tape along to SLR chief Steve Shelley, leading to the release of Wolfington's self-titled debut in January 2001. Recorded primarily at Brooklyn's Rare Book Room, the album features Shelley and Foljahn on over half of its songs, with the balance being a mix between new tracks and songs from the original demo. After a six-year sabbatical in L.A., Wolfington returned to the studio to record ten songs with Steve Shelley on drums and Tim Foljahn on bass. The album, American Dreamsicle, took only a week to finish (three days to record and four to mix) and was released in August 2007.