’80s band Smithereens to play at Naper Nights series

Pat DiNizio worked for his dad’s company as a garbage collector until he was 31, running the business alongside his father. But at night he led a rather different life, playing the music he loved.

The thought of playing with a band and recording music had consumed him since childhood, he said, and there wasn’t much else he was interested in doing.

So DiNizio quit the family business (much to the chagrin of his father), took an ad out in the paper seeking like-minded musicians, and started a band.

That band, the Smithereens, will play Saturday, June 23, at Naper Settlement as part of the Naper Nights Community Concert Series, which takes place three weekends in June, July and August.

The concerts run 5 to 10 p.m. Tickets for Friday shows are $10 for adults and $5 for youth ages 4 to 10; Saturday tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for youth. They can be purchased by visiting napersettlement.org.

The concert series opens Friday, June 22, with Beatles tribute band American English headlining.

DiNizio, who sings vocals and plays guitar, said the Smithereens had an immediate chemistry.

“What was unique about our situation is the other three Smithereens knew each other since they were 9 years old,” he said. “I was the missing piece of the puzzle.”

Attendees of the Naper Nights concert can expect to hear a mixture of the band’s ’80s and ’90s hits, tracks from its Beatles and The Who tribute albums, and music from its new album, “Smithereens 2011.”

“The audience grew up with us and they want to hear a little bit of everything,” DiNizio said.

The band also takes requests, and DiNizio said he usually knows only the first song that will be played and the rest is improvised.

“That keeps it fresh for us as well as the audience,” he said.

The band recorded “Smithereens 2011,” its first album of original songs in 11 years, in North Carolina and in DiNizio’s home in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, over a period of two weeks.

“It was very easy,” DiNizio said. “We’ve been together a long time, and so consequently, whenever we sit together to play again … it’s right there.”

Though this is the first album of original songs in 11 years, the Smithereens have done unique specialty projects in the years between, such as the Beatles tribute albums “Meet the Smithereens!” and “B-Sides The Beatles,” The Who tribute album “The Smithereens Play Tommy,” and the “Christmas with the Smithereens” album.

DiNizio grew up listening to the Beatles, The Who and other ’60s bands that would later be an influence in his own musical style.

“You become the sum total of everything you listen to,” he said. “I think we tend to model ourselves after people we admire. Generally, what we like, we try to emulate.”

DiNizio said the band took a hiatus from recording original music because of a changing audience and recording industry, which was suffering from things like file-sharing programs.

“There was simply no audience for another original Smithereens album,” he said. “So there were a lot of albums designed to keep our career moving forward. We were waiting for the right moment to put out a new original album.”

But now, fans can expect the same classic Smithereens music from the band’s new album.

“It sounded exactly the same back then as we sound now,” DiNizio said.

The new album has been received well, with the song “Sorry” even being named No. 8 on a yearly top 10 songs list by Little Steven’s Underground Garage, a satellite radio station DiNizio said is one of the most popular rock stations.

DiNizio said the band enjoys playing venues in Chicago, where he had an apartment for 15 years and was married.

“Chicago, for the Smithereens, is like coming home,” he said.

The band’s shows are family friendly, giving parents a chance to introduce a whole new wave of Smithereens fans to the band’s music, DiNizio said.

“A lot of the folks who listened to us in high school or their first, second year of college are now bringing their own kids,” he said.

DiNizio said it’s important for today’s generation to see live music of substance and quality. He was heartbroken to read an article in the paper one day and learn that Britney Spears played with no band on stage and, worse yet, that audiences enjoyed the auto-tuned music.

“To me, that’s a sort of breakdown in society,” he said.

The band has had to be twice as good as bands half their age, DiNizio said, to prove themselves as competent to people who expect the musicians to slow down as they get older.

“I’d like to do this for at least another 10 years,” DiNizio said. “When it stops being fun, that’s when we’ll pack it in.”

If you go

What:Naper Nights Community Concert Series

When:5 to 10 p.m. Friday, June 22, featuring American English; 5 to 10 p.m. Saturday, June 23, featuring the Smithereens

Where: Naper Settlement, 523 S. Webster St., Naperville

Cost:Friday tickets $10 adults, $5 youth ages 4-10; Saturday tickets $15 adults, $10 youth; free for Naperville Heritage Society members

Info:(630) 420-6010 or napersettlement.org