When the senior lightweight men's quad is training on the water, there's a distinct rhythm.
The eight oars snap all together, providing a steady tempo. Water sloshes past outside the gunwales, adding some depth. All four of them work hard and breathe harder. Calls from the bow give meaning. On a cool, quiet morning, the tune of rowing is the only thing to be heard.
It's music on the water.
For David Smith, a member of that boat, the music doesn't stop on the docks.
Dubbed "the world's fittest band," The Blades is an aptly named band composed entirely of rowers.
"I used to belong to Riverside Boat Club for three years," said Smith, whose role within The Blades is lead vocals and keyboard, "so during the period that I was in Boston, we were always like 'hey, you sing right? This guy plays drums, this guy plays bass, we should all form a band.' And it was always like 'yeah, we'll do that. Tomorrow.' Then last summer, it actually happened."
Not knowing quite what to expect, The Blades made their debut performance at Riverside's end-of-summer cocktail party soon after.
"The expectations on our side were really low for how we would actually sound, but we got together, and it sounded really good. Not world class, but decent jams."
That was all it took for the band to gain a following. There are several musically gifted rowers at their disposal, from Andrew Neils, the staple drummer, to Valerie Brinker, their female vocalist.
"It's rock and roll, primarily," Smith said, "and we've actually done some pop, too. We don't have any original songs yet, but it's something we've talked about."
In fact, the Blades have proved to be quite versatile, playing covers of songs from a broad spectrum of artists including the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Katy Perry, and Tom Petty.
They've even been known to bust out an LL Cool J song from time to time for their audiences at Riverside's boathouse, where they play exclusively for now. After moving aside the weightlifting equipment, standing up the ergs and running some cords and cables, it becomes the perfect venue.
"It's fun to do it at the boathouse because usually you have memories of erging in the winter, and this was kind of a different association," Smith said.
Smith, fittingly enough, hails from Seattle, a city that's often credited for helping revolutionize rock and roll and alternative rock in the late 80's and early 90's. After rowing for The Lakeside School in Seattle, he chose Dartmouth, where he not only rowed lightweight, but also joined up with the Dartmouth Aires, an all-male a capella group with historic roots.
Afterwards, Smith trained out of Riverside while attaining his master's degree in landscape architecture from Harvard in 2011, and has since been back home.
Now, back on the east coast, Smith has resumed training in Philadelphia for the 2012 World Rowing Senior Championships with quad teammates Sam Cunningham, Bob Duff, and Shane Madden. The races in Plovdiv, Bulgaria are another stepping stone on Smith's path to big things.
"It's been my goal since I graduated from Dartmouth in 2008 to make the Olympic team. That's my dream, and everything that I've done in between now and then has been to try to further that goal."
Smith plans to be back from Bulgaria in time to perform at The Blades' next scheduled show on August 25th at Riverside.
"It's really gone beyond the novelty of just a band full of rowers," Smith said. "It feels like a real band. People are invested in the music and the song choices and how it sounds. We want to put on a really good show."
Perhaps he can help his boat put on a really good show, too. That would be music to everyone's ears.