It’s been just over two years since Harrison Patrick Smith’s project The Dare dropped “Girls” rolling west like a Lower East Side tremor—and one year since Smith told GQ that the line between his life and the debauched excess of his persona’s was thinning by the night. On Friday, September 6, 28-year-old Smith releases his project’s long-awaited debut LP, What’s Wrong with New York, capping two years of acceleration and a summer of success, including producing the Charli XCX track “Guess” from the deluxe edition of Brat.
Stardom came quick for a former substitute teacher, but Smith isn’t taking the time to pause before he embarks on a 15-city tour across the U.S. and Canada via Sprinter van, which he’s already dubbed the Dare-mobile. And so, before the sliding door closes, he spoke to GQ again about the last year and what he’s putting in the tank to keep the energy flowing.
For Real-Life Diet, GQ talks to athletes, celebrities, and other high performers about their diet, exercise routines, and pursuit of wellness. Keep in mind that what works for them might not necessarily be healthy for you.
GQ: So the record’s coming out Friday—How are you feeling?
Harrison Patrick Smith: Feeling pretty good, pretty excited. Just happy to have these songs I spent so much time on be out in the world.
Last time you spoke to GQ, you said that the difference between your personal life and the Dare is becoming more and more hazy. How’s the barrier now?
I’m not sure. The stuff I do is more Dare-like. It’s traveling to London to DJ. So in a tangible way, it is really hazy. But I’ve never been more sure where my values are.
Another first since we last spoke: Then a fan of Charli XCX, you’ve produced a track on her record of the summer. That’s a short road.
I had already met her, and we had already talked about making music. But I had never expected that it would go this far, this quickly, and turn into this whole thing. It just happened in the last couple of months. It feels feels like I just plunged down the roller coaster that I had been ascending for a while. So it’s a bit intense, but I’m just happy with how the song came out.
Let’s talk about the moment before the plunge. Your debut record’s release is approaching. This is the pause. What does that feel like, and how are you preparing for it?
I’m trying to stay off the internet, trying to go for walks. I don’t even have that much time to do mental preparation, because I’m doing so much other stuff all the time. I’m working on other music, and I’m preparing for this tour that’s starting the same day as the record release. There’s just so many tasks to complete.
Some artists talk about physically preparing for a tour — the rigors of being on the road, of being on stage every night. You’ve been active in New York, but is there any wellness prep that you’ve included as you get ready to head out?
Wellness prep? No. I walk a lot. That’s pretty much it. I walk ten to twenty thousand steps a day usually. But I do that all the time, so it’s not in preparation for tour. I haven’t done anything in particular for it. Well, I’m going to get my suits dry-cleaned. [Laughs.]
Where are you walking?
Well, I go uptown once a week for meetings. Last night I was up in the 50s for a recording session, and I was, like, I’ll just walk home. I’m not going to reveal my location [laughs], but I walked, like, 50 blocks. It will just be like that: Up and down Manhattan, vertically. Or I’ll stroll around doing errands, and at night between bars.
There’s certain paths I’ll take. I like walking on Third [Street] across Manhattan. I’ll walk to the the West Side and back. And sometimes I’ll walk the bridge. When I lived in Brooklyn, I would walk the Williamsburg Bridge all the time.
When you walk, are you looking to get away from your work, or do you find that it helps you be more creative?
I think it helps me be more creative. I’m just a very kinetic person—when I’m on the phone, I pace around my apartment incessantly. When I walk, it makes me feel more level-headed. There’s more clarity. And if I’m not listening to music while I’m walking, a lot of times I’ll have really good ideas for songs. Some of the songs on this album, I distinctly remember walking home and coming up with the chorus to one of the songs, and then running home the last half-mile to write it down.
Most people who follow your music would assume you’re not much of a morning person. True?
That’s accurate. [Laughs.] I get up pretty late.
What time do you get up?
God, it depends. This week up I got up at 4 p.m. two days in a row. Usually, if it’s a normal night, it’s 11 or noon.
How do you start your day?
I can’t really eat and then work—I’m just too sluggish. So I’ll just have coffee and maybe a pastry, like a chocolate croissant. Some sugar. [Laughs.] I love restaurants, and I will enjoy a large breakfast, but those are only on special occasions—a weekend. But I’m also waking up late. So I look at the clock, and I’m, like, it’s not that long until dinner anyway, so I’ll just wait.
With the difference between the Dare and yourself growing closer, how do you recover from your previous night?
When you’re going out all the time, you lose interest in drinking a lot all the time. I feel like it’s untenable. But I don’t have any hard and fast rules. It just depends on what’s going on the next day, and whether i think it’s a fun night out. If it’s not fun, drinking is not going to make it fun. Usually.
There are so many non-alcoholic options. Ever experiment with any of those?
I’ll just have a soda water with bitters if I’m not drinking alcohol. Or I’ll just have a Coca Cola. [Laughs.] It’s not that healthy, but, you know.
What restaurants are you excited about right now?
I love Superiority Burger in the East Village. It’s a vegetarian burger restaurant that’s been around for a while—it closed during COVID, and then just reopened. What else do I love? I love Le French Diner, which is on Orchard Street. It’s really tiny, and it’s the best French restaurant in New York—sorry to Keith McNally—but I also love all his restaurants. My friend Shy [of Shy’s Burgers and Frys) makes burgers. He does pop-ups that are really great. And he’s been doing it for as long as the Dare has existed. He’s doing something at Mimi, which I also love. That’s in the West Village. And I like the Waverly Inn, also. I had the best martini of my life there a week ago. Straight up, it was the best I’ve ever had.
What was so good about it?
It might have been the perfect synthesis of ingredients. And I feel like some people overcompensate by making it extremely cold. I don’t think it needs to be extremely cold to be an amazing martini. This one was like drinking air. It was pretty wild.
As you approach the tour and life on the road, what’s going to change, and what do you want to remain the same?
In general, I’m looking forward to having more of a set goal each day. “Get to venue, play show.” I’m not that excited for my diet to change while on tour. I feel like on tour, I just eat like shit. Maybe it will be different this time around, but usually I feel like I’m drinking a lot of Gatorade. It’s not as hot, though. It’s cooler in September. And I’m looking forward to seeing a bunch of America. I haven’t been on tour in a van in a while.
A van?
Well, I don’t know if it’s top secret. We’re taking the Dare-mobile. We’re doing a Sprinter.
When you look through your tour dates, have you thought about where you want to eat?
Outside of New York and L.A., my knowledge is pretty limited. I’m definitely going to have to rely on my friends in Chicago.
Chicago’s such a great food town!
I know! I have one friend there whom I might be able to lean on for advice. But it also depends on timing, because a lot of these dates, you get to the city, play the show, and, if you’re lucky, you find a place that isn’t horrible between soundcheck and the show. There’s very few days off on this tour, so I hope that I’ll be able to have a couple of nice meals. But we’ll see.
Where do you want to have your final meal in the city before you leave?
That’s a good question. My first show is in New York, at Webster Hall, so I’ll probably have to eat somewhere around here. I’ve never actually been to Elephant & Castle. I’ve been to a bunch of parties there, and my friend runs it. And it’s right around the block from Webster. I’d like to try the food there. It seems interesting. It’s got incredible interior design.
