"...the instant hooks and melodies of Cheap Trick, with the Americana of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers..." 
-Screamer Magazine

 

The Great Affairs are an American Rock band from Nashville, TN, formed in 2010 by singer/songwriter/guitarist Denny Smith. The band was originally intended as an outlet for Smith’s Americana/acoustic-based material, which did not fit into the more Modern Rock framework of his band fORMER. 

 

The Great Affairs’ original lineup consisted of Smith, guitarist Patrick Miller, bassist Matt Andersen and drummer Tim Good. The band released two LPs (The Great Affairs, Ricky took the wheels…) and one EP (Happy Ender), and were active sporadically during 2010-2011. Good was replaced by Jason Hees for the ‘Ricky..’  touring cycle, before the group temporarily disbanded, and fORMER was briefly resurrected for an album and several live shows. 

 

In 2012, fORMER drummer Billy Baker was sidelined while recovering from a surgery. Rather than cancelling shows, Bonepony drummer Kenny Wright was asked to fill in for Baker to satisfy any remaining live commitments. The shows played well, and in the months following, the decision was made that fORMER would disband, The Great Affairs would be reconstituted, and Wright would stay on full-time as drummer/vocalist. The band opted to add songs from the two fORMER albums (…and nothing but the truth, The Kids Deserve Cable), as well as Wright’s solo material, to their existing repertoire, and abandon the strictly acoustic-based formula of the original lineup. 

 

Since Andersen had become busy with his own band The Decadence, fORMER bassist Henry Go would step in as his full-time replacement. The band booked several shows in the Southeast and immediately began work on a new EP. ‘4’ (and later ‘4.5’, containing demos, as well as covers of KISS and Fleetwood Mac songs) was released in 2013, and featured a more straight-ahead Rock sound, reminiscent of early Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Cheap Trick. The band toured regularly, including dates with Tom Kiefer of Cinderella, Alien Ant Farm, The Wild Feathers, Loverboy and a host of acts. 

 

In 2014, Smith and Wright (as The Die Youngs) released the album, ‘Nothing’s Broken’. Later that year, The Great Affairs delivered Dream In Stereo, their fifth offering. As with every release, the album was recorded at The Switchyard with engineer/co-producer Michael Saint-Leon, and was their most ambitious to date, featuring layered production and lush vocal arrangements. The band played dates in support of the record, but scheduling conflicts with Go prompted him to withdraw from the band. Having filled in for Go on a handful of shows, Andersen returned as a full-time member. 

 

Around this time, the band were tapped by filmmaker Mike J. Nichols(Zappa, John Waite: The Hard Way) to contribute a cover of Dave Mason’s “We Just Disagree” to the soundtrack for a documentary he was working on called Toy Masters. Nichols also directed the band’s “Sherrybaby” video. 

 

The band continued touring heavily, both on their own and as a support act. In 2016, Smith released his first solo album, ‘An Overnight Low’. A covers EP was released (Six Pack) in 2017, as was a standalone single, “Last Good Memory”. 

 

In 2018, the band signed a deal with independent label Kivel Records and released ‘Ten & 2’. This album featured a more muscular sound, with less emphasis on production than ‘Dream In Stereo’, and the band toured extensively on the back of it. When the pandemic hit in 2019, and shows ceased for the better part of a year, they released a live single for the song “Head Light”, and Smith released his second solo album, ‘From The Dark’ shortly thereafter. 

 

The single “Lyvia” arrived in July of 2020, followed by a new album, ‘Everybody Moves, Nobody Gets Hurt.’ 
in October of that year, but Miller exited the band shortly after its release, and in early 2021, former Burden Brothers guitarist Corey “Rizzo”  Rozzoni joined as his full-time replacement. 

 

The band re-tracked some of the material from ‘Everybody Moves, Nobody Gets Hurt’ to feature Rozzoni, and released “I’m Alright” as a single and video. A video for “Worn Out Souls” was also released. The band resumed performing throughout 2021-22, both as headliners and as a support act for Skid Row, Warrant, Buckcherry, and others. 

 

The band released the StrangeLuv EP in July of 2022(featuring more remixes from ‘Everybody Moves, Nobody Gets Hurt.’, as well as the single ‘Fever Breaks’ in October, before unveiling their first Christmas song & video,    “Santa Lost My List (Didn’t Get Sh!t)” to finish out the year. 

 

On October 13th, 2023, the band will release ‘Sleepwalker’, their first full length album since 2020. 

 

  

“This is a band who know exactly who they are and where they come from…. and therein lies their greatness.” -Melanie Henderson, Wildside Music 

  

THE GREAT AFFAIRS are: 
Denny Smith: vocals, rhythm & lead guitars, harmonica, keys 
Corey “Rizzo” Rozzoni: lead & rhythm guitars, vocals 
Matt Andersen: bass, vocals 
Kenny Wright: vocals, drums, percussion 

  

The Great Affairs have shared the stage with Skid Row, Warrant, Buckcherry, Tom Keifer of Cinderella, Loverboy, Cowboy Mouth, The Wild Feathers, LIT, Nelson, Jack Russell’s Great White, Firehouse, Trixter, Bulletboys, Enuff Z’Nuff, John Corabi(The Dead Daises/Motley Crue), Steven Adler(GNR), The Quireboys, Loudness, Mike Tramp(White Lion), Eric Martin(Mr. Big), Walter Egan, Head East, Every Mother’s Nightmare, L.A. Guns, Lillian Axe, Alien Ant Farm, and even a Goonie, but you might have to pry that story out of them.

 

WEB LINKS: 
OFFICIAL SITE:http://www.thegreataffairs.com 
EPK: http://www.dennysmithmusic.com/the-great-affairs-epk 
TWITTER: http://www.twitter.com/thegreataffairs  
FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/thegreataffairs 
INSTAGRAM: http://www.instagram.com/thegreataffairs 
YOUTUBE: https://bit.ly/3k50fIX 

email: TGApress@dennysmithmusic.com 

 

"..a surefire cure for your ailing rock n' roll heart" 
-Eric Allen, Modern Songwriter