
There were not a lot of girls at Bowery Ballroom last night. It shouldn't have been that surprising to me. Swervedriver have always been a Dudes Band. But I hadn't been to such a dude-heavy show in a long time. And, as you often get with shows by veteran band, you could tell a lot of the dudes hadn't been to a show in a long time. I texted my friend Don before they started: "There are like 10 girls here. Five are bartenders, the rest are here against their will." I was excited to see Swervedriver's first [...]

Of all the bands from the original '90s shoegaze scene, Swervedriver were probably the best. Overall. They never made a bad album, never wasted a million dollars and 15 years testing out the sound of tube amps while not making music, and got out of the game before making an "back to basics" record of substandard Zepplin-esque blues rock. And their live shows smoked. Even while being kicked around by record labels (Creation in the UK; A&M in America) and the UK music press, Swervedriver remained cool. Having never quite got their [...]

There is plenty to see this weekend. So much, that I don't think I can cover it all. In addition to shows that I have mentioned elsewhere, here are the highlights: There are a few shows hitting two venues over the next few days. The biggest is the return of Swervedriver . On the road road with them is Longwave and Terra Diablo . 6/7: Philly @ TLA 6/8: DC @ 9:30 mp3: Swervedriver - Son Of Jaguar [...]

any who... hey, two great shows going on tonight here in atlanta. swervedriver are at the masquerade and oakley hall is playing at lenny's. wish i could go to both, so out of protest i am not going to either. swervedriver site sci flyer from raise wrong treats from 99th dream oakley hall site / m yspace no dreams from i'll follow you lazy [...]
For those of us that were less than enamored with the Sasquatch festival this year there is some consolation this week here in Seattle. I thought that the Sasquatch line up was less than imaginative, I know that it's a NW festival, but I just didn't have much motivation to make the drive over [...]

what is going on? hey man, brooklyn vegan's got an interview with swervedriver's adam franklin for your reading pleasure. adam and swervedriver are playing here in atlanta @ the masquerade on 6.5. i may be there... wanna win tickets to bonnaroo? why the hell wouldn't you? criminal records, along with a few other ones across the country, has a promotion that will enter your name in a drawing to win these coveted tix. i think all you have to do is buy one of the records here and your golden - that link has [...]
A great set of tunes for you this week. I'm in a great mood today mainly because York City FC have signed a decent goalkeeper to replace our dodgy one thus giving us a fighting chance next season. I normally feel quite disappointed when the football season comes to an end and the prospect of two months with nothing to moan about becomes reality but this year I'm delighted. Such has been York's season that I was praying for it's end back in January when it was all to clear that not [...]
Boy Blunder Brought Back: Day 9 Thank you Mike. Thank you for having a job on Wall Street with a corporate AMEX card. Thank you for being a lonely husband with a wife sitting at home while you're out on the town. Thank you for being susceptible to the charm of young women. And most of all, thank you for footing the $1,000+ bar bill we ran up this evening. Yes, you read that correctly. We somehow managed to run up a tab that totalled over one [...]

Swervedriver (United Kingdom) Swervedriver will be reuniting for their first show in 10 years at Coachella this weekend. The reunion has been picked up by a few of the faithful but it seems like LA Record hit the jackpot by posting an exclusive interview with vocalist/guitarist Adam Franklin. Head over to LARecord.com to check it out. [MP3] Swervedriver - Last Train To Satansville What do you think of the idea that Swervedriver didn't sell records [...]
Listen: [Download the MP3 Here] [Band Website] [Band Myspace] [Band Wiki] [Read my interview with drummer Jez] Live: Tour Dates: Apr 27 2008 8:00P Coachella Festival, Mojave Tent (Time TBD) Indio, California May 26 2008 8:00P Neumo's Seattle, Washington May 27 2008 8:00P Wonder Ballroom Portland, Oregon May 29 2008 8:00P The Fillmore San Francisco, California May 30 2008 8:00P

Apteka Genre: Rock / Psychedelic / Chinese pop From: Chicago, Illinois United States Soaring into the Devil's lair with guitars chiming like the hearts of a planeload of pilgrims are Apteka, a four piece from Chicago. Despite being unsigned they have already appeared on Volume 27 of the Future Sounds series curated [...]

I'm making an effort to trim down on regurgitating random news bits, but it's Swervedriver , and I like Swervedriver. This is one band that I felt like I had missed my opportunity to see live, ever! Sure, Adam Franklin toured last year, and even made a stop here in Austin not long ago, and I just couldn't bring myself to attend the show with the thought that it just wasn't going to be Swervedriver. Not the smartest move understandably, after reading reactions to the performance. That's in the past and the in the future lies Swervedriver dates, including [...]
Up to now there were only 5 dates for the Swervedriver reunion tour. Well, now there are six. The regrouped band bring their juggernaut into town at Neumo's on 26 May. I've seen Swervedriver a few times back in the day and they never failed to bring it. I'll be there [...]
UK shoegazers Swervedriver have scheduled 5 shows for their 2008 reunion (so far). In addition to the two NYC shows they'd previously announced, they'll be playing three more dates are as follows: 5/31 - Hollywood, CA/Henry Fonda 6/03 - Austin, TX/Emo's 6/10 - Boston, MA/ Paradise Rock Club 6/11 - NYC, NY/Bowery Ballroom 6/12 - Brooklyn, NY/Music Hall of Williamsburg NOTE [...]

I went to the zoo today. Buuuuut, I've just now left my camera in my car (which is parked about three miles from my apartment) so you won't get to see any pictures until tomorrow. There will be lots of sleeping animals and empty cages for you to stare in awe at, but also some really cool photographs, like the one-month-old giraffe, and the elephant, and the alligator, and the black bear. Also, one of the chimpanzees took a shit in its hand, flung some of it at another chimp and then ate the remainder. A group of schoolchildren started [...]

Heroes of Switzerland Genre: Alternative / Rock / Shoegaze From: Nottingham, United Kingdom With the notable exception of William Tell and Guillaume-Henri Dufour ( a Swiss General, bridge engineer and topographer, yes that's what counts as a hero in Switzerland!) Switzerland doesn't really go in for heroes. So I'm assuming that Heroes of Switzerland is an ironic monicker for the formerly named Monaural. Either that or they're more adept with [...]

Ok so what happens when you get the best elements of a couple bands together and try to combine it? Usually it's really dissapointing (See Zwan , Oysterhead , Velvet Revolver ect.) however once in a blue moon something really works, like Holy Molar, Cream, Journey or for our purposes Magnetic Morning . Magnetic Morning take all the Intelligent rhythmic percussion from Sam Forgarino's group Interpol, and combine it with the vocal styling and guitar tone from Adam Franklin 's well known Shoegaze group Swervedriver . There are [...]

The Jet Age Genre: Indie / Powerpop / Psychedelic From: Silver Spring, Maryland United States When you hear the words 'concept album' what do you think of? Ludicrously pretentious, self indulgently theatrical art-rock based on an obscure Tolkien novel wrapped up in a double gatefold sleeve with a design by [...]
Yep, it's time to catch up on things and point you toward interesting and fun stuff other people are writing and doing. For starters, Ross from just gimme indie rock has set up a special page at Last.fm just for all you U.K. bloggers. You can have a look at it right here . I told him I wanted to join because even though I'm not a U.K. blogger, I know a lot of them (how's that for twisted logic?). He said [...]