A Dirty Dozen with SMITTI SUPAB from CAPTAIN BUCKLES – October 2025

Photo credit: Lizzie Smith

According to a recent press release: “A crew of A-list New Orleans-based veteran sidemen known as Captain Buckles have recorded Hurry Up, their debut full-length album and it is being released on cassette, digital download and streaming services, November 14. After years of incubating, Captain Buckles has found its own trademark sound steeped in the grooves and funk of New Orleans and the elements that make American music emotionally moving and stylistically unique. The band jams hard while emphasizing musical exploration and dynamic subtlety, showing the inspiration from of icons like The Meters, Allman Brothers, and The Band but utilizing those influences to create a style all their own. The members of Captain Buckles include New Orleans born-and-raised Rob Davis and Ezell Smith Jr., as well as Los Angeles transplant Smitti Supab, Pennsylvanian Phil Breen, who’ve both played professionally in the Crescent City for 13+ years. Florida ex-pat Alex Mallet is the newcomer of the crew having arrived a mere eight years ago.” We get Smitti to discuss new music, influences, and more…

1. Tell us a little about your latest release.  What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through?  Are there any hidden nuggets you put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

I’m really stoked about our debut full-length album, and super grateful to everyone that helped to bring it to fruition, most of all to the band. Getting a grant from the Threadhead Cultural Foundation spearheaded the possibility, and being encouraged by the band to apply for the grant was crucial. I didn’t know if it would be possible, but the experiment has proved to be a success! We really did come together for three days non-stop–not an easy thing to do for such busy working musicians–and showed up as our best selves to lay down the foundations for a full album. I’m not sure fans or listeners will quite be able to identify the lack of instruction in the playing–we really each contributed our parts as we felt we could or should, and said “yes” to each other’s ideas when suggestions came up, but most of the parts just kind of gravitated towards each other naturally, telepathically, almost, and maybe as much as possible–comfortably. The only hidden nuggets I can think of are Ezell’s reverb-and-echo-filled laugh that we decided to put in toward the end of “Cringe”, and Alex sticking in a lick from one of his other songs into one of his guitar solos, but I’m sure there’s a bunch of other nuggets elsewhere in the songs that he hasn’t told me about.

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

There are so many big and small events that led me into music, but overall I’d say that it was “music” that got me into music. The availability of it, the communities that formed around it, the inability to really play it alone, all that and more got me into it for sure. I think that being a bassist who was willing to learn songs and show up on time and play my heart out really brought me opportunities to learn more about what it was–and it’s still changing its form as I define and redefine parts of what “music” really is. I realized I wanted to be a musician when I realized that it was possible to try to become one, if you’re talking about being a professional musician, but the idea of solely “wanting to be a musician” has taken many forms and isn’t quite an accurate description anymore. That’s a long discussion, maybe for another day.

3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste?

There are quite a few pivotal moments that guided my musical tastes and direction. Somewhat chronologically: JJ Cale and Bob Dylan really gave me confidence in the idea that I didn’t have to be a blisteringly-fast guitarist or vocal prodigy to make good music. The Beatles and The Everly Brothers and early Motown records had such sweet harmonies that continue to influence me today. Seeing a video clip of James Brown’s performance on the TAMI Show in 1964 in black and white changed my life in terms of what was possible without lights and fog machines. Hearing Theolonious Monk for the first time really expanded my mind and idea of music in general, just like how listening to Herbie Hancock’s Thrust blew my idea of funk out of the water, shortly after I thought Booker T & the MG’s and the Meters were the funkiest (They are still the funkiest for the fewest notes in my opinion). Fela Kuti and Django Reinhardt continued to expand my musical horizons outside of American music. Seeing Dr. John and the Lower 911 in Hong Kong over a decade ago was great, but even though the “Make It Funky!” 2005 documentary that I watched shortly afterward explained some of it, my ears and soul weren’t mature enough to really soak it in back then. Sly & The Family Stone’s There’s a Riot Going On rocked my world, Chuck Berry’s The Great Twenty-Eight continues to be a good source of rock n’ roll feel and lyrics. D’Angelo’s Voodoo was super slick. More recently, learning and playing New Orleans jazz has brought my attention to such lovely melodies and calls and responses, and watching cats like Gerald French hold down the pocket but make it so swingin’ and funky at the same time, singers like Glen David Andrews absolutely mesmerize crowds big and small–every single time–man! There’s still so, so many experiences, maybe an infinite number that I can list, that have really shaped my tastes and love.

4. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be, and why?

I feel like I’m already collaborating with the people I would like to. Captain Buckles! Seriously, I like to let gravity do its thing, and even though there are some living legends out there that I love and respect madly, like George Porter Jr., Zigaboo Modeliste, Larry Graham, Bob Dylan, Al Green, Carole King, James Taylor, etc., I’m not so sure I have enough to offer to create something wonderful that would be a win-win for all of us. If I had unlimited funds and could offer them all the money in the world, sure, maybe Dylan can come in and help us write some songs with great lyrics, Porter and Graham could lay down some great bass lines, Zigaboo could lay down some grooves, but then they’d be doing it for the money. But if they wanted to collaborate with us for what we had to offer, that’d be dope! Nowadays collaborators are often used for their celebrity power and to sell the product. In that sense, I’d like to collaborate with Ween or King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard or Phish or Willie Nelson or The Grateful Dead because they do whatever the hell they want and go wherever they want to, musically, and people love listening to it and paying for it. I’d like to be in that position with Captain Buckles some day, if possible, but in the meantime I just want to get better and put out good stuff.

5. What is your favorite activity when out of the studio and/or not on tour?  What do you like to do to unwind?

Lots! I love to roller skate dance, read, write handwritten letters in cursive, wrench on vehicles that need fixing, romance, run and swim and play all sorts of sports, cook for and with friends and family, nerd out on Magic: The Gathering, … to name a few of so, so many.

6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before? What is the one comparison a reviewer or fan has made that made you cringe or you disagreed with?

It’s been tough, because who wants to know, which market are we trying to reach, does it matter, should it matter? I’ve been telling people that we’re a funky rockin’ blue-sy band, somewhat irreverent especially with regards to the risks we take, whose originals are mostly instrumentals and improvised and deeply influenced by New Orleans music. We’re a combination of The Meters, The Allman Brothers, The Band, Booker T & the MG’s, and more. Fans of Phish and The Grateful Dead say we’re doing the same kinda thing, so maybe we should market ourselves as playing jam band music. I can’t say that I’ve ever cringed or disagreed with any reviewer or fan, people hear what they hear and their descriptions are so personal and subjective. As they say in New Orleans, you do you, I’mma do me.

7. When your band is hanging out together, who cooks, who gets the drinks in, and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

I used to do the cooking, having been inspired by stories from Pops Fosters’ autobiography, but lately Alex and Rob have been stepping up to the plate. We’ve all done so much drinking over the decades playing in bars that we’re waning a bit in that area, but there are no hard rules. Rob has been the wildcat for cracking out guitars for singalongs, but he’s also good at reading the room, and it hasn’t been as forthcoming. Hard to interrupt good, deep conversation and connection with people with a song!

8. When was the last time you were starstruck and who was it?

Probably seeing Norah Jones at SPAC in Saratoga Springs last year. She and her band had such focus and such musicianship, their performance reached an otherworldly quality that blew me away. I didn’t have a chance to meet her or her band or anything, but they sure struck me!

9. What is the best part of being a musician? If you could no longer be a musician for whatever reason, what would be your dream job?

The best part of being a musician might be the ability to get to know other musicians in such a short period of time, without speaking a specific verbal language, and to be able to travel to different parts of the world and meet and connect with these people. Sharing these experiences very publicly and often on a stage adds a layer that takes some navigating, but certainly has its benefits. If I couldn’t be a professional musician I’d love to be a professional good friend–strictly on the clock and more holistic than a therapist or psychologist.

10. What is one question you have always wanted an interviewer to ask – and what is the answer? Conversely, what question are you tired of answering?

I haven’t had a lot of interviewers, but I’d love to be asked by someone–what can we do to help your music and message reach the right people? The answer would be “whatever we can think of together that we’d both be happy and grateful to have the opportunity to do, something we can believe in.” I haven’t gotten tired of answering any questions yet. “What kind of music do you play?” or “how would you describe your music?” are tough questions to answer, but each time I try to describe it, I feel like I’m getting good practice in and one step closer to having it feel “less tough.”

11. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over,” even if it didn’t change your current situation?

No way! You learn through everything, and all of it defines who you are right now. And I’m so grateful with where I am right now that to even fathom something different would be ludicrous. A “do over” would change everything!

12. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

Nope, it’s the same concept as regretting missteps. If I were a part of The Band’s The Band, I wouldn’t be so stoked on Captain Buckles’ debut album Hurry Up! This album is so lit in our own ways, in the only ways that it can be, with our never-been-on-a-groundbreakingly-famous-record gumbo of musicians and values and expectations!

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Category: Interviews