FIVE  QUESTIONS WITH NICK SMYTH OF DIVIDED WE STAND

DWS reunite Friday November 29th as part of Past Present Future.

Posted By Ben Rispin

DIVIDED WE STAND (DWS) BIO:

DWS is a punk band that was formed in Burlington, Ontario in 2001 and released an EP in

2002. The band dissipated shortly thereafter but after bringing in some new band members, are

back to have a good time playing the music they love!

DWS reunite Friday November 29th as part of Past Present Future. Get tickets here. 

FIVE QUESTIONS WITH NICK SMYTH OF DWS

WHICH MEMBER OF THE BAND ARE WE TALKING TO?

This is Nick and I’m one of the guitarists in Divided We Stand (DWS).

I also would love to point out that Jesse Bye is solely responsible for DWS getting back

together. So you can either thank, or blame him, depending on how you feel about us. After we

finished playing with Shift D, he mentioned to me that he loved DWS and we should get back

together. I said if he books us for next year, we have a deal. So, here we are and I’m very

happy about it. Love you Jesse!

WHEN AND WHERE DID YOUR LOVE OF MUSIC FORM?

I’ve loved listening to music for as long as I can remember. Like most kids with older siblings, I

got my start by listening to their stuff but I had more similar tastes to my older brother Phil, who

is also our lead singer.

I found my love of playing when I learned how to play drums at a party, when I was 12 or 13.

It’s actually a six degrees of Kevin Bacon type of story for Canadian Music. One of the original

guitarists of Silverstein (Richard) taught me how to play drums in Andre Kaden Black’s

basement(Canadian Producer). I bought my first set of drums that summer for $200 from a

classified ad in the paper, and Phil bought a bass shortly thereafter. We found that friend who

played guitar, started a band, and I never looked back.

WHAT WAS THE FIRST CONCERT YOU WENT TO?

The first big concert I went to was Everclear at the Opera House with Phil. I actually didn’t even

like them very much at the time, but their live show was awesome and it made me a fan. It’s

likely one of the reasons I’ll always give an artists live show a chance, even if I don’t particularly

enjoy the style of music. There’s something about live performances that just hits different and

adds this intangible thing, for me at least.

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST “BIG SHOW”? OR YOUR FIRST SHOW EVER?

My first show ever was a double header. It was my brothers and my first band, me on drums

and him on vocals, and we played an afternoon show at the Waterdown Memorial Hall with a

bunch of bands whose names unfortunately, I can’t remember. We followed it up by playing

Friday Night Live that evening with Helen’s Basement. For those of you who aren’t ancient, that

was downtown Burlington in Spencer Smith during the summer.

Honorable mention goes to playing with Self Censored at a show at my high school. ;)

I’ve been lucky enough to play with some really great bands over the years but the first “Big”

show I ever played was opening for Limblifter at Big Bucks Mountain Lodge in Burlington. I think

sometime in 1999. It was a total right time, right place scenario. I worked at the venue (it was a

party bar with occasional shows) and was supposed to actually work the night of the show. One

of the opening acts bailed at the last minute, the owner of the bar suggested my band and

Limblifter said sure.

WHAT WAS YOUR WORST SHOW OR FUNNIEST SHOW MEMORY?

I don’t have any with DWS because we weren’t around that long but I do have one from Shift D.

We were on an east coast tour and were lucky enough to get put on some dates with the

Flatliners in PEI and Halifax. It was in PEI and the show was amazing. The room was full and

the crowd went nuts for every song, despite having probably never heard of us. So, to celebrate

we, and some members of the Flatliners, got hammered on this wine called Great White. Which

was a terrible idea, because the only thing “Great” about it was the name. I guess not really that

funny, per se, probably more a “You had to be there” moment but that entire tour was a blast

and really stands out for me.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOUR BAND?

I think most of us are hoping to make it through this mid-life crisis first. I’ll probably sign up for

another one cause this one is fun! Then I’m hoping we try writing and recording some stuff and

share it, hopefully in a live capacity. The primary goal is just to have a ton of fun and not take

ourselves too seriously. If people want to come along with us, hop on!

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