The Dear & Departed was an American rock band from Orange County and Los Angeles, California, founded by Dan Smith.

[2] There, his music career blossomed playing for countless bands in the New Zealand punk/hardcore scene and Smith was active in both show promotion and underground record labels.

Dan continues to return to New Zealand regularly and is a spokesperson for the country on the TLC hit TV show LA Ink.

Dan Smith's obligations filming the hit TLC TV show LA Ink in 2009 put touring on hold, but with a more concrete lineup the band was very active in writing new material with Cortney Miner being the main writer.

In 2010 the band toured with Alkaline Trio and Cursive around America and in the United Kingdom with AFI and Sick of It All before entering the studio in August/September 2010 to work on their new full-length album Every Waking Moment.