By Jill Campbell
The Palladium. The Orpheum Theater. Avalon. Seemingly every weekend, NU students flock to such venues to see their favorite bands perform. But how many of them have considered the possibility that soon they could be seeing the name of a fellow student on a marquee?
For freshman Hunter Smith, this is an exciting prospect, and with recent developments in his musical career, an increasing possibility. Tonight, fellow students will have the chance to hear Smith play his first Boston-area show at Northeastern’s own afterHOURS.
Smith, a freshman music industry major from Suffolk, Va., said he came to Northeast-ern because he loves Boston and wanted to live in a place that offered him better opportunities for success with his music.
“I’ve spent the past 12 years or so of my life in a tiny little town,” Smith said. “I wanted to live in a city with a big music scene. It’s also great to be close to New York.”
Smith originally intended to go to college in New York City, planning to enter NYU as a theater major. He found Northeast-ern more appealing, however, and toward the end of his high school career, changed his mind about theater as well.
“I played a couple of talent shows in high school, and it felt really great to be in front of an audience, to get widespread approval for something that meant so much to me. My first paid show at home last October made me realize that this was what I wanted to do. I enjoy it so much; it’s the best job I could have.”
The foundations of Smith’s musical talent can be traced back to the piano lessons he took in the fourth and fifth grades. He stopped taking the lessons after a few years but started playing again on his own about two years ago. He also taught himself to play the guitar, which he has been doing since he started high school, and began writing songs.
“Usually at night, if I have time, I’ll sit down and practice the songs I already have written,” Smith said. “And if I get bored, I mess around and it eventually turns into a new song. Sometimes I’ll just be sitting in a restaurant or somewhere and two lines will hit me. And sometimes I’ll like the music I have written so much that I’ll sit down and write lyrics to go with it.”
Smith compares his singer/songwriter sound to that of Ben Folds, John Mayer, Nick Drake and Copeland, but he prefers to listen to hardcore music or metal. My Chemical Romance, Terror and Everytime I Die are bands that are frequently in his CD player.
“The type of music I listen to is nothing like what I play,” he said laughing.
It was through his interest in one of his favorite bands that Smith found himself an unofficial manager. After seeing Brian Schechter, manager of My Chemical Romance, give an interview on copyright law, Smith said he knew he was doing too much work on his own. Schechter now represents Smith.
