As I mentioned previously, I have a few interviews that unfortunately never saw the light of day. The second chapter from The Trilogy of Year Old Interviews (name pending…) comes from Michigan pop punkers The Swellers:
So, who am I talking to and what do you play?
-Nick, and I sing and play guitar.
I think what you’re doing is quite unique at the moment. You take 90’s EpiFat skate punk and give it a bit of a modern twist. Is that the kind of direction you were after?
-We grew up on music from the 90’s basically, whether it be bands like NOFX, Millencolin, and Bouncing Souls, or The Wallflowers, Foo Fighters, and Weezer. We’re still kind of stuck in that “skate punk” rut, but our next album is going to round us out a little bit better. We’re just a pop/rock band with punk roots, honestly.
You seem to a have played shows with a strikingly wide variety of bands – from Mustard Plug to A Wilhelm Scream. Who have been your favourite bands to play with? Any tour stories you fancy sharing?
-I’m really proud of the fact that we can play with such a variety of bands. This year we’ve toured with A Wilhelm Scream and Less Than Jake, and soon to tour with Streetlight Manifesto and then Polar Bear Club. Wilhelm is definitely our favourite band to tour with just because we’re so close. When we tour together, we always follow each other on the highway, stay at the same places together every night, and have a great time. There are too many tour stories to remember, but there is some cool stuff in our Tour Videos on YouTube and MySpace, haha.
On the subject of touring, you have yet to grace the UK with your presence, can we expect you here any time soon?
-Coming to the UK and the rest of Europe is pretty expensive, so we want to make sure that when we DO come, it’s with a band that is experienced over there and does well. We’re still waiting on word if we’re coming over there this winter.. so we’re hoping! If not, we’ll just book our own UK/Euro tour and say “fuck it”. I just want to play out there!
Are there any upcoming bands on the US scene that you think deserve a mention?
-Definitely. A band called 2*Sweet is blowing me away right now. Really weird pop/punk mixed with like, Danzig and HIM influenced. Their name is really misleading, but the band rules. Also, Fireworks, our buddies from Detroit, just signed to Triple Crown Records, so I think they’re gonna blow up soon.
How much do you know about the UK ‘punk’ scene? Are there any bands you’ve heard recently that you’ve been impressed with?
-I haven’t heard much from the UK lately as far as underground music goes, but All Or Nothing and a band called Fastlane (don’t even know if they’re around anymore, we played with them in Japan) are pretty rad.
A lot of the lyrical content on your album ‘My Everest’ is quite dark – dealing with failed relationships and suicide. Do you find that putting these emotions to paper helps to deal with these issues? Or does it make singing these songs a bit of an emotional struggle?
-The lyrics are quite dark, for sure, but nothing about suicide yet (wait for the next record!). The darkest songs on “My Everest” are about a horrible car crash.. a friend’s accidental overdose and the following funeral.. Our home base of Flint, MI pretty much becoming a ghost town.. and there are a lot of biblical references that are pretty blasphemous. We aren’t a satanic band, but it’s fun to throw in creepy little things I learned when I was a catholic growing up. I never thought we’d perform “Skoots” or “Keep Looking” live, because they hit so close to home, but it actually makes performing them a lot more intense.
You were rumoured to be joining Nitro Records a while back; what happened with that? Would Nitro be a label you’d be interested to join?
-We were going to sign to Nitro, for sure. Had the contract in our hands.. Wilhelm, Much The Same, No Trigger, and Hit The Switch were all stoked we were gonna be part of the family.. but then Nitro told us they were out of money and can’t sign anymore bands. So we’re LUCKY we didn’t sign. Nitro hasn’t signed any bands since, and probably won’t. They put out that last Wilhelm record, and I think they’re done.
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