Smash Palace

Stephen Butler of Smash Palace talks music, teaching music, writing songs, playing the Philadelphia music scene, playing live, the Quincy Jones lawsuit, Columbia records, and the music industry overall.

Smash Palace signed with Epic Records in 1985. The new line-up included Brian Butler (lead vocals), Stephen Butler (lead guitar and vocals), Phil Rizzo (bass guitar), Harry Lewis (drums) and Greg Persun (rhythm guitar). 

The band's first self-titled LP was released in the fall of 1985 along with an MTV video of the first single, "Living on the Borderline" (directed by Nigel Dick). 

Smash Palace then toured extensively throughout the United States and Canada with Mr. Mister and the Cruzados. Greg DiDonato (keyboards) joined the lineup for the tour. When Smash Palace's A&R man, Dick Wingate, left Epic Records in 1985 he asked the band to come on over to his new label, Polygram Records. Unfortunately, once the band left Epic, the offer from Polygram melted away. 

The band recorded demos for tracks that were intended for their second album, including "Cold Wind", "Girl with the Stars in Her Eyes", "Stranger Than Strange" and "I'll Be There" (which was later reworked and recorded on the band's Over the Top CD release in 2004) and these tracks were played on Philadelphia radio station WMMR-FM's local music program Street Beat, but never officially released.