Strangelets

Strangelets formed in late 2018 - a new incarnation created by three musicians with years of experience playing together in other projects, most notably The Tallest in the mid-to-late 2000's. This new project switches the script, with Jason Blundy assuming the role of primary vocalist, guitarist and songwriter. Wes Smith, accomplished singer and songwriter himself, moves to bass and backing vocals. Eric Schmidt, having remained the common thread between all three in recent years, continues on drums. Together, the trio craft rock and roll songs meant to seem both familiar and unique, drawing from a variety of genres within rock and beyond. 

The three members of the band have gone on a decades-long musical journey starting with Jason and Wes meeting in Lexington, Kentucky in 1995. Jason had been singer and songwriter for another project, but joined Wes along with Matthew Humble in The Amoeba soon after their meeting. The group spent several years in Lexington honing their skills as performers and songwriters. Just before the turn of the millennium, Wes and Matthew moved to Chicago and formed a group called Stories for Boys and began to establish themselves in the Chicago music scene.

Remaining in Lexington, Jason spent the next three years completing college, focusing his time as a solo artist on developing his guitar-playing and songwriting skills, culminating in the recording of an album's worth of material, including a couple of songs that have remained in rotation to the present day. In 2002, Jason moved to Chicago to join Wes and Matthew in Stories for Boys (the band also including Elijah Humble on guitar and Corey McCafferty on drums).

At that point in time the band were in the process of recording an album at Above the Cadillac studios in Kentucky, which was completed in two sessions in 2002. The album was shopped around to several small labels before catching the attention of Squid vs. Whale: A Record Company, based out of Portland, Oregon. The band embarked on a West Coast tour in 2004, signing on with the record label to release the album "The Future Burns the Sun" after changing the name of the band to The Tallest. Prior to the tour, Elijah and Corey decided to move on from the band. Al Nicolini joined the group, taking over on drums.

Following the release of the album, the band continued to play the Chicago scene along with additional touring in the South and West, where they began work on their second album (eventually produced in Chicago, but not released until many years later). As the band prepared for what would be its final tour out West, Al decided to step away from the band.

By chance, Jason had recently met Eric at a side job selling golf equipment. Upon learning about Eric's drumming experience, Jason quickly recruited him to join The Tallest on tour. Eric had cut his teeth playing in the Chicago suburbs as well as while attending college in Colorado before a brief hiatus upon returning to Chicago.

Upon completion of their last tour, the band continued to play around Chicago until Matthew eventually called it quits in 2009, with Wes deciding to leave the group not long after, leading to the end of The Tallest. Eric and Jason continued to play with Dan Schiller, who had been invited to replace Matthew as bassist of The Tallest just before the group disbanded. Along with Dan, Eric and Jason formed the group Space vs Time, which played on a few occasions in Chicago in 2009 and 2010 before it, too, disbanded.

It wasn't long, though, before Wes, Eric and Jason were reunited as The Coils in 2012, this time with Jason taking over as bassist. Alas, that project faded shortly after recording a demo. While Jason decided to go on hiatus, Wes and Eric continued playing together, forming BirdsNsnakes in 2015 and playing several gigs around Chicago over the next three years, including two with Jason, having briefly come off hiatus in 2016 to play bass.

Throughout the period from the end of The Tallest to the present, there has been an undercurrent with Eric and Jason rehearsing privately, working on select songs written by Jason over the course of his music career. The two even performed the material as a side project titled Nerd Alert! in 2015. In the summer of 2018, with BirdsNsnakes drawing to an end, Eric and Jason invited Wes to join the project on bass. The three of them spent several months reworking old material and writing new songs before recording their first single "Villain!" in early 2019. Taking their name from a lyric in that song, Strangelets made their presence publicly known in the summer of 2019, leading to their debut performance on October 5th, 2019.

The group are currently preparing to record additional material to be released in early 2020 and will continue performing in Chicago and beyond in coming months.