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Smith Westerns Have Broken Up

Smith Westerns Break Up Final Show

Seven years after Smith Westerns formed while its principal members were still in high school, the Chicago-based garage rock band has decided to call it quits permanently. Frontman Cullen Omori announced on Twitter earlier this month that the band would be going on an indefinite hiatus following a late December show, but now in an interview with the Chicago Reader, they’ve announced that their breakup is a little bit more official.

“The band just didn’t work, both creatively and personally,” Omori explained. “There’s no plans to reignite Smith Westerns. It’s broken up.”

Omori and his brother Cameron say that the decision to break up came once their guitarist and songwriting partner Max Kakacek said he was leaving the band earlier this year. The band’s last album Soft Will was released in 2013 and was followed by a high profile tour opening for Sky Ferreira.

The band’s final show will take place December 23 at Schubas without Kakacek, and Omori has announced that afterward he’ll be launching his solo career on the back of a “lo-fi” album that he already has written.