SEATTLE, Wash. -- Sometimes these days Shawn Smith will be on

stage playing with his band Brad and he'll look around him and be

overwhelmed by a sensation that has less to do with music and a lot to do with

friendship.

"It's weird to be playing sometimes, and to look over at the guys and think about

how far we've come together... as friends and musicians," said the

32-year-old singer/songwriter for Brad, his melody-driven rock band formed with

Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard.

The band was in town recently playing to

a sold out crowd at The Moore Theatre. For the velvety-voiced Smith, it was only

the second time he had played the legendary Moore Theatre stage, and, if that

night was any indication, it probably won't be the last. "We played here once a

few years back as Satchel, opening up for Urge Overkill." Then thinking back

on it, he added, "It was a pretty lifeless show."

For others, such as Gossard, it was this stage that helped launch Pearl Jam into

superstardom. Gossard's other band played some of its best shows ever on this

stage, including a gig used as the footage in the now-classic video for

"Evenflow" that has singer Eddie Vedder swinging off the balcony like a howler

monkey.

Everyone who was anyone in the local music scene turned out Halloween night

for the one-and-a-half-hour show that would put Brad's touring days on hold for

awhile, and send Gossard back into the final stages of organizing Pearl Jam's

highly anticipated upcoming tour in support of their new album due out next

year. "But this is Brad. And I'm gonna miss it," said Gossard who added that he

was looking forward to re-joining Pearl Jam in a few days.

Realizing, perhaps, she may not see her son again for awhile, even Gossard's

mother turned out for the recent Brad show. In the back row of the darkened

theater, the tiny silver-haired woman shuffled her feet to the rhythm. "That's my son,"

she said pointing him out on stage, smiling with excitement at the well-dressed

and well-polished Gossard. "That's my son!"

That night, as their good-bye to the road after several months on tour, Brad

played a five-song encore, including the radio hit, "The Day Brings." "I, for one,

wish it could have gone a little longer," Smith said. "A few more weeks really

before I reach my breaking point."

But just because Brad is taking a break, doesn't mean Smith will stop working

on his music. In a near constant state of record production, releasing new

albums for three separate bands that are all characteristically his bands, he has

modeled and shaped a sound all his own since forming Brad in 1992. The

voice is what sticks out and marks its territory. The lyrics are sometimes sad

and often bitter sweet. Besides working with Satchel, Smith also teams up

occasionally with Steve Fisk's deranged electronica prowess, releasing albums

under the name "Pigeonhed." "I don't want to do without any of them," Smith

said. "There may be a new Brad album by next spring, a new Satchel record

probably -- and maybe a Pigeonhed shoved in there somewhere in-between.

It's all in the air."

But to think about how he got to this point, is sometimes too much for Smith, he

said.

Drummer Regan Hagar, who started playing drums with Malfunkshun and the

late Andrew Wood when he was a boy, met Smith during the formation of

several big name Seattle acts, including Mother Love Bone, which was formed

when Wood enlisted the aid of friends Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament to his

project. When Wood overdosed, Ament and Gossard found Vedder and went

on to form the seminal Seattle rock outfit Pearl Jam.

Around this time, Hagar and Smith started Satchel.

Relaxing backstage before the show and reflecting on the past, Smith said that

while Pearl Jam has obviously established its own style in the years, there isn't

a big difference between Satchel and Brad. "It's basically just a personnel

difference. I consider both bands to be about the same, but with Brad we get

Stone and he brings in another twist to the action."

In fact, Brad is made up of 60 percent Satchel, 20 percent Gossard and 20

percent Mike Hill guitarist/keyboardist from Three Pound Thrill. Satchel bassist,

Mike Berg, fills in for Jeremy Toback who handled the bass lines on the new

album Interiors. But it is Gossard who has likely drawn the most

attention, with fans chanting his name before and after the recent show here.

Though he is the frontman, Smith doesn't seem to mind. "Stone's a great

songwriter," Smith said. "And he brings a lot of focus into the music."

However, having Gossard on tour does bring with it a certain segment of the

crowd who want nothing but Pearl Jam covers, he added.

Meanwhile there are plans for another Brad album next spring and a mini tour

to follow. If that tour is anything like this last one, fans can expect more of the

same grab bag music courtesy of Smith and company.

After the slow opener of Satchel's "Isn't That Right" that treated the crowd to the

soft melodies of Smith and his piano, the band launched into a combination of

songs from the new Brad album and from Satchel's 1996 release A Family

Affair. Prancing around the stage in true Pearl Jam fashion, Gossard

seemed at home with his other family, moving to the sweet melodies, and

layering it with his intricate guitar work as Hagar pounded the drums.

It is a chemistry that not only works on stage, but off. Hagar and Gossard also own

and run the fledgling label Loosegroove Records together. The label produced Brad's first

album Shame, and it also signed Weapon Of Choice, Critters Buggin,

and Hi-Fi Killers to its ever-expanding list of label mates.

With Brad, you get sort of the melting pot of Brad and Satchel -- the joining

of the soulful harmonies of Smith and the searing guitar work of Gossard.

This time off though will allow Smith to get back to his real passion,

recording. "As long as I'm recording, I like where I'm at," he said.

Color="#720418">[Thurs., Nov. 13, 1997, 9 a.m. PDT]