The sweet Smell of success

Freedom has a price, and for L.A.’s all-ages music venue, the Smell, the freedom to present new and inexpensive shows has meant surviving as a lonely downtown outpost. Ensconced in a nondescript building in one of the city’s less-frequented corners, the Smell has redeemed its geographical undesirability by championing hordes of up-and-coming punk and avant bands, noise artists and other acts just too plain bizarre to categorize.

At least, that’s the way it used to be. On the eve of the venue’s 12th anniversary celebration this weekend, a two-day lineup of bands rife with punk spasms, left-field passion and discofied noise, the Smell is an anchor client for a neighborhood that is changing dramatically. On a recent evening, lines of people snaked down the block from one end to the other as chic crowds from China Bistro collided with those trying to see the performance inside the Downtown Independent and others catching a drink at the Five Stars Bar or a late-night dinner at Pete’s.

Founded in 1997 by Mackenzie Mann, Ara Shirinyan, Jarrett Silberman and Jim Smith, the Smell is one of the oldest all-ages venues in the country. Smith, now the only founder still involved with the venue, points out that the 924 Gilman Street Project in Berkeley has been around longer, and that the Vera Project in Seattle has been around since 2000.

When asked about lessons from those 12 years, Smith says, “Nothing ever really dies. There’s always someone out there keeping things going. Go to any high school -- you’ll still see goths roaming the halls.”

The Smell carries on with its relentless nightly schedule of concerts, exhibitions and film screenings against the backdrop of commerce and condos. Named for the sweaty air in its original tiny North Hollywood space, the Smell’s olfactory reputation remains intact, as multiple scents waft down the alley and mingle with the music. As it is with the performances, some smells are good -- others, not so much.

The weekend’s anniversary lineup proves the venue remains steadfast in its mission to present experimental music to an all-ages crowd, and on the cheap. Produced by spazz punk impresario Brian Miller and his organization, Neon Hates You, the lineup includes Day-Glo distortion merchants Robin Williams on Fire, Philadelphia’s masters of danceable static Mincemeat or Tenspeed, Australian electro post-punk one-man band Simo Soo, the noise activist rhythms of Realicide and many others. It’s a lineup that for years only the Smell could host and, in many cases, it remains the only outlet for this kind of rugged, occasionally filthy individualism.

When asked whether the venue focuses on any one kind of music, Smith says, “I don’t think so. By design, we don’t have one central booking person.” The venue invites volunteers and bands to do the booking, to foster diversity.

Dean Spunt, of L.A. noise punk duo No Age, notes: “The Smell was a place that I found early on and met a lot of creative people. I think it delivered another great punk rock scene in Los Angeles and also helped foster the DIY community around the country for years.”

Silberman, who stopped managing the Smell to perform, reflects: “I started seeing the volunteers who would go from being shy kids to drawing big crowds with their bands and running the place. The fact that, Jim aside, the Smell has been run by ever-younger groups of people is really what’s kept it going. It’s crucial as a safe place for developing, or developed, creative people.”

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