Tuk Smith & The Restless Hearts on Authenticity, Capturing Nostalgia and New Music “Ballad of A Misspent Youth”
Electrifying guitar riffs, classic rock n’ roll roots and an explosion of rich vocals, Tuk Smith & The Restless Hearts take listeners back to rummaging through their dads’ classic garage rock vinyls. Tuk Smith & The Restless Hearts are unapologetically authentic in their approach to musical stylings that channel the similar high-energy, angsty rock n’ roll from iconic artists such as David Bowie, Thin Lizzie and Cheap Trick.
The band was founded and formed by former Biters frontmen Tuk Smith, and the band broke out with their debut single “What Kinda Love” in early 2020. Smith “cut his teeth” in Atlanta’s punk scene and continues to pull inspiration from his early beginnings performing at dive bars into his lyricism and storytelling today. Smith’s love for his roots shows as he wanted to create a record that was aggressively raw and captured the essence of rock n’ roll. “I just did it for the love,” Smith says, as he hopes fans can take away their own meanings and listen to the music years from now.
Following the band’s recent new label signing with MRG, Tuk Smith & The Restless Hearts have released their upcoming album’s title track “Ballad of A Misspent Youth.” The ballad captures exactly what you think – the high energy of adolescence, expulsions of heavy rock riffs and captivating songwriting from start to finish. The album deals with issues that are very much personal to Smith, but undeniably relatable to listeners as well. The single and album both offer numerous power-pop influences, and Smith was able to take full creative control throughout the process and didn’t have to deal with “bullshit politics.”
The album’s first single, “Ballad of A Misspent Youth,” is an old-school rock ‘n roll anthem for a new generation. “I wanted to have this Primal Scream meets Kiss vibe,” Smith says in regards to “Ballad.” Immersed in an addictive beat and defiant vocals, Smith sings, “You’re living on borrowed time / You’re too young to die / You’re too fast to lose.”
Authentic, fierce and groovy; Tuk Smith & The Restless Hearts are not a band to be overlooked. Whenever an artist decides to release their debut record, it’s an exciting time as everyone waits in anticipation for what they’ve created to serve as a testament of their creativity and the rest of their artistic journeys ahead.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Thanks for sitting down and talking to Unpublished. For any Unpublished readers who aren’t familiar with your music, can you give us a quick introduction to yourself and the band and what type of music you make?
[TUK]: My name is Tuk obviously, and I put a band together right before the pandemic. We're based out of Nashville right now and just moved here seven months ago. We play old school rock n’ roll kind of power pop, 70s glam and punk influenced, classic rock.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What artists inspire you either lyrically or instrumentally? Whether that's just music you love to listen to or music that you pull inspiration from into yours?
[TUK]: It kind of depends if I'm writing for other people or writing for myself. I have a very big musical palette. I love a lot of pop music from almost every decade, so a lot of girl pop from the girl groups in the 60s are a big influence and a lot of female pop from the 80s is a big influence on songwriting. The staples are like Thin Lizzie, T Rex, David Bowie and Cheap Trick. I love 70s British glam, that's a heavy influence on my writing. A lot of the American songwriters from the 70s like Springsteen, so kind of all over the place.
[UNPUBLISHED]: When you're not making music and in the studio, what do you do to help inspire your creativity?
[TUK]: I do a lot of meditation and I like to exercise because I used to channel all that energy into a lot of drinking and drugs. I know this doesn't sound very rock n’ roll, but it was super self destructive. I try to stay even keel and show up every day at the piano or the guitar, eventually ideas will come to you to make it a practice everyday to sit down and try to write or do something.
[UNPUBLISHED]: I read that you were part of Atlanta’s punk scene before you started touring. Did the punk scene and its energy inspire your musical stylings or the way you carry yourself on stage?
[TUK]: 100%, I moved to Atlanta when I got kicked out of high school and I lived in a punk rock squat house and everybody sold drugs and was petty criminals and it was pretty lawless. And that time in Atlanta, so for better or worse, yes. It definitely affected me and the kind of people I was around and how dangerous Atlanta was back then. I have a lot to pull from, as far as songwriting and stories goes from that era.
[UNPUBLISHED]: You’re about to release your debut album Ballad of A Misspent Youth and the lead track from the album in August. It’s described as an old-school rock anthem for a new generation. What was the inspiration behind the first single?
[TUK]: It was inspired by me cutting my teeth in the punk scene in Atlanta, and all those crazy motherfuckers and characters that I used to party and hang out with, because I wrote this record while I was in lockdown. It was so overwhelming with pandemic, riots and COVID and all that, so I would just dig into my past and Ballad is almost like a concept record.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What do you hope the newest generation can take away from your heavy rock roots with Ballad of A Misspent Youth?
[TUK]: Every song is kind of different. That one in particular started with a title like most of my songs, and then I knew I wanted to have this Primal Scream meets Kiss kind of vibe with the riff. I went through like five or six different versions before I found the groove, but I was just programming drums to it over and trying different tempos and going down all roads before I got the feel, but isolation during the pandemic kickstarted the process.
[UNPUBLISHED]: How did the songwriting or creative process look like for you when creating Ballad? Does it change depending on the song you write or the different emotions you experience?
[TUK]: All of my songs that I write for myself are from personal experience or other relationships, I'm dealing with other people or other drama. It's easier for me to write it if I have an emotional connection with it.
[UNPUBLISHED]: “Ballad of A Misspent Youth” and your previously released singles like “Lookin’ For Love” and “What Kinda Love” all hold sentimental lyricism, high energy and deep emotions. When you’re writing, are you pulling from personal experience?
[TUK]: My previous solo album that got shelved, only three singles were released and in that song, I went to a lot of different songwriters that were my friends – I wrote with Scott Stevens, Marty Fredrickson, Butch Walker and Keith Nelson – some of my favorite peers and mentors. I was writing with them and I had a lot more of a power-pop influence. When you’re on a big label like my last label before, there's kind of a committee to answer to, and people are picking through your songs and saying this needs to be here, but when I wrote this record, nobody was involved on the outside. It was just me. My goal was just to write a rock n’ roll record. I wasn't worried about singles, algorithms or radio. There was no label involved. There was nothing, and it was awesome because it was the kind of songs that I wanted to do and this record ended up getting picked up by a label and accepted, which is awesome when an artist doesn't have to deal with any of the bullshit politics. So yeah, this is a 100% a guitar rock record.
[UNPUBLISHED]: How is “Ballad of A Misspent Youth” different compared to your previously released songs? Is it going to be in the same style as “Lookin’ For Love” and “What Kinda Love,” or are you going in different directions throughout?
[TUK]: I just wanted to do something that was very authentic. There's not a really big scene for the kind of music I'm doing. It doesn't stream well. So to me, I just did it for the love. This is the kind of music that I really love, and just wanted to do a great example of it of my influences. So hopefully, people will react to it because it's authentic and done for the right reasons.
[UNPUBLISHED]: I couldn’t help but notice all your stunning tattoos. I’m a big fan of american traditional tattoos and was wondering what’s your favorite tattoo that you like to show off the most and why?
[TUK]: I have so many I don't have much room. But on my birthday, I got really, really, really fucked up one year in Florida – like blackout drunk – and it’s super shameful and embarrassing. I was hanging out with one of my buddies and we decided to get a tattoo. So in the state of a complete blackout, I got “Desperado” tattooed on my chest.
[UNPUBLISHED]: You just announced a signing with a new label MRG, huge congratulations! How are you feeling in this current era of your career, and what is coming next that you would love to share with Unpublished?
[TUK]: I'm so thrilled to be releasing music again, because everything stopped for two years with the pandemic and had to rewrite an entire new album, and I was very, very patient. I'm just grateful to have another shot and grateful that I was able to write another batch of songs, and grateful for my band to stick with me through downtime and everything. So I'm really, really excited to just move forward.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Is there any advice you wish you had been given when you were first starting your music career?
[TUK]: I wish I would have balanced the lifestyle with working on the craft , because for a while it was just the lifestyle, so I've been playing catch up.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What is your wildest dream as an artist? If you can have one thing happen (a milestone or dream collaboration you hope to achieve in your career), what would that look like for you?
[TUK]: There's so many. There's so many things like little victories. I would love to do a record. I would love to write a record that really matters, that makes an impact that people listen to for years and years to come. Some of my favorite records, like an Evergreen Record, that would be amazing to me.
