Meet Mac Smith | Vocalist and Manager

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mac Smith and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mac, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
As a band, we pursue a creative career simply for the love of what we do. It’s a very difficult and hollow task to give ultimate effort towards something that you’re not passionate about, which is why we choose to make music. It’s what we love and we were simply born to do. It may not lead to material wealth and success, but will always be worth it to us.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
To best describe our art, we are a five-piece Death Metal band called “Apogean” from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. We formed in late 2020, releasing an EP in 2021 and our debut album “Cyberstrictive” in March 2024 through a metal label called ‘The Artisan Era’.

We’re most proud of our quick start and early label signing. We started as an internet project and quickly grew to a professional unit with local prominence through live shows and word-of-mouth; we were very grateful that our first EP was so received so well and that we were able to cultivate a small, yet dedicated fanbase in such a short period of time. It was quite difficult with the remnants of the pandemic and other life events impeding progress, but we were able to persevere through and deliver a product that seems to be appreciated.

Through this experience, we’ve learned to keep developing professionalism and to continue to listen to our fanbase. Many groups forget that music is for the fans and we want only to make something that they will bang their heads to; If anything, our only message is to have fun and enjoy the music. We’re not making it for ourselves, it’s what keeps us focused and humble.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
To keep it true to our style of music, we definitely would visit a venue called Sneaky Dee’s. It is a legendary Toronto staple that serves as an iconic meeting point of the Toronto metal scene, not to mention great Mexican food in the downstairs area.

Right next door to Sneaky Dee’s is a fantastic Ramen restaurant called Isshin Ramen. It’s arguably the best ramen in the entire city of Toronto. It’s a must visit for fans of Asian cuisine.

We’d also visit a record shop called Futhark Records. They’re integral to the death, black, and thrash metal scenes in Toronto. In addition to being a great place to pick up your favorite metal record, they also hold community metal events; think of it of like a farmer’s market, but for music merchandise and networking.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
As a group, our local metal scene in Toronto has been very good to us. Whether it was producing talent to be a part of the group, booking us on great shows, or allowing us to network to meet great people, they’ve truly been our biggest supporters and we deeply come from a place to gratitude to show our appreciation for them. With their support, it truly gave us the kickstart we needed to start working towards our success and fulfillment.

On a personal level, it goes without saying that our families have been our biggest supporters. It’s tough to continue to work and push ourselves without a solid foundation and they really keep us grounded and focused.

Website: http://apogeanofficial.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apogeanofficial/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ApogeanOfficial

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@apogean

Other: The Artisan Era (Label): https://www.youtube.com/@TheArtisanEra