Meet April Smith and Mr. Belvedere, the veggie-oil bus
By Daniela Garcia
Published: June 4th, 2008 | 11:20am
April Smith probably doesn’t consider herself an environmentalist. But that doesn’t mean she ignored the amount of gas she guzzled while touring with her band, the Great Picture Show, for the past two years in Mrs. Garrett, her 1986 GMC Vandura van.
After driving from New York to Austin — and spending god loads of money at the pump — for last year’s South by Southwest music festival, Smith became determined to find a cleaner form of transportation. Enter the purchase of Mr. Belvedere, a 1995 Chevy P90 that Smith planned to convert to run on vegetable oil, a process that took Smith more than a year to accomplish. “I thought to myself, ‘This year, we’re not gonna go unless we can do it on veggie oil’,” Smith said. Mechanical delays unfortunately caused Smith to miss out on SXSW 2008.
The good news is that the conversion was completed just in time for Smith and her band to travel to Northwestern University on April 26 with the Music Inspires Health tour. Smith was one of the main acts, along with Ari Hest. The tour was made up of six concert dates throughout April and May in major cities across the U.S. Several other musicians, like Ben Kweller and Ingrid Michaelson, also participated in the tour at different dates.
With the slogan “Rock Hard, Live Long,” the tour’s mission was to teach important health issues through the use of music and other forms of multimedia, including short films. Smith is especially against smoking. “As a musician, it’s important to take care of your voice,” she said. “If I were a smoker, I wouldn’t be able to sing as well.”
Smith’s lively 30-minute set was filled with a mix of songs mainly from 2006’s loveletterbombs and tracks for her upcoming album. The variation in tracks showcased a mixture of Smith’s evolving sound. While older songs like “Bright White Jackets” are classified as darker, vocally driven rock, newer, unreleased tracks like “Colors” and “Wow and Flutter,” have more of an upbeat swagger to them, built out of folk twang and gritty lyrics. “I’m aiming for an upbeat, fun sound while still sarcastic and cheeky,” Smith said.
After her lively performance, I was ushered backstage, where Smith greeted me and was ready to launch into an enthusiastic tour of Mr. Belvedere. Unfortunately, the van was parked in a narrow alley behind the venue with minimal lighting. Deciding to move the van somewhere that wasn’t pitch-dark, I watched as Smith, still clad in her black, strapless dress and high heels, took the wheel and maneuvered the small bus with relative ease into a parking lot with decent lighting.
It was obvious from the get-go that Smith is incredibly knowledgeable about bio-fuel and how her bus works. She walked me through the oil filtration process, explained how to obtain used oil, and, as she details in our video, the importance of monitoring Mr. Belvedere’s gauges and switches when running on vegetable oil.
April Smith may not be out to save the world, but between running her new, environmentally friendly bus and advocating the importance of health through music, she is definitely doing her part.
“I feel like, as a musician, you have a responsibility to do the right thing and encourage other people to do the right thing,” Smith said.
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WATCH THE VIDEO BY DANA STEWART:
April Smith Web site
Issue #35
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