The New Face of Long Island Hardcore: Michael Smith

It was December, and my first winter break back from college in 2013, and I was in the warehouse of a carpet and rug shop. It was a cold December night, my friends and I were outside smoking a quick spliff. We were there to see Numbskull, a Long Island Hardcore band from Lindenhurst, the town I grew up in. I showed up with the bassist of the band, Matt Dardano, and his girlfriend. It just so happened I was born and lived the first four years of my life down the block from the well-known and insanely intense frontman Michael Smith. When you see him at a show, he is usually the man in the middle of the mosh pit or on top of the pile on. He defines hardcore culture; band t-shirts, combat boots, a small novelty knife in his pocket, and he is everyone’s friend.

I had seen Michael perform in his old band Stand Your Ground when I was in ninth grade. He’s 22, a year older than me and we share a birthday, something we’ve always talked about. He had grown about seven inches and his voice was no longer prepubescent. It was heavy now, and it paired perfectly with the power chords and repetitive symbols Ryan Meehan was playing on his drum kit.

The crowd began to move to the music, and fists and legs began to fly. The mosh pit grew larger as the songs progressed and people felt Michael’s lyrics pulse through them. As he held the mic out and someone grabbed it and screamed the lyrics, “I FEEL SO DARK, I FEEL SO ALONE!” The crowd of people, all wearing hoodies with their favorite band on it, and all sweaty from dancing applauded, and that was that.

Since then, Michael has played the Black and Blue Bowl with Numbskull, he has released new music, started Hangman with his friends from St. John’s University, toured and played some huge shows with Hangman, and he is always searching for different outlets to make music. Michael wrote music for Numbskull and write the music for Hangman now. Hangman just released “Hangman II,” a record that is extremely heavy and powerful. He said his influences are “Madball, Backtrack, Biohazard, Silent Majority, Neglect, Terror, Fire and Ice, Burn, and Bad Brains.” Needless to say, Michael has an invested interest in the Hardcore scene, and he has some pretty big shows lined up.

Michael first got into hardcore from his older brothers. Christopher Smith is the lead guitarist for the famous New York hardcore band, Backtrack. Backtrack is on Reaper Records with some of the biggest bands to play hardcore (Terror, Naysayer, Turnstile, Madball). Danny Smith, one of his other older brothers, frequently fills in for Backtrack and plays in his own band Downtime. Michael said, “I owe everything to them [Christopher and Danny] for introducing me to hardcore at a young age. And for teaching me how to play guitar at an even younger age.” But yet, he does not believe that the notoriety surrounding his music is because of them. He said, “I love the affiliation and I love my brothers but I don’t want them to be the only reason people like us and neither would anyone else in Hangman.”

Backtrack has made such a huge splash in the hardcore world, and Michael has met and been introduced to many people who have helped him along. Backtrack began in 2007, and they practiced in the Smith’s basement. Michael has even gotten to sing a part of a song at a Backtrack show. During one of their songs “Paused Progress,” Michael got on stage and powerfully sang the lyrics, “You try to tear us down. I see no reason why. I’ll let you fail this time, and crush your false hope.” Just being able to hear him sing this one line made it clear that this man is the ideal hardcore singer. He said, “I have a lot of memories of Backtrack, some old some relatively new. A cool one is when they played Black n’ Blue Bowl with the Gorilla Biscuits.” He said that he got to see his brother perform with one of his favorite bands of all times and they both killed it!

Michael is always looking to make music. He said, “I’ll always be in bands with my friends.” Now that Hangman is playing a lot of shows and touring frequently, I asked how hard it is keeping up with two bands (Hangman and Numbskull). “We actually dropped that show [with Numbskull]. So maybe yeah it’s hard.” Then he alluded to a new project that is up-and-coming that hardcore fans nationwide would love to hear. “I’m in the middle of putting some songs together with John from Madball and Neglect.” Then he continued to say, “Nothing serious, just a few songs, just want to show everyone that Lindenhurst still got it.”

Long Island has been home to many hardcore bands that have made it big, bands like, Incendiary, Neglect, King Nine, Glassjaw, Kill your Idols and much more. Then out of Lindenhurst, there’s Capital, Backtrack, and Silent Majority and now Numbskull and Hangman. Michael said excitingly, “ Lindenhurst alone is a known breeding ground for sick bands!” Because Michael is from Lindenhurst, he has made such a big impression on Tommy Corrigan (lead singer of Capital)and other big musicians from the area. This could be the reason why Hangman got on the most important show Michael has ever played.

In the winter of 2016, Rob, a member of both Silent Majority, IRON CHIC, and Capital, passed away. This was a huge shake up in the community, as they lost a great friend and even better musician. Silent Majority was no longer together when this happened, and they had not been for a long time prior. Michael said, “I thought I’d never even see SM play.” He continued, “SM asked us to play alongside Backtrack, Incendiary, High Card, and Somerset Thrower. Every band means a lot to me. This was the biggest, most important show I played.”

Now that Michael said he has played the biggest show of his life, I asked what is next for his music. He said, “Music isn’t something I’m looking to make money off of or start a career with. If it worked out that way, I wouldn‘t oppose, but it would have to be the right move.” But yet, he does not see an end to his music. He said passionately, “I will always be in bands with my friends and try to keep going forever!”