He was majoring in English at the University of Manitoba, when he was asked to join a new rock band forming in Vancouver. At home in Winnipeg at the time, with his parents for Christmas, Scott received a call from Paul Dean. “I couldn’t explain them that Paul Dean is a reputable guy . . . that all these guys had credentials . . . I flew to Vancouver. We rehearsed and played clubs. My parents didn’t talk to me for months.” Well, we know the rest is history, but let’s go back a bit further in time and see where it all began.
Q: When did you pick up your first instrument?
A: When I was twelve
Q: What was it? What instrument?
A: It was a guitar with two strings removed.
Q: Was it your brother’s?
A: No, it was from one of those neighborhood rip-off academies and they didn’t have any basses, so they took off two strings of an ordinary Western guitar.
Q: Why did you want to play bass rather than a lead guitar?
A: I don’t know. It’s something that an analyst would tell me. (Laughs) You know, there are certain personalities that go with drums, certain personalities that want to sing, and I wanted to play bass. I think it was because I idolized this guy - - Fang, in Paul Revere and the Raiders.
Q: So you wanted to emulate him. What were your parents’ feelings about you entering the music industry?
A: When it started taking priority over school they kind of frowned about that, but by then the fire was already lit and it was burning out of control. I think I dropped out after about five years of university. (NOTE: Scott’s father, Bill, is a professor of history at the University of Manitoba, and his mother, Shirley, was, until recently, the Assistant Dean.)
Q: Were you an ‘A’ student in school?
A: Yes, fortunately.
Q: Changing the subject - - if you were to take a year off, what would you do?
A: I’d sail around the world.
Q: When did you take up sailing? It’s not something new to you.
A: I used to go sailing with my friend and his father. They raced and I was sort of the Jo-boy. That’s how you learn - - by watching everyone else. I did that when I was really, really young, like eight or nine. That was in a big lake but it was still sailing.
Q: Would you like to race?
A: No, I actually want to get a nice ‘comfy’ boat. I’m actually talking to an agent who is selling Sylvester Stallone’s boat - - Mayhawk. It’s about 46 feet. Big enough to cross the ocean, but not so big that you need extra crew.
Q: Everybody knows that you fly . . .
A: Yeah, I’m thinking of starting a flying business - - charter sort of thing. Stallion Exploration! It’s an amphibian vehicle that can take off and land on water - - that way you can set down in the wilderness and inaccessible lakes, etc. It’s a pleasure craft as well, of course.
Q: Getting back to music, what part of the business bothers you most?
A: Sound checks. I’d just like to blow them off.
Everybody in the band writes and in addition to the material we write for LOVERBOY, there’s material in our heads that takes us in different directions - - for me it’s close to something like Michael McDonald (ex Doobie Brothers). Maybe call it ‘Blue-eyed Soul’ - - not a big guitar thing . . . sort of easy listening rhythm and blues.
Q: What sort of books are you reading on the road these days?
A: Basically fiction. I go on little binges. Sometimes Science Fiction, then into what I call popular ‘conspiracy fiction’ like Robert Ludlum. A ‘protagonist against the world’ sort of thing.
While talking about LOVERBOY’s music, Scott remarked, “It has a timeless quality. It’s something that will persevere through the winds of what’s musically hip.” As the years go by and we continue to hear Turn Me Loose, Working for the Weekend and all the other super tunes, we will be able to cite Scott Smith, the HOT bass player from Manitoba, as a key ingredient to the massive success of LOVERBOY.