Brooke Smith Looks Back at the 'Authentic' Punk Scene as She Releases 'Sunday Matinee'

Brooke Smith then and now

Before she was Dr. Erica Hahn on Grey's Anatomy, before putting the lotion in the basket in Silence of the Lambs, Brooke Smith was a regular fixture in the 1980s New York hardcore punk music scene.

In the 1980s there was a downtown music revolution happening in New York City, spearheaded by groups like Bad Brains, Cro-Mags, Agnostic Front, Murphy's Law and so many others. Kids that didn't fit in, kids that had something to say, kids that were just… bored flocked to New York's Lower East Side to blow off all the steam they could while a new sound of music jackhammered through clubs like CBGBs.

Brooke Smith, raised in the suburbs of New York, grabbed her camera and dove right in. Sunday Matinee is a collection of Brooke's incredibly intimate photos documenting a time before digital cameras and cell photos could capture every single moment.

PEOPLE caught up with Brooke to talk about how she found her way to the punk scene and how that path influenced her life and acting career today.

Brooke Smith's Sunday Matinee

PEOPLE: So how did you get involved in the punk scene in NYC?

Brooke Smith: Well I grew up in the suburbs of New York, up in Rockland County, and I just was drawn there. I used to go into the city and I just kept walking further and further east downtown because it just seemed like that's where things were going on. And then I met someone who sold weed to everybody on the scene. So that was good because that's how I met a lot of people.

[At the time,] I was very overweight, not a very happy person, and I wanted to be right in the center of the action but I wasn't ready to be a performer yet because of those things. So what better way than to have a camera? Then you could just kind of hide behind it, but still be right there.

Brooke Smith in the '80s

And so as you were living in this scene, how did you decide, I'm going to go from being a punker kid to being an actor? When did that change happen?

My mom was in the business as a publicist, so I was always around it. I'm sure therapists would say that because my mom was always off with actors, gee, I wonder what I'll become. But I was always acting. I put the acting on hold when I got really into the scene from ages 15 to 19.

I barely made it out of high school, didn't go to college except for one year of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. And then after that, I just started really focusing on acting. I went to the Actors Studio and then Silence of the Lambs happened.

Everett Brooke Smith in Silence of the Lambs

So now as you're well into your career, do you think back on these times as you're meeting new people and you're like, "Yeah, I used to hang out at CBGBs and take photos." How do you explain that experience to people?

The thing about it that I still love, that I think is just a huge part of me, is just how authentic everything was. How everybody was doing it for themselves — not to get rich, not to get famous, just absolutely doing their own art for themselves.

Brooke Smith

And honestly, I don't know when we saw that last in American culture. So even now at 55, I still remind myself, "You know what? I can write my own s---. I can make my own s---. I don't have to be unhappily working in other people's stuff."

Everett Brooke Smith (l) on Grey's Anatomy with Kate Walsh (r)

Do you have any crazy or memorable stories that stick out?

So there was an article that was written in New York magazine titled "Hard-core Kids." And then they invited us all on the show and Phil Donahue said, "I really want to tell your story— let's hear it." And then five, four, three, two, one. It was like, "What would you do if your kids came home looking like this?" It was totally... just the soap opera of it all.

Brooke Smith

I had just had a falling out with John and Harley [of Cro-Mags] and so I was with Alexa. All these people are in the book, but I was with all my girls and on commercial breaks, they were kind of tormenting, especially Alexa — John and Harley by calling them Hare Krishnas. And it just kept building and building and I was like, "Oh God." And then at the end, next thing I know, she went up there and was having a fistfight with Harley, for God's sake.

Yeah — so that was memorable. We're all friends now! But yeah, I don't know, I guess when you're young, you just feel like you're never going to die, right? You're just totally alive and reckless.

Bad Brains

What are you listening to now? I mean, you saw this amazing music in its most pure and original form. Do you ever go back to listening to a good Bad Brains record?

Oh yeah. The Bad Brains never stopped for me. I still listen to Bad Brains, Agnostic Front. I was a huge Nick Cave fan for years, followed him around. But I listen to all kinds of stuff now. I'm thinking of Kendrick Lamar — I went and saw him and I thought, "This is pretty punk rock."

Brooke Smith Agnostic Front

Sunday Matinee is out now and available at www.sundaymatineebook.com.