Andrew Swift & The Rattlesnake Choir have embraced their wanderlust.
Lead singer and guitarist Andrew Swift has translated his own longing to escape into music for their new EP, Up With The Anchor.
“Look, when I write songs, I don't try and write anything in particular,” he begins to explain. “I sort of sit down with the guitar and play and find that whatever feeling comes out of the song relates to whatever is going on inside my head. The lyrics just usually come and tend to compliment the music quite well.”
So if the music is about escape, and the music comes from whatever's going on inside his head, what is it he wants to escape from?
“Maybe just routine,” he says, “and maybe just monotonous life. I've always grown up in a small town and in the past few years I've done a bit of travelling and road trips and touring and that's starting to come out in the songs when I want to try something new and get away for a little bit.”
Andrew did just that when he back-packed around Europe last year for a month, hopping between Barcelona, Andorra, Switzerland, Austria, Prague and visiting his sister in Sweden.
“I loved it. I absolutely loved it. I took a little guitar with me and did a couple of little shows along the way. It was a bit of a life experience. It was fantastic, even getting one of those Wicked camper vans and travelling around the UK for a couple of weeks.
“[The shows] were received really well but I wasn't playing at proper venues or anything, I was just playing in cafes or a little pub that had an open mic night. I hadn't planned a tour or anything, I just thought I would play if the opportunity arises.”
On the home front, Swift is looking forward to an East Coast tour with his Rattlesnake Choir. He's not so enthused, however, about the state of the local industry.
“Whenever I answer this question, I just sound like a bitter musician,” he laughs. “I had to answer this question in a written interview the other day and I sent it back and asked, 'did I sound too bitter?' I like — there's aspects of the scene these days that I like and there's aspects that I don't.
“I remember when we were doing stuff in my old band and we were doing letter box drops together, and — I sound really old but I'm not that old — there was no Myspace, there was no FaceBook, there was no social media. We had a forum on our website and that was it. A band having a website was a bit deal. It was really word of mouth then, and a person couldn't just check out a band by clicking on a few buttons and listen to a bit of a recording.
“Some people will listen to a song for about thirty seconds and then go, 'nah, I don't like this'. Back then it was word of mouth. If your friend said you've got to check out this band, you'd take the CD and you'd listen to the whole thing or go and see them live with that friend. Then you'd think, 'these guys are great'. I think there's less of that, to be honest; I think everyone's doing the quick click on Facebook or YouTube.
“In the same sense, it's great that music is so accessible these days. So you don't need to reply on a distribution label to get your music out there. You can get on iTunes independently, or sell it yourself. Anyone can put together an online store and sell their music. I mean, there's good and bad sides to it.”
Andrew Swift & The Rattlesnake Choir play the following shows:
Sun Jun 23 — Palmy Cafe & Bar (Gold Coast) (w/ Candice Mcleod)
Sat Jun 29 — Bendigo Hotel (Collingwood) (w/ Jonesez, Escapegoats, Donnie Dureau)
Sun Jun 30 — Fist2Face Records Instore (Ringwood)
Sun Aug 04 — John Curtin Hotel (Carlton)
