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Smaragd is an alter-ego and pseudonym for Dave Ward. He began learning guitar, bass and keyboards all simultaneously in 1987. In May 1987 he started his first band with childhood best friend Rick, calling themselves Alloy. In the early-1990s, having become a bit more proficient, Alloy changed its name to Jawbone. Over several years, Dave and Rick wrote and recorded an awful lot of songs, including their epic "The World's Greatest Show," a single track than ran over 20 minutes.
Around 1994 Dave started experimenting with some recordings on his own, inconsistently working sometimes under his own name and sometimes under the name Canary Thunder. But later in the '90s, having new priorities, Jawbone stopped writing and recording. At the end of the 1990s, the word "Smaragd" began haunting Dave, pushing itself into his consciousness. He gave in and adopted it as his new musician name/alter-ego, and began occasionally dabbling in recording again.
In December 2001 Smaragd released his first album, "Suchness," which included several new tracks plus a couple of older tracks dating back to the mid-90s. It was, at least to some degree, a compilation album intended to showcase a bit of what he had done so far.
Dave then began working on a major concept album tentatively titled "Mythconception." Work on that project continues to the present. (All writing is done; recording is nearing completion, but progresses slowly and intermittently.)
In December 2007 Smaragd issued his second album, a three-song EP titled "goslower", which was more experimental and "weird" than "Suchness" had been.
Both "Suchness" and "goslower" can be downloaded for free from http://smaragd.daveward.net
For more music from Smaragd, including tracks you can download and save, see http://www.reverbnation.com/smaragd
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