biography

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Sans Avarice is a creative force that is wielded by several people. We’ve all been collaborating together over the years to get where we are now. The people that have been involved are Brandon Smith, Bob Reiter, Nick Spohn, Bobby Cardwell, and Derek Jamiel.

Our current line-up is:

Brandon: guitars, vocals, keys
Bob: guitars, vocals
Bobby: percussion

The name Sans Avarice is a lingual amalgamation. Sans is a middle English word taken from Old French and Latin. It is also currently used by the French for “without.” It is usually used in describing fonts and whether or not they have “feet.” So we have Sans and now, Avarice. Avarice is also derived from similar roots as “Sans” and means extreme greed. The back of the EP features work by 16th century Flemish painter Pieter Brugel the Elder which the band found to be particularly haunting and applicable.

The band's name is not just a name, but also our axiom.

Brandon Smith grew up in suburban Kansas City. Music has always been a part of his life. He took Suzuki violin lessons and discovered Michael Jackson, Huey Lewis, and The Doors through his parents at a very early age. He was fortunate enough to be given a guitar by friends of the family. “I found the guitar amongst a bunch of other stuff in their basement. I think I was down there trying to teach myself how to play pool or something and it caught my eye. I must have been about 12 or 13 years old and it felt so right to hold in my hands.”

Bob Reiter grew up in various Midwestern states including Wisconsin and Iowa, but settled in Missouri midway through his high school career. Brandon and Bob were friends back then, but didn’t start playing music together until their college days. “I took a huge financial risk when I bought my first guitar. I didn’t know how in the world I was going to pay for it, but it called to me so I took everything I had out of the bank along with my ’67 Silvertone and traded it in for the guitar that I still use today, an Epiphone Les Paul. The Silvertone was probably worth more than what I was buying, but it had a feeling of power to it and I don’t regret the decision at all.”

Bobby Cardwell grew up in Suburban St. Louis and was impacted by a variety of musical genres. After seeing a Rush concert and bearing witness to the awe-inspiring greatness of Neil Pert he was convinced then and there that he wanted to be a drummer.