THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Seeded from the land of grassroots touring and fueled by junk food, gas-station pit stops, and tearing down trucker towns, here comes the sophomore album from Seattle rockers Smoker Dad. Hotdog Highway is a 10-track true rock ’n’ roll record that captures the home-baked humorous yet heartfelt essence of the six-piece band. Smoker Dad includes brothers Trevor Conway on vocals and guitar and Teagen Conway on lead guitar, with Chris King on keys and vocals, Derek Luther on bass, Adam Knowles on drums, and Chris Costalupes on pedal steel guitar.
“Most of the songs are about love or struggling with sobriety but they all stem from touring,” Trevor says. “It’s lonely on the road and the mind runs. Hotdog Highway is about trying to deal with that while still pulling through for the show every night. Smoker Dad is a big band and sometimes we’d be touring with seven or eight folks all in one van. We were so crammed in there, we would say ‘like hotdogs down the highway’ and it just became this continuous joke.”
The record was engineered and mixed at Electrokitty Sound Studio by Garrett Reynolds (Sleater-Kinney) and pressed to pink vinyl.”
Here’s a Q&A with Tervor Conway:
How was this project formed?
We’re all currently based in the Seattle area. Derek and I used to play in a band back when we were roommates something like eight years ago, we kept jamming together after that band fizzled out and I asked my younger brother Teagen to join the mix. We were on the hunt for a drummer when we met Adam outside smoking at an Oh Sees gig. Chris King played in a handful of local bands so we already knew him from gigging around town, he was also the bartender at our favorite pinball bar. I met Chris Costalupes during the pandemic at a BBQ. We were working on a new sound and really wanted a steel player. They’re hard to come by in Seattle so I jumped at the opportunity to jam with him.
How does Smoker Dad operate?
Loosely.
What is the story behind the initial concept and making of this album?
It had been a minute since we released our last record and figured it’s about time we get back in the studio. We had enough songs for an album and had a few names floating around but nothing stuck. Hotdog Highway was just a joke that we would say on tour, somebody threw that out there and it just clicked.
What is behind the cover art?
Matt Adams drew up our album art. We wanted to be driving down the highway on hotdog choppers and Matt hit it out of the park. We had him add some Easter eggs that were pulled from song lyrics — there’s an eagle between the mountains that corresponds to a lyric in Hotdog Highway. There’s a few songs that reference a telephone so we threw that in there. Then there are more obvious references like the Milk Cow or the Armadillo.
What do you think is the single greatest thing that separates Smoker Dad from other bands?
It’s hard to narrow it down but I’d have to say that we don’t take ourselves too seriously. We always have a blast on and off the stage and the audience matches our energy which creates a killer live show. It’s a very vulnerable thing playing your songs in front of people and I think by sprinkling some humor here and there we connect on another level.
