Music > Interviews

Swim School

18/04/24

Too often, the abundance of expectations that accompany life can be overwhelming- some days it can feel as if the world is against us all. 

However, it is days like this in which I turn to music, and the power it holds to unite a world which seems to separate many of us. 

Next Monday, Swim School will be taking to the stage of the Waterfront (for a sold-out show!), as part of their headline tour to celebrate the release of their powerful new EP, ‘Seeing it Now’. 

Last week, I caught up with Alice from Swim School to see how they were feeling ahead of the start of the tour, the inspiration behind their music, as well as their plans for the rest of the year (including a VERY busy summer of festivals!).  

When did your journey as a band begin? 

Me (Alice) and Lewis have been making music since 2019 but I feel like Swim School really started when Billy joined the band in 2020. Without sounding extremely cliche he was the missing part of the band and when he got involved that’s when we really became Swim School. Like most bands you need to spend a good couple of years finding your feet, your sound and your image but most importantly a connection between the members, which is what happened when Billy joined.  

What was the inspiration behind the name of the band?  

We had our first gig coming up and the promoters asked what our name was. We were sat in a pub going through names. We liked art school but we thought it was too close to the other artist “Art School Girlfriend” so we changed it to Swim School. There’s no cool story behind the name but we might start making one up to tell people. 

How would you describe your music? 

We really struggle describing our music cause there’s so many different elements to it. I would say overall we are a guitar band. We really pay attention to our guitar tones etc so that is a massie part of it.  We take inspiration from bands like Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine and Pixie, shoegaze guitar bands. If I was to describe our sound I would say we are a shoegaze, indie guitar band!  

Where do you look for inspiration for your music?  

Everyday life. My lyrics are based on struggles everyone goes through. From mental health to misogyny, all of our songs have a strong message that is portrayed in the lyrics but also in the instrumentation. We have loud heavy songs like “Delirious” which is all about sexism in the music industry then we have soft and emotional stripped back songs like “To Grow” which is all about losing someone. I love that all of our songs are pretty different from each other, keeps it interesting. 

Social media- friend or foe for musicians?

That's a hard one to answer. We love that we can connect with fans all over the world but there is also the toxic side to it too. We tend to take time off of social media just to distance ourselves from it, as we are a band, we aren't content creators. Like I said it’s a hard one to answer because that’s how our fans see us, interact with us and know what we are up to. We love to see all the support that our fans give us so we tend to just focus on that.  

What has been your biggest challenge as a band (and how have you overcome this)? 

It is very easy to compare yourself to other artists / bands in this industry. You see the opportunities that other people are getting and think “ Why aren't we doing / getting that?” but then people could say that about us. Alongside that and the toxic side to social media, those are the biggest challenges. We always talk ourselves out of that negative headspace and remind ourselves that everyone's journey is different. The three of us are such a strong team so we know how to help each other when it comes to hurdles in the band's career and I’ll forever be grateful that we have that relationship. Basically just have really nice, kind and thoughtful people in your band and you will be okay.  How are you feeling ahead of the release of your new mixtape, ‘Seeing It Now’ (and what was the inspiration behind this)?  

We were so excited to get stuck into it. We have previously released EP’s and when we got asked to release a Mixtape, we were excited as it meant we could be a bit more experimental. Instantly we knew we wanted a cover of a song, a slow stripped back song and a live track.  I had written ‘To Grow’ last march and sent it to the boys but because it was a slow, sad, acoustic song, we didn’t think we would ever get the chance to release it. When we got asked about the Mixtape, we all agreed it would be on it. For the “Where is my mind/ you and me song” cover, that was a one take recording which took place in our stairwell in our rehearsal space, it's very diy, gritty but we love it so much. The title track “Seeing It Now” was only written the week of recording. I was at home, it was late at night and came up with the idea which i showed the boys the following day. We all loved it and decided that was going to be the final track on the Mixtape. 

In regards to inspiration, it is mostly about what we experienced over the last year. To Grow is about losing someone, Seeing It Now is about imposter syndrome as we have had just a mental year in terms of that band growing and this song talks about the rollercoaster of emotions we have felt. The Pixies cover was because supporting them was one of the best experiences of our lives and a moment that will go down in Swim School history. The whole mixtape is a collection of events that have happened! 

After supporting many bands on their own tours, how does it feel to be heading out on your debut UK headline tour?  

We honestly can’t wait. We love playing live and supporting bands and when you see how amazing the audience is for the headline act, it makes you so excited to play to your own crowd. Having this tour as our first headline tour is so exciting and the fact venues are selling out too is crazy. Just want to say a quick thank you to everyone who has bought tickets. Again, I don’t think anything will beat that feeling of playing to your own audience every night, I don’t know how we are going to recover from the post tour blues.  

What are you most looking forward to during the tour?  

Obviously the shows are the main part of the tour. I can’t wait to see the fans singing along to all the new tunes. When we play our stripped back song “To Grow”, I can imagine them singing all the words back and that is going to be extremely emotional. It’s going to ruin my makeup every night. We also can't wait to be back in our favourite cities too visiting our favourite coffee and vintage shops - that is a big part of touring with swim school.  

Do you have any pre or post show rituals?  

The song that hypes us up before going on stage is In Bloom by Neck Deep or Silk Chiffon by Muna - honestly I have no idea how that came to be but it works! Before going on stage we have a little hug huddle and say love you. Post show we are always so buzzing and on cloud 9, sometimes you don’t realise how good a show was until you come off stage and see how happy everyone is, can’t wait to experience that for two weeks! 

How did you choose your support acts for your upcoming tour (and how important do you believe it is to support local/ aspiring musicians)?  

We love taking bands that we are fans of and that we can help out. It's very important to us that we have diversity. We are in the lucky position that we know our fans are amazing, and aren’t sexist so we automatically know it's a safe space for everyone. Luckily there are loads of amazing, talented up and coming bands around so it wasn’t a hard choice. 

What power do you believe live music holds? 

That's a big question! One thing that really gets me is the fact that songs we have written in Edinburgh, in my bedroom about specific personal experiences, can be relatable to somebody who is on the other side of the planet. Music really is a universal language and I love that we get to create it. When we meet fans that say “your music got me through a hard time / dark place” I know what they mean because music also gets me through tough times. Music can act like an escape from reality, you can find comfort in it by relating to the lyrics and I think that is so powerful. 

What advice would you give to any aspiring musicians?  

Always, always, always trust your gut. They are right when they say you need to have tough skin in this industry so be prepared to be let down and disappointed but never let it stop you from doing what you love. For any young women / non binary musicians out there, if someone is ever rude, patronizing or sexist towards you it's because they are insecure about their own abilities, so again, don’t let someone else's insecurities stop you from doing what you love. Also just don't take any sh*t from sound engineers, they aren't as scary as they look, trust me and when you find the nice ones, you won’t take them for granted. 

Have you got any plans for the rest of the year?  

Yeah our summer is filled with amazing festivals like Isle of Wight, Mad Cool, Reeperbahn and we’ve just announced Reading and Leeds!! Reading and Leeds is on our bucket list so we can’t quite believe we are on the line up. We are playing the BBC Radio 1 stage which is a stage all of the bands that have inspired us have played on - we honestly can't wait! We feel like we are going to very busy after festival season so this really is the calm before the storm. 

To keep up to date with the work (and brilliant music!) of Swim School, then you can check out their Instagram (@weareswimschool)!