Rick Elliot & the Secondhand Smoke Band is dedicated to preserving and creating outlaw country and southern rock. Early on, they signed Tom Voris as their manager, having been part of his El Camino High School music program.

They released their album First Hand in 2014, on Voris' Fun1One Records label. “We thought we might get our music seized,” says Elliot. “Lambesis Studios was the studio co-owned by Daniel [Castleman] and the now-infamous Tim Lambesis of As I Lay Dying. Our manager Tom Voris toured with them with his band the Fabulous Rudies during the 2007 Vans Warped Tour, so he got us in their studio.” This seemed like a terrific break, until Lambesis was arrested in May 2013 for soliciting someone he believed to be a hitman to kill his estranged wife.

“When Tim got arrested, we thought we were going to lose our hard drive with all of our recorded music, but luckily Tim signed over his ownership of the studio to Dan, so nothing was seized. Dan is the sole owner now of the studio.”

In summer 2014, they recorded songs in L.A. with Oingo Boingo bassist John Avila.