Secret Powers is what happens when the best of the Los Angeles indie-rock community merges with the best of the Missoula indie-rock community. They become the greatest band of all time!

“I decided to leave L.A. and move to Missoula and start a recording studio. I was afraid that I might miss my big break but then I realized that I’m gonna die either way so that freed me up to make more choices.” –

In July of ‘07, Ryan “Shmed” Maynes made the move to Missoula, Montana. He built a recording studio in his backyard in the hopes of making a living as an engineer, producer, and musician. Shmed had made friends in Missoula from his frequent tours with his former band, Arlo. Asking his pals, local rockstars the Volumen, if there were any musicians looking to form a band, they directed him to Ear Candy, Missoula’s local indie-music store, where former members of the Fireballs of Freedom and Oblio Jones were rehearsing.

“My friends from the Volumen, had mentioned that their friend Shmed from Arlo would be moving to Missoula and he was an ace keyboard player.” – John

Shmed announced himself by showing up unannounced at John’s record store.

“I like totally walked by him thinking he was some kind of costumer or something” Dan said Sean Connery-esque

What ensued was a whirlwind of rehearsal, culminating in a move from Ear Candy to Shmed’s newly built studio. Recording commenced immediately. The first song learned and recorded was “Place I Can Breathe” A reference to Shmed’s quest for “space”.

“My favorite part of the studio: The painting of Heather Thomas by Shmed’s grandfather.” Troy

The band members were thrilled to record whenever they wanted. The recording of the new album progressed at a furious pace, with the bulk completed by the new year. They emerged from Club Shmed with the eponymous “Explorers of the Polar Eclipse”.

With the album finished the next logical course of action was a debut show. Secret Powers first live performance was at the Red light/Green room in the Historic Wilma building. The band was beside themselves when ryans friend offered to escort them to their first gig in a stretch limo hummer. reflecting on the interior of the wilma, shmed commented that the venue looked like a parlour room on the titanic.

“i knew my position in the band was never in doubt when i got my friend to drive us to the first show in a stretch hummer limo” farley

with the final mixing and mastering touches complete the band prepared for their cd release show. planning for a first excursion outside of missoula was also undertaken at the same time. secret powers first out of town show was scheduled for mid-june in the quaint farming community of helix, oregon. as much as the fans were excited to see the band, they are farmers. consequently they welcomed the unrelenting thunderstorm that washed out secret power’s first experience outside of montana. the band was thankful and gracious when they received full compensation in spite of not playing.

“The disappointment of not getting to actually getting to play after driving hundreds of miles to the sprawling wheat fields of eastern Oregon ended up being a mixed blessing. We all took solace from the sense of camaraderie from traveling endless miles in a car listening our favorite music and being warmly welcomed by the good people of Helix” stu

shmeds first year in missoula culminated with the official release of the first album. the rest of the band was somewhat stunned to fully comprehend what was accomplished in such a short amount of time. with a solid base of new fans and enthusiastic response the band is steadily working on the completion of their second album, slated for release in late april of 2009

“usually after i’m done with an album you wait to see what happens but its better to just get on the next record, cause that’s the fun part” shmed
Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.