Space Travel, rock ‘n roll
… can only mean one thing; the Return of SWERVEDRIVER. This time playing their classic debut RAISE in its entirety, plus an extended set of SWERVEDRIVER classics.
Sydney power-duo Chimers guest on all east coast shows, psych-rock trio Brown Spirits also join the action in Sydney and Melbourne and Lake Mammoth open in Fremantle.
Born in 1989 out of Oxford UK, the band formerly known as Shake Appeal settled on their new moniker in time enough for Creation Records impresario Alan McGee – on the recommendation of Ride guitarist Mark Gardener – to sign them on the strength of their demo. Those initial tracks would form much of the debut ep Son of Mustang Ford featuring the classic of the same name quickly followed by two further eps Rave Down and Sandblasted before, in 1991 landing on their debut full length LP Raise.
The album quickly became quickly a defining sound of early 90s underground alternative rock. Energised and inspired by the guitar heavy sounds of My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr, Husker Du and the like, Swervedriver perfected their own shimmering, guitar-clashing juggernaut with a uniquely British flavour firmly intact, with Melody Maker calling ‘Raise’ one of the “truly great albums of the year.”
“As an opening statement, Swervedriver couldn’t have been more sonically eloquent than Raise. This record was a blinding assault of guitars and their afterburn. In 1991, few records before it had both the power and dynamic reach.” – Trouser Press
“A perfect amalgam of shoegaze texture, power pop anthem and grunge heaviness” – Signal/Noise
‘Radiohead weren’t the first great band to come out of Oxford’ – Pop Matters
“The thing about ‘Raise’ is it has a really good flow,” explained singer and guitarist Adam Franklin, reflecting on how the band will be playing it in full later this year. “The way the tracks are sequenced, it works perfectly as a live set. “It comes in strong with ‘Sci-Flyer’, then you’ve got ‘Son Of Mustang Ford’ and ‘Deep Seat’ in there early on and it’s all over in 40 minutes! There’s even a little area before ‘Sandblasted’ that has a great jam that we extend. “Then the final song, ‘Lead Me Where You Dare’, we never played that live back in the day, until we decided to do the album in its entirety, and then we had to learn how to play it. It’s definitely a fun album to play from start to finish”- NME
With sold out shows already announced for their October UK tour you can expect a similar response in Australia when Swervedriver debut Raise at 35 this September.