After NJ singer/songwriter Pat DiNizio died in December, his bandmates in The Smithereens have regrouped with guest vocalist Marshall Crenshaw.
The Smithereens, with guest vocalist Marshall Crenshaw, and original bassist Mike Mesaros onstage again, will perform this Friday, June 1, in Montclair.
"We lost Pat in December," recalled Dennis Diken of The Smithereens' lead vocalist and songwriter Pat DiNizio. "When he passed, it was like losing a family member. I'd known Pat for 39 years."
Diken, now of Wood-Ridge, had co-founded The Smithereens in 1980 as its drummer, along with two fellow musicians from Carteret, guitarist Jim Babjak and Mesaros, and DiNizio, a singer/songwriter in nearby Scotch Plains.
The Smithereens had booked a show for this past January in the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank. With DiNizio's sudden death on Dec. 12, 2017, at age 62, the other bandmates were encouraged to stage the show by Steve Van Zandt, the E Street Band member who was producing the event. Tickets for "Time and Time Again: A Celebration of the Life of Pat DiNizio" immediately sold out.
"It was a wonderful night. Everybody put their all into it," recalled Diken.
Mesaros, who had departed the band in 2006 to raise a family in California, had earlier in 2017 reunited with The Smithereens for some guest appearances, including a fundraiser following the passing of Babjak's wife, Betty, in 2016. Mesaros was back onstage for the January 2018 memorial show, with his replacement, Severo "The Thrilla" Jornacion, also performing on tunes. Diken noted that Mesaros is again a permanent member of the band.
"We brought up a number of guest vocalists" for the "Time and Time Again" show, recalled Diken, including Van Zandt, Marshall Crenshaw, Richard Barone, Patty Smyth, and Robin Wilson of the Gin Blossoms.
"Robin Wilson was a huge Smithereens fan. He really put his heart and soul into it. We did a show with him in Waukegan [Illinois]. We'll be doing more shows with Robin once the Gin Blossoms reunion tour is finished."
"When he sang with us that night, it felt really right," Diken said of inviting Crenshaw into the lineup. "We all consider Marshall one of the great songwriters and singers.
"Our fans were very vocal about wanting the band to continue, and we want the band to continue. It seemed like a good way to move forward," Diken said. "Nobody can ever replace Pat, and it's not our intention to look for someone who's a soundalike, but someone who has a passion for the music."
For their show this Friday in Montclair, The Smithereens will perform in Outpost in the Burbs. Earlier this year, Diken had been the drummer on a tour by Dave Davies, co-founder of The Kinks, and they'd performed at Outpost, located in the First Congregational Church, 40 South Fullerton Ave. "It's a great venue," observed Diken. "Just looking up and seeing those stained-glass windows is inspiring."
Opening the 8 p.m. show will be the Grip Weeds, whose founding members operate House of Vibes, a recording studio in Highland Park where The Smithereens and Van Zandt have cut tunes.
Northeast from Highland Park in Middlesex County, Diken, Babjak, and Mesaros had grown up in Carteret, a rough-and-tumble town along the Arthur Kill, across from Staten island.
As childhood friends, Babjak and Diken had jammed together. As members of a cover band in the late 1970s, Diken had musically connected with DiNizio, of Scotch Plains. By 1980, Babjak and Mesaros had coalesced with Diken and DiNizio into a quartet, The Smithereens.
It was a band whose members were immersed in the Beatles, the Who, and other seminal 1960s connections, along with Buddy Holly. The band members melded their personal artistry and their musical influences into powerful riffing and forcefully melodic tunes, with DiNizio's oft-melancholic lyrics entwined in concise, catchy songs.
Five years later, they were signed to Enigma Records. In April 1985, on Good Friday, The Smithereens were booked for The Record Plant, a prestigious recording studio in Manhattan. "On that night, we were scheduled to record in one of the larger rooms. Lo and behold, we get a phone call: 'We have to kick you upstairs to the small room.' We decided to go ahead, and recorded five tracks, 'Cigarette,' 'Crazy Mixed-Up Kid,' 'Alone at Midnight,' '[Behind the] Wall of Sleep,' and 'Blood and Roses,' all in one evening.
"It was a fateful night," noted Diken. "It probably sounds vain, coming from an artist, but 'Blood and Roses' and 'Behind the Wall of Sleep' are probably classics. There's something magic in the recording, in the mixing, in the way they came together. Those two songs will stand the test of time."
Along with DiNizio's lovelorn lyrical creativity and his expertise in crafting melodies, he and his colleagues ferociously rocked out in concerts. Fans who had attended their frequent shows in New Brunswick's Court Tavern are identifiable decades later by their responses: "Huh? What? What did you say?"
Diken has performed on other artists' recordings – worth citing, the recently issued "Dr. Demento Covered in Punk" tribute album in which he's on songs featuring Uncle Floyd, William Shatner, and the late Adam West.
He has written essays and liner notes, such as his remembrances on The Smithereens' newly released CD, "Covers," the band's first album since DiNizio died.
Just released this month, "Covers" is a compilation of B-sides, outtakes, tribute tunes, and standalone recordings of other artists' songs, all of which influenced or impacted the bandmates.
And later this year, a PBS series, "Lest We Forget," is slated to include an episode on musicians who've died in 2017, including DiNizio. Babjak and Diken are among the musicians who speak about DiNizio.
Asked whether The Smithereens will release an album of new tunes, Diken was certain: "It will happen. I can't say when."