Swervedriver

Swervedriver formed back in Oxford during the heady and splendid days of shoegaze, when Ride, Chapterhouse and Slowdive had long hair and preferred looking at their feet when they played their dreamily distorted ethereal walls of noise. But they never quite fit into that genre, verging more on the rock side of things. Having toured with massive names like The Smashing Pumpkins and released four albums they split up, only to reform eight years ago, not to make more cash but to enjoy making music together again. Their new album I Wasn’t Born To Lose You has received rave reviews, and they play at the Arts Centre this month. I spoke to front man Adam Franklin about how it felt to be back in the driving seat.

Why are you called Swervedriver?

Ha! I don't think we've ever been asked that before. What can I say? We liked the idea of fast motion and we liked all the Vs and Rs and Es.

When you first started you gave your tape to Mark Gardner from Ride, who then passed it to Alan McGee, who immediately signed you up to Creation Records. Do you think it’s more difficult or easier for bands to get famous these days?

Well anyone that's in it just to get famous is in the wrong game of course, but it's sort of swings and roundabouts as far as getting exposure nowadays versus back then. Now you can record a song, put it online and someone in Brazil hears it five minutes later and 'likes' your page which is great but on the other hand there is so much more music to sift through now and so many more bands can put out albums because the means for recording have become a lot easier, that it's difficult to stand out from the crowd I guess. But if you're really good something will happen.

You toured America back in the day with bands like The Smashing Pumpkins and Soundgarden; what was that experience like? Did the Americans like your sound?

The Americans love our sound I would say, yes! We just toured a month here and it was great as always. The thing about those two tours you mentioned was that both those bands were touring 'breakthrough' albums in theatres so it was like the hot ticket in town. The venues weren't too big but were sold out. And so a lot of people have told us that the first time they were even aware of us was when we stepped out onstage and played and they were converted there and then!

You’ve had rather a lot of comings and goings within the band. When a new member joined, did you aim for the “Swervedriver sound” or is the music-making more organic?

We've had two different bass players and five drummers I think so it's not too many. Any self-respecting band has had an exploding drummer after all! The music making is always organic but there was a time after our first album when we lost the rhythm section and we felt we needed to consolidate our sound, rather than flying off in a new direction. Generally speaking though the sound of the band is dictated by the sound of mine and Jimmy's guitars.

Also you’ve not had too much luck with record labels being entirely supportive or trustworthy through the years! What’s the worst thing they ever did to you?

I think we've done alright with record labels, quite honestly. We got dropped a couple of times but those were business decisions and not artistic ones and that's just the nature of the business. In both cases the deals were structured in such a way that the labels were obliged to pay us more money with each album and we simply weren't selling enough records to justify the hike. But in reality people got to know about us in the UK because we were on Creation who were hip and in the US because we were signed with A&M who had a big marketing reach. The worst thing that happened was when we released our last album with a New York indie and then the head of the company was going to Vegas once a month and gambling the label's coffers. He was on a winning streak for a long time but finally lost his shirt and the label was over!Swervedriver reunited eight years ago; how come that was the right time and who initiated the reunion?

It just seemed right. I was in New York with the rest of the guys back in Blighty, and there had been a sort of online campaign for the band to get back together. We all had an itching to play those songs again and then we got an offer to play at Coachella - which has now become the festival all bands go to to reform!

Where did the decision to record and release a new album originate, and how was the process this time around?

I was quite busy personally releasing four albums as Adam Franklin & Bolts of Melody and also the Magnetic Morning album with Sam from Interpol, and these were all since Swervedriver got back together. So it was really Jimmy and Steve who were itching to release new material. I think we were offered a tour in Australia to play the first album Raise from start to finish and Jim said "Look this is cool but if we're gonna keep on doing this we need to have a new album out" and so we started writing it. He was quite right of course.

Loads of bands seem to be reuniting these days, the Pixies, Slowdive, and most recently Ride who were in the same scene as you 25 years ago. How do you find the music industry now compared to how it was your first time around?

We don't really think about it too much but it's interesting that now you can post something on your Facebook page and it reaches more people than the NME does. Back in the day you were more dependent on the press and hoping they gave you a good review - now you can post a song or whatever you want on your own pages and interact with your fans a lot more directly.

You were named as part of the shoegaze scene but really you were quite different to that sounds, more rough and rocky; I’d say, more akin to The Jesus and Mary Chain. How would you describe your latest album in terms of sound and genre?

In many ways we're the last people to be able to describe it because we're so much in the thick of it and have been throughout the whole process but I think it touches not only on all of our previous records but also covers the different ends of what our band is about. For example there are songs that fans of shoegaze will like but there are also songs that stoner rock fans will like. Our position is somewhere in the middle of all of that.

What were your inspirations for the new album?

We went back to the source for our new album and listened to a lot of music and films/literature etc that inspired us when we started. So it was The Stooges, Daydream Nation, JG Ballard, Lloyd Llewellyn and then Death Proof and things like that.

What music have you really been into for the last few years?

Broadcast, The Clientele, Tame Impala, Death & Vanilla, Piero Piccioni, Last Ex, Madvillian, The London Studio Group - the list goes on.

What can we expect from your show in Norwich in May?

Good times at high volumes.

Swervedriver play at Norwich Arts Centre on 26th May. Tickets available from ueaticketbookings.co.uk