Riot Drum Studio, Los Angeles, CA (2026)

05/14/2024

This is one of the saddest days ever !!!

I have known Chas since I started at Cal Arts and he became a dear friend and collaborator. He made my incredibly awesome set of rubrods. R.I.P. my friend

Sharing this from my Friend Kubilay Uner.

Chas Smith RIP.

Just heard the sad news of the passing of one of the most interesting people I have ever met, and one of music's true originals, Chas Smith. He was an insanely inventive instrument builder, a master of the pedal steel guitar, and a composer of absolutely beautiful music. And he loved the sound of metals.

Below is the bio he wrote for himself when he presented in the 44th LA Composer Salon on April 29, 2012:

"How do you write a music bio, of 200 words, for a music experience of 56 years that's more involved than, eat, p**p, play guitar and sleep, and explains why the composer, composes.

"1968. After being expelled from 4 high schools, expelled from Utica College, drafted for the Army and then refused induction, I was back in the factories, 12 hrs/day $1.90/hr. It was a low point.

"I talked my way into Berklee Music, Jan 69, but after 1 1/2 years, I didn't "have it" for jazz.

"I had been listening to 20th century composers, including Mort Subotnick. He taught at Cal Arts, they had a n**e pool, we packed up and headed west. Ran out of money in New Orleans, opened a shop, then retreated to Georgia. It was a low point.

"I was accepted at Cal Arts 1972 and studied music composition with James Tenney, Mort Subotnick, Harold Budd, Mel Powell and Earle Brown. I received a BFA '75, MFA '77 and at COC, a LA City Welding Certification '77. By day, I was a welder in the film business, by night, I had a synthesizer studio at Mag City.

"Harry Partch had built his musical world from the ground up. LACE Gallery had some of Harry Bertoia's rod and plate instruments.

"Blacklisted out of the union, 1986, I built my own studio, from the ground up.

"Began designing and fabricating motion-controlled camera rigs and camera cranes, including the Bulldog, for which I received an Academy Award for the structural engineering.

"I had been modifying guitars since the 60s, building instruments since the 70s, and I started building my larger instruments, based on rods and plates, in '93, with the precedent being, they had to be made from junk, surplus, "leftovers" and not have a specific tuning.

"My studio is my Sanctum Sanctorum. It's where I get to work with the real magic. My composition technique tends to be structural and architectural as well as narrative. And by narrative, I mean paying attention to the life cycles of the individuals."

Chas, keep ringing like your titanium rods.

Riot Drum Studio

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