Music INSIGHT
Smashing Blue
by Benjamin Nunnally
T
here’s no easy way to describe Jacksonville’s Smashing Blue.
The band plays a kind of dream grunge,
splashy cymbals and echoey guitars beneath spacey, reverb-coated vocals, the
aural equivalent of an underwater cultural
bazaar where anything and everything is up
for grabs. There’s a solid songwriting foundation beneath those ocean currents, the
kind of tunes you can sing along to even as
you get sucked into a contact high. It’s a little more complicated than “rock.”
14
February
“I feel like my only purpose here is to do music and change the world through music,”
said Lakiya Hunter, singer and guitarist for
the band.
Originally formed as a high school bedroom
band by Hunter, Smashing Blue has evolved
over the years as members have entered
and le