Frontman of iconic grunge shoegaze band Swervedriver, Adam Franklin, shares his stories on the origins of the band, signing to Creation Records, Australian festivals and much more ahead of their tour down under, celebrating 35 years of their debut album Raise.
Swervedriver’s story begins in Oxford, England in the late 80’s, an exciting time for bands, the music scene, and young Adam Franklin. Franklin’s first band Shake Appeal was undergoing a transformation with members leaving and reshuffling, which led him to start writing his own songs.
“Shake Appeal technically recorded the very first Swervedriver demo tape” Franklin shared, my brother was the original singer, and then I sort of got pushed to the front”.
That 4-song demo tape/EP was then passed on to Alan Mcgee from Creation Records featuring the song ‘Son of Mustang Ford’. “(Mcgee) heard that song and just wanted to sign the band”.
From there they were put on a “roller coaster ride”, being signed to Creations meant recording then touring, recording then touring, “and suddenly… there’s deadlines” the frontman says in a dire manner. But it was all happening, Franklin reminisced how “the Creation’s offices were above, kind of a sweatshop of sorts, in East London. You’d walk in and there’d be people from other bands there, some of them had been there all night, because they were partying or whatever. It was definitely really exciting”.
The band, now rebranded as Swervedriver, then “hunkered down in Camden Town, London” to record their debut album Raise.
“I think we ended up with a really great record” said Franklin “there are bands that disown their first records because they hadn’t really found their sound yet. But for us, the Swervedriver sound arrived fully formed and people immediately got it”.
“Shake Appeal was very much influenced by Iggy and the Stooges and The MC5 and at some point in the late ’80s we felt like we were doing something that was harking back to another era. At the time, there was modern guitar music coming out, particularly bands like Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr. and My Bloody Valentine which really motivated us to change our sound a little bit” Franklin said, on what influenced Swervedriver’s “fully formed” distinct and unique sound.
He also said that signing with Creation, created “healthy competition” between bands because they would all listen to each other’s records and think “Damn, they’ve done a good record, we’ve got to do, you know, a better record than that”.
Franklin spoke to the effortless nature around the concept of the album and the instinctual process that allowed them to ultimately just create a record that sounded like something they would want to listen to themselves.
“A lot of the songs mentioned driving and cars, songs about UFOs, comic books, and science fiction stories which influenced what we were about. It all just kind of came together. You don’t really think about how it’s coming together and then suddenly there it is”.
Franklin and the band are excited for their long-awaited return to Australia, since their last visit in 2019.
“We love coming down under the crowds are always just great”.
He reminisced on the first time they travelled here for a festival in 1995, arriving in Perth the day of the show, jet-lagged. “The tour manager came into the dressing room and said, Right, you’re on stage in 10 minutes. Stay awake. We’re like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, boss”. Then he came in five minutes before the stage time, and we were all passed out. So, we sort of roused ourselves, we walked out on stage, and the reception from the crowd in Perth was just amazing. It was the greatest wake up call. And it feels like that’s always been kind of how it’s been in Australia”.
Franklin felt that Swervedriver and their music has always been received with open arms in Australia, even recording half their album, I Wasn’t Born To Lose You, at Birdland studios in Melbourne with legendary producer Lindsay Gravina. This sparked the return of Swervedriver after their hiatus, releasing new music and touring again for the first time in almost 20 years.
The two original members Franklin and Jim Hartridge, described by Franklin as basically “husband and wife”, will be heading on tour with Mikey Jones on drums and Mick Quinn on bass. Jones has been drumming for the band for 15 years now since meet Franklin while the two were living in New York at the time. Franklin and Quinn (who is also in Supergrass) are basically day ones, since they used to rehearse at his family home in 1982, “the first time I ever played electric guitar plugged into an amp, was in Mick Quinn’s family’s cellar”, he recalled.
The iconic outfit are touring in September, celebrating 35 years of the album that marked the beginning of an exciting and successful career, Rise. They will be playing the album in it’s entirety, plus an extended set of Swervedriver classics.
But this isn’t a farewell tour for lucky Swervedriver fans, Franklin says he looks forward to making more music in the future with the band. While keeping things fresh by experimenting with new sounds and textures, Franklin and Jim continue to keep the essence of Swervedrivers distinct sound at the heart of the new tracks. They’re interested in releasing new music in the form of EP’s because that’s how they did it “back in the day”.
Grab your tickets HERE for the anniversary tour, with support from Chimers, Brown Spirits, and Lake Mammoth.
SWERVEDRIVER: RAISE AT 35
Tuesday 8th September: Fremantle, Freo Social + Lake Mammoth
Thursday 10th September: Brisbane, The Triffid + Chimers
Friday 11th September: Sydney, Manning Bar + Chimers & Brown Spirits
Saturday 12th September: Melbourne, Corner Hotel + Brown Spirits & Chimers
Tuesday 15th September: Adelaide, Lion Arts Factory + Chimers
Photo by Steve Gullick. Used with Permission.
