The Art of Joseph Demaree

Joseph Demaree and The Great Smoking Mirror play a mellow and unique, stylized, form of Rock n Roll, Indie, old Country, Folk and Alternative music with a Punk Rock background. Influence range from Angus Stone, J.J. Cale, The Ink Spots, The Cramps, Vetiver, Leonard Cohen, Brightblack Morning Light, The Velvet Underground, Hank Williams, Duke Ellington, Salvador Dali, Vincent Van Gogh, Rene Magritte, Max Ernst, Jackson Pollock, The book "Dancing The Dream" by Jamie Sams and many more artist inside and outside of song writing.

 

After living on Maui HI for two years, Demaree has returned to Portland OR and completed tracking and mixing “If It Was A Smile”, a 10 song, 46 min, story driven, album of independent sounds.

 

“If It Was A Smile” is the first album release by Joseph Demaree and The Great Smoking Mirror. Joseph has released many other albums under his name, most recently a solo (demo) album called “Sleeping On A Cloud In Heaven” (Nov 2015) which has demo, solo, recordings of several songs from “If It Was A Smile”. 

 

Before The Great Smoking Mirror, existed The Square Tires. Joseph Demaree and The Square Tires released two studio albums, “The Alternative Underground” (Dec 2014) & “Sunbeams” (Sep 2013). They also released two rehearsal albums and a live album, “Between Here And There” (Aug 2014), “Totally Naked” (Sep 2013), and “Mahalo Party” (Oct 2014). 

 

Before The Square Tires, existed The Broken Windows. Joseph Demaree and The Broken Windows released one studio album, “Mirrors” (June 2013) and a live album “Live at Ella St. Social Club” (July 2012).

 

Demaree is originally from San Jose, CA. where he found interest in music through the late 80's and early 90's punk and skateboard scene. Joe played in many bands (FDS, Ringwurm, Lemming, Your Mother, The Unit Breed, Emo Summer) locally and all over the world. He would host shows in his home for local and national acts, record most of his groups material as well as many local bands, and release much of his own music and art (Nothing, Nothing Everything, Nothing Enterprises). Demaree left art school in 2003 and moved to Portland OR in 2004. He continued writing, recording, performing and touring as The Unit Breed. Idiomism Records would be born. In 2010 The Unit Breed would be put to rest and Joseph would land back in San Jose CA to begin a cable access show called "Welcome Back!" and record and release Captain Nowhere's "Party Time Inc.". With another move south to Encinitas CA (2011), Demaree picked up an acoustic Martin 0015 and began writing his first album under his name. He moved around landing in Ranchita CA, and Oceanside CA before returning to Portland OR to record "Mirrors" (2012). Demaree would move back to the Bay Area, living in Los Gatos CA and San Jose CA, before returning to Portland OR to record "Sunbeams" (2013). Joseph Demaree found himself on the open road touring as a solo act and painting plein air landscapes between Portland OR and San Diego CA. Landing in Hayfork CA for a couple months, Demaree settled in Portland OR and began recording "The Alternative Underground" (2014). With a week long tour and a brief stay in the Foothills of CA, Demaree would move to Maui HI and record “Sleeping On A Cloud In Heaven” (2015). Demaree, uprooted again, traveling and painting plein air landscapes of England, Scotland & Greece before returning to CA. Here he stayed in LA, Amador City & San Jose CA before returning to Portland OR to record “If It Was A Smile” (2017). 

 

While on island, Demaree wrote and recorded many new songs that would become “Sleeping On A Cloud In Heaven / Solo (demo) Recordings”. This album was recorded in his "small house" in Makawao where Demaree worked (painting, writing, playing music) and lived, while holding down several positions. He joined the Lahaina Arts Society, where Demaree displayed and sold his artwork in gallery and under Lahaina's famous Banyan Tree. He lent his voice to an animated character on the Maui based show “Tacky People”. He taught a kids art class for Lahaina Arts Association in Wailuku HI. He worked for Surfing Goat Dairy, FedEx Office and a housing work/trade in Haiku. He skateboarded, rode a bike regularly & adventured constantly (painting a number of plein air, landscape, oil paintings leading the artist deep into the Haleakala Crater and along Makena’s lava fields, influencing his artwork forward). With over two hours of new music to record, Joseph would return to Portland OR. After traveling through England, Scotland, Greece, LA, Amador City and back to his hometown of San Jose, CA. (where he played a welcome home show at Cafe Stritch and showed his artwork at Circle-A Skateboard Shop).