Currently, Jonathan is back making the stellar music we all have come to expect. He
does live shows in the Los Angeles area occasionally.
Jonathan has just released his first solo CD "Steady as She Goes" and it is
available for $5.00 and a buck for tax/shipping via Paypal at his
website.
Last we heard Petur is working on an album with former bandmember Jeremy. Petur plays drums with The Januaries, an L.A. band on Foodchain Records, and does some session work on commercials. Email Petur at Food Chain Records.
The band's self-titled CD is still worth picking up and listening to.
Find it at ebay or launch.com. It is available in two CD's from CD Connection.
The first release was in December 1997 on Red Ant label #408934.
The second release of the CD was in August 1998 and included the Radio Remix of Raining on the Sky and an acoustic version of the song. It is on the Red Ant label #182659 (3201110).
We will be watching out for these talented musicians and see what they come up with in the future.
Albums:
1997 debut album: naked (with an inverted "n") on the Red Ant Entertainment Label
Naked won a prestigious Gavin award given by the music industry for their song "Raining in the Sky" in February 1998. The song won out of 17 new songs played for 12 national program directors during the "Jukebox Jury". Previous winners have gone on the multiple platinum album sales.
The band were in NYC Spring 98 to record a cover of The Bronski Beat tune from the 80's "Run Away Turn Away" in their own inimitable style. This song was never released. They were recording a followup CD to their self-titled debut, but the label went bankrupt before it could be released.
The band came up with their name not because they like to run around in their birthday suits, but because their music style is very raw. Naked toured Europe in the summer of 1998.
I saw them play live twice at Pufferbellies on Cape Cod in Massachusetts and they kicked ass.
Naked Trivia:
Damon is a big Bob Dylan fan.
Petur Smith is from Iceland and Sweden. He loves to eat Maple Sugar oatmeal for breakfast. He's afraid of flying.
The band members all got along very well. They felt close as brothers and look out for each other on the road. The band felt they had a great chance to make it really big in the near future. Because of problems with their distributor going bankrupt, their debut album was not available in all markets which hampered sales. Their videos were
seen on MTV.
The photography for the album was taken at the Salton Sea south of LA. Petur says this area is particularly stinky, especially at low tide when they did the photography for the album. He said it nearly made him feel ill after so many hours there.
The band from the CD cover.
My favorite member is Petur Smith. He is handsome, fun, intelligent, although he can be a bit bossy! He tells me enjoyed the crazy road life via plane and tour bus. The band partied a lot and tried to get the record company to put them up in the best places and eat the best food possible. He said the festival gigs are the craziest with chicks flashing him their breasts to get backstage passes. He said it's incredible that these women who don't know him at all are throwing themselves at him. Petur prefers intelligent women with creative/spiritual interests. Petur loves the woods and trees. He lives near Silver Lake area of LA when he is not touring. He bought an iBook Pc in 2000 and loves it. He thought the band's official Red Ant webpage was not the greatest. He wished it was more interactive and personal. He is divorced. Petur Smith had an endorsement with Vic Firth Percussion Instruments. He had a serious car accident in 1999 but has made
a full recovery.
Excerpts from the article "Petur Smith likes drumming Naked" in Modern Drummer Oct 98 issue interview p. 17 by R. Flans:
"Smith moved from Iceland to LA on a student's visa in 1991. 'I really wanted to be able to play with my peers, the people whose names I've seen listed on album credits, and who I've listened to since I was a kid,' Smith said. [He] suggests that anyone moving to LA should go to as many live shows as possible, sit in at jams, and stay focused. 'When I was done with school it was a huge struggle. I was living on canned food. But you can't think of it as failure, it's just paying your dues.' Hooking up with Naked was perfect for Smith, as the band's foremost requirement is creativity...the material was written as a band effort. 'We would come in and jamon chord progressions and such, Jonathan Sheldon would be writing the lyrics,and we'd piece it together. One of my favorites on the album is 'The Road Home,'which is a really rocking track. I like playing that one coz there is a lot going on. I came up with this fun beat where I'm playing percussion with my left foot.'"
What people are emailing me about Naked:
February 2003September 2002
Thank you for the long delayed reply :-) ... I have already gotten the CD
:-) I like all the songs except two (what about you? and the road home, but
they're ok). yeah, they release two CD's, one in '97 and one in '98. Do you mean your
original CD doesn't have a bonus track? I think the second one contain the
radio remix of Raining on the Sky, but the CD I got didn't have it (I prefer
the remix because the original's guitar and other sound effects are too
loud), it does have the acoustic version of the song though... Why did the
band break up (if you know)? Oh well, thanks for the reply. Michael
May 2002
As others have, I'd like to thank you for taking the
time to put up information for the few fans of naked
that exist. I heard the two radio releases a long
time ago, I guess about five years now, and they'd
been playing in my head ever since. I was quite
excited to find a used copy, it's nice to have the
whole song rather than just a few bars running through
my mind, and I'm quite pleased with the rest of the
album. I wasn't sure if you perhaps had a mailing
list on these guys, but I'd love it if you could send
me any information you receive, seeing as you have the
inside connection. I'm sure you receive plenty of
offers, but I'm a computer science student and I'd be
happy to help you with any web page maintenance, I
just don't want to come back to your page to find a
dead link someday. Thanks again. Mark Dallas, TX
April 2002
Hello, I'm e-mailing you in regards to you web-site on the band 'Naked', and I was
wondering if you could help me. Due to the commonality of their name it is
rather difficult for me to find out any information whatsoever on any other
recordings (besides the self-titled album) they might have made. Do you know
of any, or by some fortunate accident, where I can find them?
Thank you for your time, Jonathan F.
April 2002
that would be great if you could try to get some pictures. After watching the move Amityville 1992:its about time, i thought Damon Martin was really
cool ,and hot. SO i told my friends about him, so they didnt believe me. So i surfed the net, trying to find stuff about him, and i came across imdb.com,
and saw that he was in the band naked, so i searched for him and i watched the videos, and i really dug the song,. so i was like wow! i am buying the cd.
If you can email Petur and Jonathan, can you try to find out Damon's email or whatever, I would really like to write to him. k thanks! a Dana b
December 2001
hey,this is the first time i've written you...not sure if this is still the
right email or anything but i got this off the website.
anyway, it's been awhile since i checked it and i'm disheartened to hear
they broke up. i had no idea. yours really was the only website i could
ever find for naked. anyhow, i was just wondering if you knew the exact
date they broke up. i try to keep up with these things. also, any word on
new projects and/or ever getting back together?
missing my favorite "obscure" band, Pam
December 2001
Hey,I've been wondering what happened to Naked for somewhile now, ha, considering the last time I saw them was July of 97 and didnt hear too much about them after that! They were in fact one of the very first bands I saw and liked! I saw them in May of 97 and in July of 97, I met Jonathon and Peter in July of 97 they were both really nice, and I remember at 14 being in awe of them, Jonathon was askin all of us our names and I told him mine(I had met him before) and I was like Steph and he goes stuff? oh Steph, I remember you and grinned! Crazy how things work out! Have you gotten anymore info on what the band members have been doing? Cool site by the way! Stephanie
November 2001
It's about time someone puts up a page with the information about NAKED.
I have been doing constant online searches for information for a couple years now. Ever since the RedAnt site went down (which wasn't ever updated
anyway as the company was going under) I haven't been able to find anything about the band until now.
It absolutely sucks that there is no more NAKED. I honestly have over 1,000 CDS and listen to all sorts of different kinds of music, mostly modern/alt.
rock... and if I had my choice to keep only one for the rest of my life I'm quite sure that NAKED would be that album. From start to finish the album
Rocks! I am lucky enough to have gotten my hands on a WestWood One LIVE CD (actual recording - not CDR) which has about 7 album tracks live and
LA Woman cover. That was an unvelievable find. I also go my hands on a "Raining on the Sky" single which has an awesome Acoustic version on it. If
only there was new stuff... What I would and wouldn't do to get my hands on some new NAKED music. Anyway... thanks so much for putting up the site... HOPE we find out more information about the band and the band memebers and their futures. It
seems very odd that the band memebers have been so inactive with the online community... honestly feel like the fans were kinda deserted... they never
made any announcements or tried to commuicate with the fans at any time to my knowledge.
feel free to email me and talk NAKED... Thanks again. Matt from NY
October 2001
hey, I really love the band naked...it really is a shame that they didn't go anywhere...i think if they had stayed together they would
have hit big. The music is really inspiring. - Brittany
April 2001
hey Erika? I heard that Naked is trying to make a new cd but
there Labels Website is down, I love there cd NAKED I
even have a fan site my self but I am not proud of it.
I am wondering if you have any information. Damon's
Aunt lived up the street from me but they have moved
and I have since lost contact. but the last time I had
talked to them Jonathan had to have his vocal cords
fixed, he had Cancer or something to that effect but,
do you know anything???? Please Respond, as I am a fan as well. My favorite
song IS Red. Thank you, Zach M.
April 2001
hey- i was just at your naked fan-page, and i just wanted to say that i love them and im glad i can FINALLY find a page on them. i tried the link that u have to their site, but it keeps bringing me to some porn site. well, thats really it. ttyl. ilyse.
December 2000
Hey, I just found your webpage and I was curious where Naked went??? I live in Michigan and I saw them play a few years ago in Grand Rapids. I thought they were so good, and I rushed out to buy their cd. Now I can't find any news or anything on them... do you know what happened?? I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, Phil R.
September 2000
Hey, what's up? I was wondering if you have heard any info about naked since their record label went bankrupt. I knew they were making another album and I was wondering if they still are making it and are tring find another record label. Erin
August 2000
Did their record company go bankrupt? Will there be
another album? I have a review of Naked's CD on my
personal webpage and I got an email from MEXICO of all
places asking me for info on getting the CD, which
made me investigate and I can't find ANYTHING about
what happend to them. Do you have any current
information? Thanks, Camilo Arenivar
August 2000
saw your site on the band naked... one of the few out there... good job--
would you happen to know what's going on with them since red-ant was
dissolved? are they on a new label/still together/working on new material?
thanks, trey
May 1999
Thanks for your website about the band Naked, it was otherwise hopeless searching for pages containing "Naked" using search engines that weren't porn related. So, I just wanted to write saying thanks and that Naked is awesome! Some more fan support needs to be generated so they can keep cranking out more CDs, thanks! --Corey
March 1999
First i want to say "thank you" for the informations on your homepage to this band. Found the album, when i visited nyc last year in march. It was one of those albums you can hear to like there are hundreds of it. By looking through all those records i saw the good looking cover of NAKED. By the way the name was also interesting. I heard to it and i loved it, it sounds absolutely great. Now one year later it's still one of my favorites. It's a shame that the album isn't availible in Germany. Even the radiostations don't know anything about NAKED. 'TIL NOW. Last month i met the music chief of bavarians greatest radiostation www.bayern3.deI sent him a MiniDisk-Copy of the album and he found it also very interesting. I think he found it as good as I. It's probably so good that they will it play in their program. I just have to speak with him again to be sure. You wrote that NAKED currently recording their new album. Do you have any further info's about it ? looking forward to get a answer from you. sorry for my bad english !!!--greetings, Olli
Hi Erika, I sent a email to Naked, like you told me. Now I hope they will send me the answer soon because I´m going on holiday. I will tell you how the story is going on in good old Germany and on Bavarian radio. Tschüß 2 U. Olli
Thanks for the info on the band, oh yeah i used excite (my personal favorite) to find your page, i actually went to red ant first, but their naked page was down. i already had my friend listening to them so i went out and bought herthe cd. ive just got this feeling they will be big, i mean with a sound like that, i still haven't stopped listening to them. since you like naked so much what other bands do you listen to?oh and by the way nice web page. --dave
I love naked and ive only been listening to them for two days, i boughtit just for the hell of it because it was only two bucks, but man, it worth a helluvalot more than that. i found your page looking for some more info on them, hopping they had realeased more albums, no luck huh?anyway just wanted to say thanks for have the page up, cant believe no one around here's even heard of them. --dave, fargo, nd
12/98: Well, I am pretty impressed with all the information you have at your site. My question is do you know of any sites that have Naked songs on tablature? Iam pretty much teaching myself how to play the quitar and haven't quite gotthe reading music notes just yet, I will though. I am looking for the song "Raining on the Sky." If not, hey it was worth a shot. ciao, chris
Jeremy's Signature on their CD cover
Jonathan, Damon, and Petur's autographs from the 97 CD tour.