I launched this blog with some Swervedriver content – a shot of Adam Franklin’s pedalboard from their October 2019 show at The Horseshoe – but haven’t actually talked about the band since then, so let’s rectify that, starting with some guitar-centric material since you can’t like Swervedriver and not care about guitars.
I actually don’t know who Rick Beato is – some kind of big deal guitar YouTube influencer-type who just got his own signature Gibson guitar – but anyone with that big a platform who takes the time to rave (down) about relatively cult-level bands like the Swervies gets my respect:
And he recently leveraged this fandom into a nice career-spanning Zoom-terview with Adam Franklin, which is a pretty nice way to spend half an hour. And he reveals the proper way to tune your guitar to play “Duel”.
Adam Franklin got into his current gear set-up and philosophy with Australia’s Noisegate in December 2019 while touring their latest record Future Ruins:
Premier Guitar had an extensive interview with both Franklin and Jimmy Hartridge circa their first reunion album I Wasn’t Born To Lose You, which includes an in-depth look at their gear setups circa 2015:
Swervedriver: Shoegazers Ride Again @ Premier Guitar
Guitar World also conducted an interview with Franklin in 2011, some years past their first 2008 reunion tour yet and with new material still just a point of discussion amongst the band:
Interview: Adam Franklin of Swervedriver @ Guitar World
And before moving on to less guitar-centric items, it’s worth pointing out that the band’s website contains quite an archive of guitar transcriptions of their entire catalog. Formatting is quite a hodge-podge of old-school ASCII and Word docs, but that’s how some of us learned a lot of songs.
On to more general content interviews – Adam Franklin seems like he’s always willing to chat, so there’s been a lot of press since they began releasing new material.
The Feedback Society affirmed their Swervedriver bona-fides with a couple of pieces with Franklin in 2013, and another in 2015 when Lose You finally came out:
With the release of I Wasn’t Born To Lose You, the evergreen interview question of, “any new material?” was answered but thankfully, journalists had other questions to ask. Vice tried to find out the status of vinyl reissues of their back catalog (the first three records eventually came out on Music On Vinyl, 99th Dream is still MIA, and Lose You is now out of print, just in time for me to realize I don’t actually own it…):
We Talked to Shoegaze Legends Swervedriver @ Vice
Penny Black Music covers the band’s early days as well as the decade between active periods and the decision to return:
Swervedriver – Interview @ Penny Black Music
PopMatters covers a lot of the usual points, but deserves thanks for reminding me that the band’s cover of Television’s “Days” exists:
For A Day Like Tomorrow: An Interview with Swervedriver @ PopMatters
Las Vegas Weekly devoted a lot of actual ink to the band in advance of the LV stop on the Lose You tour, and Montreal’s Bad Feeling before their Montreal date:
The Weekly Interview: Swervedriver Frontman Adam Franklin @ Las Vegas Weekly
In between releases of new material, the band revisited some old with full-album recitals of Raise and Mezcal Head – Highwire Daze talked to Franklin about deciding to do so:
Pedals and Passion: An Interview with Adam Franklin of Swerverdriver @ Highwire Daze
And with their latest album Future Ruins in 2019, there was more press to do. The Collapse Board discussed the band’s issues with crowdfunding the new record:
The Collapse Board Interview: Adam Franklin (Swervedriver) @ The Collapse Board
Franklin discussed the differences in touring the US and UK with Melisma Magazine:
A Sit Down with Swervedriver: An Interview with Adam Franklin @ Melisma Magazine
And It’s Psychedelic Baby got into the creation process of Future Ruins:
Swervedriver | Interview with Adam Franklin @ It’s Psychedelic Baby
