Does anyone remember Swell?

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Clearly the band themselves do, thus, though the page doesn't appear to have been updated since the tours a year ago. A band of moments for me but of damned good moments, having just been reminded how sorrowfully epic but straightforward "Down" off ...Well? is.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 03:51 (8 years ago) Permalink

I remember them, sure. I wouldn't be surprised if many people did here. Their first album was phenomenal. Really stood out compared to most other U.S. indie stuff at the time. They had a knack for being serious but not too serious, funny at times but still capable of somber moments of stunning beauty. I don't know if I heard Well? or not. I didn't catch up with them again until 1998's For All The Beautiful People. I guess it's fair to say they didn't sustain my interest over time, but jeez, it's hard to say anything bad about them.

― Bimble... (Bimble...), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 04:12 (8 years ago) Permalink

oh i liked that song

― Poundstretcher (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 04:34 (8 years ago) Permalink

anyway, kyle remembers them and knows some things about this. maybe he'll see the thread

― Poundstretcher (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 04:35 (8 years ago) Permalink

i think the problem with swell is they've become this kind of band , which is a shame.

i never did get round to digging it out.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 06:06 (8 years ago) Permalink

I only bought "Too many days without thinking" which I rrreally liked and played tons. But then I just... forgot about'em. :-(

― nathalie doing a soft foot shuffle (stevie nixed), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 06:12 (8 years ago) Permalink

...saw them open for madder rose. they touring their *41* album. still really enjoy that album.

― william (william), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 06:14 (8 years ago) Permalink

william otm, 41 is such a great album. The way the guitars are intwined, playing 'against each other', the beautifully subdued vocals. I also like the idea of the record being a cycle, starting and ending with a janitor (?) and his bunch of keys...

― willem (willem), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 06:45 (8 years ago) Permalink

I posted about them and in paticular their fantastic ' Too many Days Without Thinking' in my ''Lost Albums Uncovered in The Dark Recesses of Your Collection'' thread from about a month ago.

I was mainly/ totally ignored. Maybe I should change my name or learn to write like a proper critic or something?

― Jessie the Drunk Dutch Mountain Dog (Jessie the Drunk Dutch Mountai), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 12:11 (8 years ago) Permalink

not at all, jessie: look at my link above :)

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 12:22 (8 years ago) Permalink

paul, sorry.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 12:22 (8 years ago) Permalink

I listened to Everybody Wants To Know some two weeks ago, and it was fine. Never got to buy Too Many Days... but I remember enjoying it when I heard it the first time.

― JP Almeida (JP Almeida), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 13:00 (8 years ago) Permalink

First posting here.... Yeah, 41 was their peak for sure, although all of the albums are pretty good. We had a little cluster of kids out in the woods in east Texas that was crazy about Swell. A couple of friends took a road trip to San Francisco and met up with Monty and David Freel and visited the studio and heard some of the rough tracks for "Too Many Days Without Thinking." Some of us saw them when they played in Houston later, and David got the serious hots for a friend of mine. They wrote letters, his were almost embarrassingly intimate. This girl had a boyfriend, but kept stringing David along because of the excitement of having a rock (semi) star in love with her. Eventually she confessed that nothing could happen, although he had "lit a spark of interest." David replied that he didn't want a spark, that his goal had been to "burn the fucking house down." Did they open up for Mazzy Star or was that vice/versa? For awhile the band turned into David solo, but I think the original members were together for the last album.

― Joseph B. Cowart (flamingrev), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:31 (8 years ago) Permalink

I saw them last year, it was great. Monty isn't in the band anymore and hasn't been for a while; this was a detriment on "everybody wants to know" but "whenever you're ready" is excellent and up there with their best (which are 41 and Too Many Days, IMO). It's possible they didn't gain more fans because their album and song titles are so generic (I had to look up the names of the last two just now). Also, being extremeley non-prolific and never ever touring probably doesn't help. I'm always surprised when there's a new Swell release but I'm also always glad there is.

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 16:07 (8 years ago) Permalink

one of the few bands i have all albums of. 41 was their peak but the first two albums were great as well. david's guitar sound is something very special. melding melody and noise in the perfect way. i can hear both the san francisco fog and the californian summer sun in there. psychedelic atmospheric stuff. they were pretty good on their last tour. especially when playng the old songs. after the gig david who wasn't 100% sober, i guess, fell into the box with the t-shirts and i had to pull him out. he is not a lightweight, i can tell you.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 16:30 (8 years ago) Permalink

david has had some substance abuse problems, or so I've been told, which is probably one of reasons why the releases are sporadic.

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 16:33 (8 years ago) Permalink

Hey, sorry I missed your link Grimly Simon. Very remiss of me.

I saw Swell at The Duchess of York in Leeds (RIP)around the time of 'Too Many Days....'
The singer (is that our man 'David'?) appeared to be a bit, erm,stoned and grinned like a dufus throughout the set. This kind of detracted from that beautiful mesh of sound.

I'm not a drummer but have great admiration for Swell rhythms and sounds (obviously the latter could be down to the recording process)

― Jessie the Drunk Dutch Mountain Dog (Jessie the Drunk Dutch Mountai), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 19:46 (8 years ago) Permalink

My former Brooklynite love saw them play and she said they were horrible. They kept stopping in the middle of their songs because they'd fuck them up and if I remember right she claimed that they acted very elitist toward the audience, but seeing that the show was at Sarah Lawrence College I can't really blame them.

― What we want? Sex with T.V. stars! What you want? Ian Riese-Moraine! (Eastern Ma, Wednesday, 30 March 2005 19:50 (8 years ago) Permalink

11 months pass...

you can't talk about "swell" without mentioning their masterpiece e.p:
"room to think".
released right before "41", it contains the masters:
"at long last" - with those screaming guitars,"give" (better version than "41"'s) - it's like "red house painters" are playing "mogwai" or something..

― sue me if you named sue, Wednesday, 1 March 2006 10:44 (7 years ago) Permalink

"41" and "Too Many Days..." still get slapped on at least once a year - good stuff

― christoff (christoff), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 20:20 (7 years ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

My favourite band ! No news for a long time now :(
Does anybody knows what happened to the band :'( ?

― Pierre, Tuesday, 9 May 2006 13:47 (7 years ago) Permalink

Your "former brooklynite love" was right. The Sarah Lawrence College show was fuckin' horrible... But, I just got to say that we were not elitist towards the audience. If anything we felt bad that they had to put up with us because we sucked that night. anyway, most everyone was there to see the Wrens and they made up for our piss poor show.

― one of them, Tuesday, 16 May 2006 01:58 (7 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

I still listen to these guys occasionally but haven't picked up anything new in years. Can anybody comment on Bastards and Rarities or on either of their two last proper releases?

― christoff, Thursday, 15 November 2007 16:27 (5 years ago) Permalink

'whenever you're ready' is pretty good, def. better than the previous three releases (feed, everyone wants to know, and beautiful people). it sounded a bit radar brothers-y. no idea what they're up to at the moment; i fully expect this band to vanish completely and then david puts out something new every few years.

― akm, Thursday, 15 November 2007 18:20 (5 years ago) Permalink

2 weeks pass...

Ex drummer and Swell cover designer Sean Kirkpatrick is trying to pay for shoulder surgery:

― StanM, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 22:02 (5 years ago) Permalink

7 months pass...

Is this the only thread for Swell?
Cheeesus Grist

― Fer Ark, Sunday, 20 July 2008 22:59 (4 years ago) Permalink

Do they remain as stoners in their industrial/high tech practice place?

Fuck Even Flow

― Fer Ark, Sunday, 20 July 2008 23:01 (4 years ago) Permalink

3 months pass...

i saw them recently in paris in the maroquinerie and in weinheim. david plus two young guys. the drummer was hitting his kit hard and made a lot of shattering noise. the other one occasionally plucked his bass but mainly played around with the computer and created a kind of ethereal atmosphere. not really my cup of tea. swell has a new album out called south of the rain and snow which has some nice tunes. there will be another one soon. it will be titled be my weapon. actually radar bros. opened for them in weinheim, cf. upthread where akm compared the whenever you're ready to radar bros.

― alex in mainhattan, Thursday, 13 November 2008 15:49 (4 years ago) Permalink

7 months pass...

Oh man Swell. Just found a bunch of their albums for one dollar each! ...Well?, 41, and the S/T debut.

Too Many Days Without Thinking was their best though. One of my 90s favs.

― Evan, Friday, 3 July 2009 23:17 (3 years ago) Permalink

3 months pass...

i just ordered the "be my weapon" cd via the swellsongs site. the songs on the myspace page sound pretty good. a return to form?

― alex in mainhattan, Sunday, 11 October 2009 17:18 (3 years ago) Permalink

6 months pass...

Two tracks in on the myspace page - classic Freel. Thanks for the heads up, alex!

― suspecterrain, Thursday, 22 April 2010 18:29 (3 years ago) Permalink

be my weapon is pretty good actually. it is quite amazing that after all the years he has still got such great music in him. the sound hasn't really changed but he is not repeating himself by no means. what a stupid name though.

― alex in mainhattan, Thursday, 22 April 2010 20:31 (3 years ago) Permalink

Agreed. I can only find it for sale on his website - and no wax! Where'd you find your copy?

― suspecterrain, Saturday, 24 April 2010 02:21 (3 years ago) Permalink

i ordered it from his website and it got shipped to germany after some time.

― alex in mainhattan, Saturday, 24 April 2010 06:28 (3 years ago) Permalink

Uh, suspecterrain, I can't reply to your message without an email address.

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 24 April 2010 21:35 (3 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

swell

― Crackle Box, Thursday, 12 January 2012 14:19 (1 year ago) Permalink

I like how a band member posted upthread and none of us said anything!

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 12 January 2012 14:29 (1 year ago) Permalink

8 months pass...

I remember them!

http://devonrecordclub.wordpress.com/2012/09/22/swell-well-round-35m-toms-selection/

Great band and criminally overlooked.

― yugi ex, Saturday, 22 September 2012 18:14 (7 months ago) Permalink

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