You want to talk about bands that inspired the wall of sound in
modern rock? Look no further than Swervedriver. I was turned
on to these guys at Zap Records in Kingston in the late 90's.
The dude running the store seemed a little bored and so did
I. He ventured a guess - 'Looking for something different?'
I turned towards him with my bleache-blonde hair and value
village red canada hoodie and said 'Yeah. In fact, I am'. He
came out from behind the counter and pulled the 99th Dream
record off the wall, removing the plastic sneeze-guard
from the outside of the sleeve. 'Check this out' he nodded
as he popped the vinyl 33 on to a player hidden in the back
room. At first, I didn't like it. My normalcy pushed it away
as I thought 'Naw. This is too weird. What will people think?'
but as the guitars continued to build bridges of sonic beauty
in every song, I couldn't turn my ears away. I talked for a
while with that record store worker (mostly about
Pavement) and then I never saw him again. I think he was
covering a shift for the main store owner who used to be
there every shift.
In 99, SD apparently disbanded. '99th Dream' was all that
I ever knew by them...but that record forever left an
impression upon my musical inclination and taste.
Apparently, they also re-issued their 3 major albums (which
never gained a mainstream audience) in 2008 after they
played at Coachella. Weird!
If you're into different stages of orchestral guitar builds,
weird time signatures, blasting distortion and listenable
vocals, you will dig this band's catalogue.
Hopefully, I just made Swervedriver a little extra cash.
