Boston’s garage-glam nonet traces a loud lineage through two cities with a personalized new ripper out Friday, August 7 on FezzKoKo Records
The year was 1985, and the music scenes in Boston and Detroit were thriving. In the Hub of New England, ‘Til Tuesday and The Cars were topping the charts; V66 served as a localized MTV; and clubs like The Rat and Channel were amplifying a thriving community. Out in The D, the seeds of techno were being planted; bands like The Romantics and Seduce led an eclectic mix of rock, soul, and pop that defined a city; and venues like Traxx and Harpo’s Concert Theatre were the places to be. And hell, that barely even scratches the surface of what was going down.
But 1985 was also the year that a certain Smitt E. Smitty relocated from his hometown of Detroit to the equally fertile music landscape of Boston. The two cities, from 8 Mile to Mass. Ave. with several hundred miles, state lines, international borders in between, are linked in “Motor City Yankee,” a fired-up and glammed-out garage rock and roll single from Smitt E. Smitty & The Fezztones that hits the streaming highway on Friday, August 7 via Smitty’s own FezzKoKo Records.
The rippin’ and relentless “Motor City Yankee” arrives just in time for Smitty’s homecoming, as he takes the Fezztones back to Motown to perform live at the Detroit All-Star Garage Rock Punk Revue V, set for Saturday, August 29 at Small’s in Hamtramck.
With a personality and heritage that reflect both Boston and Detroit, Smitty wanted to create a supercharged, rock and roll love letter to the cities that helped shape him and his oversized personality. Built around a mighty riff and an infectious hook – two hallmarks of the Fezztones’ distinctive sound – “Motor City Yankee” is a shout-out, an appreciation post, and a raised glass to two of the most enduring and celebrated scenes in the country.
“Many people in both the Detroit and Boston music community know of me, but they don’t really KNOW me,” Smitty says with a thunderous laugh. “I thought this would be a great way to get under the hood, and really show everyone what drives me. Both cities are part of my DNA. I decided a song referencing that fact was due. The guitar groove in the song is very reminiscent of an MC5 type of guitar line, by design.”
And in “Motor City Yankee,” there are hat tips galore, as in the mid-’80s Smitty flipped his MC5, Alice Cooper and Iggy Pop hometown playlist to one that features Mission of Burma, J. Geils, Aerosmith, and The Cars – and more than a few of those bands appear in the lyrics.
Hell, he’s even got Motor City Burgers going up against Boston cream pies for good measure. Smitty rips through each line with a jovial fury, further bridging two cities with a lot more in common than just a northern climate, an impassioned sports fanbase, and gritty and gruff demeanor.
“There were so many ideas for the lyrics,” Smitty adds. “Literally spending the first half of my life in Detroit, and the second half in Boston. It was just a matter of telling the truth of my upbringing, and having good old-fashioned rock and roll FUN with them – ‘Motown, Beantown, dirty water reigns / I got gasoline and sea salt running through my veins / Made my bones at Bookies Club 870 / Now I’m playing in the Hub on the river Charlie!”
Smitty pauses, and flashes a smile. “Yeah, Bostonians hate that ‘Beantown’ nickname. And yeah, I called the Charles River, ‘the river Charlie’. A nod and a wink goes a long way.”
Though he stepped away from the Detroit scene more than 40 years ago, Smitty, then going by Michael J.F. Smith, left his mark in his early years, drumming in bands like The Blind, Zero Ambience, L-Seven, and eventually Figures on a Beach, the pioneering synth-pop and post-punk band that brought him to Boston before getting signed to Sire/Warner Records.
After Figures on a Beach disbanded, he held down the beat in Wax Trax Records luminaries Chainsuck through the ‘90s, and his 21st-century Boston output includes acts like Fireking and fellow FezzKoKo Records band Little Billy Lost. And even during his time in Detroit as a wee lad, he’d travel to Massachusetts to visit and stay with his grandmother, Marie “Mimi” Stephens, at her home on the bay side of Truro on Cape Cod.
“I basically grew up going to Cape Cod my entire life, even before moving to Boston,” he says. “I have been intimately familiar with the New England area from day one. Yes, Cape Cod is not Boston, but I have been coming here my whole life.”
With the vitality of both regions flowing through his rock and roll veins, Smitty first penned “Motor City Yankee” back in 2015, and then recorded it two years later with producer and engineer Alec Rodriguez at New Alliance in Cambridge, when the studio was located in the EMF Building outside Central Square.
Earlier this year, he dusted off the old recording and gave it a mixing polish with Rodriguez at Somerville’s New Alliance Audio, adding some new backing vocals and letting the band – the powerhouse nonet of Smitt E. Smitty (vocals, drums), James Melanson (guitar, vocals), Eddie Nowik (guitar), Andrew Padua (bass), JoEllen Saunders Yannis (vocals), Linda Pardee (vocals), Heather Rice-Fahey (vocals), Jonathan LaMaster (violin, vocals), Johnny Sestito (drums, vocals) – work that Fezztones magic.
“Motor City Yankee” is the fast-action follow-up to April’s barnstorming and boot-stomping single “Big Ass American Car,” Smitty’s cover of the classic track from the late Trick Wallace. The Fezztones version took over indie digital radio in the spring, reaching Number 1 on the Radio Indie Alliance global Top 100 chart, was named the Bee’s Knees Song of the Week on BumbleBee Radio, and scored key airplay on The Underground Garage’s Coolest Songs in the World channel on SiriusXM. It also earned significant media praise in The Big Takeover magazine, Turn Up The Volume, That Eric Alper, If It’s Too Loud, The Whole Kameese, and elsewhere.
But after revving the engine on Trick Wallace’s ride – fun fact, it’ll take about 14 hours to drive from Boston to Detroit in a straight shot – Smitty decided it was time to turn the spotlight back on himself and the band in this good-natured ode to the things in life that help shape us. For Smitty, it was the culture, the food, and the excitement of two of the most explosive music scenes in the world.
“I truly have spent half of my life in both Detroit and Boston, and as a result, I really do have a very unique perspective of both cities,” Smitty notes. “Clearly both cities have a genuine love of all things rock. Rock music has no boundaries or borders. From early rock going back to the ‘50s, and running through all the subsequent iterations to today. Of course, Detroit has always been a much more diverse city, due in large part to the industrial revolution and the automobile industry, resulting in the world-famous Motown genre.”
But like that Standells classic that’s become part of Boston lore, he knows exactly where his home is.
“Boston has proudly held its own with more of a genteel Celtic folk-driven rock sound,” Smitty concludes. “Of course hardcore, primarily a youth-driven white suburban genre, has done well in Boston too. Hence the line in the song ‘Truth is, two cities couldn’t be more different. Spent my life in both, living Hell bent.’ Yep – I’m a Motor City Yankee.”
And now he’s got a song to prove it.
Connect with Smitt E. Smitty & The Fezztones:
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Smitt E. Smitty & The Fezztones are:
Smitt E. Smitty: Vocals and drums
James Melanson: Guitar and vocals
Eddie Nowik: Guitar
Andrew Padua: Bass
JoEllen Saunders Yannis: Vocals
Linda Pardee: Vocals
Heather Rice-Fahey: Vocals
Jonathan LaMaster : Violin, vocals
Johnny Sestito: Drums, vocals
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‘Motor City Yankee’ production credits:
Written by Smitt E. Smitty
Performed by Smitt E. Smitty & The Fezztones
Originally recorded in 2017 at New Alliance in Cambridge, MA
Mixed in 2026 at New Alliance Audio in Somerville, MA
Engineered and produced by Alec Rodriguez
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Smitt E. Smitty short bio:
Smitt E. Smitty & The Fezztones. Born and raised in Detroit. Moved to Boston in 1985. Smitty played in a great many Detroit bands including The Blind, Zero Ambience, L-Seven and Figures on a Beach. After moving to Boston, Figures on a Beach got signed to Sire/Warner Records and released music until the early ‘90s. FOAB disbanded 1991. Smitty then joined the Wax Trax label in Chainsuck, with lead singer songwriter Marydee Reynolds, until 1999. Smitty then played in Fireking until 2017, and joined Little Billy Lost directly after, where he holds down the beat to this day. Emerging from behind the drums, now is the time for him to lead his own band of musical misfits – Enter Smitt E. Smitty & The Fezztones!
