Words: Linn Branson
Swoons are a young three-piece who have been tearing up the venues in their Buckinghamshire neck of the woods for the last year with their addictive blend of yearning vocals soaring above the gripping riffs and heartfelt melodies.
Taking a real DIY ethic and approach to everything they do as a band including getting in the back of the van, hitting the road and taking their songs to the people, So far completely booking shows themselves, they have racked up just over one hundred shows, with plenty more yet to come.
Prior to their headline show tonight (July 30) at London's Birthdays in Stoke Newington, we put a few quick ones to them.
Howdy, Swoons. Who of you do we have here for a few questions?
It's Luke here.
Greetings Luke. So, tell us who and what are Swoons.
We started as Swoons last year but we'd been in bands previous to that!
Ciaran and I used to play in his shed at the ages of 11 in a little two-piece called No Love, but nothing really came to fruition. After years at school I was asked to perform in an assembly, so I grabbed a drummer from a couple of years below me, asked Jamie if he knew how to play bass - he didn't, that didn't stop him - and we punted out a cover of The Black Keys' 'I Got Mine' to our entire school. After we got a taste of that it was only fitting that we started a band. We called ourselves Sonic Panther Alliance and began hitting up the local scene of Aylesbury. After a few months of this, we changed line up and got my life long friend and original drummer, Ciaran, involved.
So you went from Sonic Panthers to Swoons. Who came up with that, and why?
Swoons is the name of an old cat who used to live down our road and the neighbour's kid kicked a football at it and it ran into the road and got hit by a car. We named our band in the memory of that cat.
Nasty neighbour. Poor cat. Such a sad tail/tale - we're weeping here...
Introduce us to the rest of the band. Any little secrets that we all should know about any of them...?
Me, Luke Duffett - vocals and guitar. I have a third nipple. Jamie 'The Big Stink' Maurice - bass and backing vocals. He has a passion for extremely oversized shirts. Ciaran Forth - drums. He adores pork pies.
Third nipple? We see in your latest video for 'The Side' you are giving full exposure to your upper torso so a shall go and investigate that nipple more closely.
How did you make your first entrance once you three had got together. Was it the case of finding a rehearsal space and jamming, or...what?
We started jamming a week before our first headline show and had to get an 11 song set to perfection! The only rehearsal space we had was a disused storage room at my dad's offices after being kicked out of rehearsing in a church by complaining neighbours.
That nasty neighbour with the football by any chance? Like they say, you can choose your friends but you can't choose your neighbours.
You call yourselves 'a hot-blooded trio of young urchins'. Now there's a lot in that brief sentence that needs more saying about!
We're literally the scabbiest bunch of boys who just cram all our gear in my little Mitsubishi colt, turn up at venues hundreds of miles away from home and end up sleeping rough in our cars somewhere -
- Don't sell yourselves short, will you!
The 'hot-blooded' part comes from our live set which is brimming with energy - like someone'd shaken up a bottle of coke. It's hard to explain so you'll just have to come see us live to understand!
Fizzing all over by the sound of it.
You have your debut EP out shortly, 'Ugly Apartments'. Tell us something about what is on it, and also how you came up with the title.
The EP's set for release in late September. It's a collective tale of all the weird things and experiences we've gone through when travelling through cities late at night. Quite a seedy collection! The name comes from a bit of graffiti Ciaran saw in Camden before our first Barfly show.
In the video for 'The Side', this was filmed actually at a live gig? Is this representative of your normal audience - looks quite a raucous affair!
The video was shot in the basement of Ciaran's uni house in Portsmouth. We literally told our mates that we were throwing a house gig, then recorded it. Things got messy!
We could tell!
The basement used to be a bedroom for a disabled boy who was a previous occupant, so there was a bathroom fitted down there as well. Halfway through our set a friend hopped in the shower - then came out in just a towel! He crowd surfed and we saw a little more than we'd bargained for.
Oh, I say!
What/who is the main inspiration behind your musical style, if you have taken the lead from anyone?
We don't really tend to have any main inspirations. We listen to bands and think, 'oh, that sounds cool, we could incorporate that into our own sound somewhere', but the majority of it are just songs I write then take them to the boys! Bands we listen to that you can probably hear in our sound include Biffy Clyro, Feeder, The Killers, The Hives, The Vaccines, The Cribs, Kings of Leon, Palma Violets. In terms of instrumental influences.
Aside from yourselves, of course, who else do each of you rate musically?
I'm a massive fan of Peter Green and John Frusciante. Jamie loves Dizzee Rascal and Ciaran's are Jack Bevan, Taylor Hawkins and Ronnie Vannucci Jr. Bands we're loving at the moment are Wolf Alice, DMA's, The Strokes (after their BST appearance), Palace, The Districts, Palma Violets, Beach Baby.
Acting as your own PR, give us a short spin on Swoons, the band, the music...
Swoons are a hot-blooded trio of young urchins pumping out explosive song based indie rock anthems from the quiet villages of Buckinghamshire to all corners of the UK and beyond!
Anything you want to plug, do so here, go....
Come see us at Proud on August 13th, and at the Barfly on October 23rd!
Finally, give us your few words of wisdom. Say 'pass' if you have none.
[Silence]
We'll take that as a 'No comment' then!
Swoons new single 'The Side' is out now.
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