Zachary Cole Smith (born November 7, 1984) is an American musician best known for being the founder, frontman, and principal songwriter of the indie rock band

DIIV DIIV (pronounced and formerly known as Dive) is an American Rock music, rock band from Brooklyn, New York City, formed in 2011. The band consists of Zachary Cole Smith (vocals, guitar), Andrew Bailey (guitar), Colin Caulfield (bass, keyboards, gu ...

. Previously, he played in the bands Soft Black and

Beach Fossils Beach Fossils is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2009. They are currently signed to Bayonet Records, having previously been signed to indie label Captured Tracks. The group's live band currently includes founder D ...

. Initially called Dive, the band started as Smith's solo recording project. Smith released his debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

with DIIV, ''

Oshin is a Japanese television, Japanese Asadora, serialized morning television drama (''asadora''), which originally aired on NHK from 4 March 1983 to 31 March 1984; it is the 31st ''asadora'' overall to be produced. The 297 15-minute episodes follo ...

'', in 2012, which combined elements of

krautrock Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock that developed in Germany in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It originated among artists who blended elements of psychedelic rock, avant-garde composition, and electron ...

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

and

shoegaze Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with dream pop) is a subgenre of indie rock, indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion (music), distortion and effects, a ...

. He has directed music videos for DIIV and

Sky Ferreira Sky Tonia Ferreira (; born July 8, 1992) is an American singer-songwriter, model, and actress. As a teenager, Ferreira began uploading videos on Myspace of herself singing songs she had written, which led to her discovery by producers Bloodsh ...

. Outside of his work in the music industry, Smith has modeled for Saint Laurent on multiple occasions. DIIV's second studio album, ''

Is the Is Are ''Is the Is Are'' is the second studio album by American indie rock band DIIV, released on February 5, 2016 on Captured Tracks. Self-produced by vocalist and guitarist Zachary Cole Smith, the album was recorded at Strange Weather Recording Studio ...

'', was released on February 5, 2016. On October 4, 2019, DIIV's third album, '' Deceiver,'' was released on

Captured Tracks Captured Tracks is an American independent record label based in Brooklyn, New York. The label was founded in 2008 by Mike Sniper. About Current flagship artists include: Craft Spells, DIIV and Wild Nothing. Captured Tracks has reissued reco ...

. On May 24, 2024, DIIV released their fourth album, "Frog in Boiling Water", to critical acclaim.

Early life and education

Smith was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

on November 7, 1984. His father

Zack Smith Zachary Smith (born April 5, 1988) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played for the Ottawa Senators, who drafted him 79th overall in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, and the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL). ...

is a musician, songwriter, and founder of the band

Scandal A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way a ...

. His mother, Deborah E. MacIntyre, was a

fashion editor A fashion editor is a person that supervises the process of creating, developing and presenting content for the fashion department of a magazine, Web site, newspaper or television program. The work of a fashion editor can be quite varied and may h ...

for ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ' ...

'' magazine. Smith has played guitar since he was a small child. He started a short-lived band with future DIIV bandmate Andrew Bailey in high school. At the time, he considered music more of a hobby than a calling. Smith had disciplinary problems as a teenager and was often suspended during

middle school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes g ...

. As a freshman in high school, he and his friend threw rocks at truck windows in a

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

parking lot in the pursuit of cigarettes. Both boys were arrested, and Smith was expelled from school. He attended six different schools in five years, including St. Luke's School and

The Beekman School The Beekman School (originally The Tutoring School of New York) is a private high school in New York City. It was founded in 1925 by George Matthew. It primarily serves grades 9-12 . History Founded in 1925, and incorporated in 1927, The Tutorin ...

. Smith graduated from

Wooster School Wooster School is a private, co-educational, college-preparatory school (grades 5 through 12) in Danbury, Connecticut. It is a member of the Connecticut Association of Independent Schools. Overview The Wooster School motto is ''Ex Quoque Potesta ...

Danbury Danbury ( ) is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2020 was 86,518. It is the third-largest city in Western Connecticut, and the seventh-largest ...

, Connecticut. In 2004, he enrolled at

Hampshire College Hampshire College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was opened in 1970 as an experiment in alternative education, in association with four other colleges ...

to study music and film. He did not graduate.

Career

After leaving

, Smith worked construction and landscaping jobs in

Northampton Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...

. In New York City, he worked at Angelica Kitchen, an East Village vegan restaurant established in the 1970s. He became involved with New York's underground music scene through the artists and musicians that frequented the restaurant. In an interview with ''

The Fader ''The Fader'' is a magazine established in 1999 as an outlet for Cornerstone Agency, a marketing and public relations firm established by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen. The magazine covers music, style and culture. History and work It is owned by T ...

'', he said “It was just something I knew how to do.” He began playing guitar in Soft Black around 2009, and after meeting Dustin Payseur he played drums for

in several gigs. He left Beach Fossils to travel for a year and rejoined in 2010 as a guitar player for the band's tour. Smith also played guitar on tour with the indie band

Darwin Deez Darwin Deez is an American indie band from New York City signed to music label Lucky Number Music. The group's frontman, Darwin Deez (Darwin Merwan Smith), grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, attended Wesleyan University, and has been a ...

. Smith started focusing on writing music in 2010. In the summer of 2011, he booked a show for a new band he called Dive and asked Andrew Bailey, Devin Ruben Perez and Colby Hewitt to join. The group renamed themselves DIIV, were signed by

, and released several singles. DIIV released their debut album ''

'' in 2012. Smith co-directed the music video for "Doused", which was released in September 2012. Smith directed the music video for

's song "Omanko", which was released in December 2014. In May 2015, Smith was featured in an episode of

Noisey ''Vice'' (stylized in all caps) is a Canadian-American magazine focused on lifestyle, arts, culture, and news/politics. It was founded in 1994 in Montreal as an alternative punk magazine, and its founders later launched the youth media company ...

's "Under the Influence" series detailing the influence of

on contemporary music. DIIV released their second studio album, ''

'', on February 5, 2016. DIIV's third album, '' Deceiver'', was released October 4, 2019.

Modeling

Smith was signed by Re:Quest Model Management in the summer of 2013, and along with

Cara Delevingne Cara Jocelyn Delevingne ( ; born 12 August 1992) is an English model and actress. She signed with Storm Management after leaving school in 2009. Delevingne won Model of the Year at the British Fashion Awards in 2012 and 2014, and List of award ...

, was photographed by

Hedi Slimane Hedi Slimane (; born July 5, 1968) is a French photographer and couturier. From 2000 to 2007, he was the creative director for Dior Homme (the menswear line of Christian Dior). From 2012 to 2016, he was the creative director for Yves Saint La ...

for Saint Laurent's Fall 2013 campaign. In June, he walked in Saint Laurent's spring 2014 menswear fashion show during

Paris Fashion Week Paris Fashion Week (, commonly ) is a series of designer presentations held semi-annually in Paris, France, with spring/summer and autumn/winter events held each year. Dates are determined by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode. Pa ...

. Smith walked in Saint Laurent's Spring 2016 menswear runway show in June 2015.

Musical style and influences

Smith's work with DIIV has been described as

and

. Smith's favorite albums include Arthur Russell's ''Love Is Overtaking Me'' (2008),

Red Krayola Red Krayola (originally Red Crayola) is an American avant rock band from Houston, Texas formed in 1966 by the trio of singer/guitarist Mayo Thompson, drummer Frederick Barthelme, and bassist Steve Cunningham. The group were part of the 1960s ...

's ''

The Parable of Arable Land ''The Parable of Arable Land'' is the first studio album by the Red Crayola (later known as Red Krayola). The album was considered psychedelic music when it was introduced, but later assessments describe it as a forerunner to avant/noise rock. ...

'' (1967) and

Faust Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...

's ''

The Faust Tapes ''The Faust Tapes'' is the third album by the German krautrock group Faust, released in 1973. The album sold well in the United Kingdom (60,000 copies) because of a marketing gimmick by Virgin Records that saw it go on sale for the price of a si ...

'' (1973). The songs on ''Oshin'' were influenced by German psychedelic bands such as

Kluster Kluster was a Berlin-based German Experimental music, experimental musical group formed in 1969 by Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Conrad Schnitzler, and Dieter Moebius. Their improvisational work presaged later industrial music. The original Kluster w ...

La Düsseldorf La Düsseldorf was a German band formed by the former member of Neu!, multi-instrumentalist Klaus Dinger, his brother Thomas Dinger, and Hans Lampe. La Düsseldorf released a string of successful albums (with sales totaling over a million) durin ...

Neu! Neu! (; German for "New!"; styled in block capitals) were a West German krautrock band formed in Düsseldorf in 1971 by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother following their departure from Kraftwerk. The group's albums were produced by Conny Plank, w ...

and Can. Additionally, Smith cited

Nirvana Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...

and

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

as sources of inspiration. According to Smith, ''Is the Is Are'' was influenced by

Elliott Smith Steven Paul Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003), known as Elliott Smith, was an American musician and singer-songwriter. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived much of his life in Portland, Oregon, whe ...

and

Royal Trux Royal Trux was an American alternative rock band active from 1987 to 2001, and again from 2015 to 2019 consisting of Neil Hagerty (vocals, guitar) and Jennifer Herrema (vocals). History While still a teenager, Hagerty joined Washington D.C. g ...

Personal life

Smith was in a relationship with singer and model

. On September 13, 2013, the night before DIIV was scheduled to perform at the music festival Basilica Soundscape in

Hudson, New York Hudson is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in and the county seat of Columbia County, New York, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, it had a population of 5,894. On the east side of the Hudson River, f ...

, Smith’s unregistered Ford pickup truck was pulled over in the nearby town of Saugerties and police found "42 decks" of heroin on him as well as ecstasy on Ferreira. Smith was charged with "two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance, one count of possession of stolen property and one count of aggravated unlicensed driving, all

misdemeanors A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than admi ...

". Additionally, he was charged with "violations of unregistered motor vehicle, driving without insurance, unlicensed driver, and having an inadequate exhaust system". He was ordered to go to

rehab Rehabilitation or Rehab may refer to: Health * Rehabilitation (neuropsychology), therapy to regain or improve neurocognitive function that has been lost or diminished * Rehabilitation hospital, hospitals devoted to the rehabilitation of patients w ...

for 11 days in January 2014. Smith is a

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a ve ...

. He lived in Catskill, New York before returning to New York City in 2015. On February 3, 2017, Smith announced he was checking in for "long-haul" inpatient treatment. On February 9, 2020, Smith married his girlfriend Dani Nelson. The ceremony was held at the

Bob Baker Marionette Theater The Bob Baker Marionette Theater, founded by Bob Baker and Alton Wood in 1963, is the oldest children's theater company in Los Angeles. In June 2009, the theater was designated as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument. In early 2019, the thea ...

in Highland Park, CA. The ceremony was attended by their families and close friends, including members of DIIV, Beach Fossils,

Deafheaven Deafheaven is an American black metal band formed in 2010. Originally based in San Francisco, the group began as a two-piece with singer George Clarke and guitarist Kerry McCoy (musician), Kerry McCoy, who recorded and self-released Demo (Deafh ...

Mac Demarco McBriare Samuel Lanyon DeMarco (born Vernor Winfield McBriare Smith IV; April 21, 1990) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer. He has released five full-length studio albums: his debut '' 2'' (2012), '' Salad Days' ...

, and Launder. Andrew Bailey, current guitarist for DIIV and whom Smith has been best friends with since they were 13, served as Smith's best man.

Bands

* Soft Black (guitarist 2009) *

(drummer 2010, guitarist 2011–2012) *

(guitarist 2010) *

(guitarist, vocals 2011–present) * Launder (live guitarist 2019)

Discography

with DIIV * ''

'' (2012) * ''

'' (2016) * '' Deceiver'' (2019) * ''

Frog in Boiling Water ''Frog in Boiling Water'' is the fourth studio album by American indie rock band DIIV, released on May 24, 2024, through Fantasy Records. It was produced by Chris Coady and preceded by the release of five singles: lead single "Brown Paper Bag", " ...

'' (2024) with Launder * ''Pink Cloud'' EP (2018) * ''Powder/Chew'' single (2019)

References

External links

Zachary Cole Smith
at Models.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Zachary Cole 1984 births Male models from New York (state) American music video directors American rock guitarists American male guitarists American alternative rock guitarists American rock singers Hampshire College alumni American lead guitarists Living people Singers from Connecticut American post-punk musicians American shoegaze musicians Guitarists from Connecticut Guitarists from New York City 21st-century American singers 21st-century American guitarists 21st-century American male singers