The Return of the Smersh

A letter I recently receieved, in response to this post.

Hi Drew,

I was Googling "Tempus Fugit" and was astonished to see that David Martin had actually contacted you almost exactly a year ago about the song by the Notorious Head of Smersh, and your blog entry on it.

My name is James, I am the drummer he speaks of in his message to you. I had simply done a Google search on the Smersh a while back and found your blog entry, told David on myspace, and I guess he emailed you. I thought you might be interested to know a couple of fun facts about the Smersh, since David has always been a man of few words, and you seem to have a slight interest in the band.

Yes, you are correct that the name is taken from James Bond.

• Tempus Fugit was written around 1997 and recorded in David's living room on a 4-track. We recorded 9 tracks in total, and called our first CD "No Strings" because David was always breaking his.
• Until I Googled the song title, I had no idea what Tempus Fugit actually meant. I was the drummer, I didn't need to know. :)
• The singer (and bass player), David's brother Jonathan, hated singing, and we would have to leave the room when he recorded his vocals because he wouldn't sing if there was anyone else in the room.
• We played two shows in our time together in the Smersh, both battle of the bands competitions. We didn't win either, although one of the times (I think the second one) we played our 8 minute opus Loud Bit, Quiet Bit, and most people left the room. Our third "show" no one attended.
• I moved to the States from England in 2000 and that was the end of the Smersh. I haven't seen the rest of the band since then, although I have contacted David on myspace.

I'd also like to echo David's sentiments in saying that I'm quite honored that you put our song on your blog. The Smersh was a good time for me when I was a teenager, and holds some incredibly fond memories. The idea that our music is still, 10 years later, floating around the internet, and that people are enjoying it, is quite astonishing. David and I joked recently that we should do a reunion tour, or at least a greatest hits. I still have all the mp3s so it's possible. :)

You have made an old ex-drummer very happy. It all seemed worth while now :) Thanks again!

I think I'm working my way to a complete set.

Not the Guy From "Almost Famous"

Other MySpace goings-on: A man named David J. Martin contacted me recently as well. He apparently is affiliated with the (former?) band The Notorious Head of S.M.E.R.S.H. — which may or may not officially go by the name "The Notorious Head of Smersh," which I like less even though I couldn't possibly think of what S.M.E.R.S.H. could be an acronym for. The note, which had the subject line "I'm the man who wrote 'Tempus Fugit.'" went as follows:

Our drummer found your blog somehow and saw we're on a CD of music you burnt. I just thought I'd drop you a line and say thanks and i'm glad you like the song.

Anyways, take it easy.

To the point, but still slightly thrilling for me. The blog post he's writing about is this one, in which I recommended a few songs to readers who might want to listen to something they hadn't heard before. And if you like the kind of music I like, then the song "Tempus Fugit" is still a great song and worth the effort it takes to find it.

This marks the second occasion a musician whose work I enjoy has contacted me after reading something I wrote about him on my blog. (The first would be Mike Lebovitz, the man behind the band Father Bingo and the song "Ginger Prince Is Not Shirley Temple." That interaction is detailed in this post, by the way.) And that's great — not only to help me get in contact with cool people but also to help me realize that these cool people are willing to spend time Googling themselves in an effort to find anybody, somebody who cares about what they've done.

You know, because that's what I spend half of my day doing.

The lesson we should all learn: blog about people you think are cool.

Oh, and for the Drew-Explains-It-All aspect of this little subject, the band the The Notorious Head of S.M.E.R.S.H. probably refers to a fictional James Bond Russian spy group, which itself was a take-off on the actual Russian counterintelligance agency, Smert Shpionam. Also, tempus does in fact fugit. Dig it.

[ link: David J. Martin's MySpace profile ]