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Bits on the side
As some of you may already have observed, this band is not our only musical outlet. Now the second Swimmer One album is out in the world, we might have time to turn our attention to other projects. But which ones? We have so many.
1. Seafieldroad
For a long time now Andrew has been writing sad songs on the piano. Some of these (The Dark Ages, Drowning Nightmare 1, The Fakester Resurrection) evolved into Swimmer One songs. Others didn’t. Mostly he just played these ones at home to the cat. Then, in late 2008, having co-written some new songs with Laura, he decided it was time to make an album. Andrew sang and played piano. Laura sang too. Hamish produced it all and added wee electronic noises here and there. Pete Harvey did some string arrangements. It worked out so well, in fact, that before the first one had even been released we went back into the studio and recorded another album’s worth, and an EP. All of which will be released soonish.
2. Laura Lewis and the Tea Dance Orchestra
Laura’s band (above), inspired by Mazzy Star, Jeff Buckley, PJ Harvey and Sufjan Stevens and featuring - in its most recent incarnation, anyway - the brilliant Ben Seal (who also played bass on our new album), the poets Jenny Lindsay and Jennifer Williams, and - as artist-in-residence - Kirsty Whiten. The band haven’t played live for a while, but may make a comeback soon. Their MySpace page is here.
3. Hunterheck
Hamish’s new musical alter-ego. At the moment it’s all about remixes - he’s done one for our fellow Edinburgher Withered Hand, one for singer-songwriter Astrid Williamson and one for London band Jonny Cola and the A-Grades, all of which you can listen to here. More to come…
4. Sparklegash
A short-lived ‘happy hardcore’ trio from Leith (one of the trio, a smelly hippy called Atroshiz, is pictured above), who played three confrontational gigs in early 2008 before drunkenly imploding. These gigs consisted mostly of shouting ‘you fucking cunts’ at the audience, crawling around on the floor, throwing sweets, and playing music that morphed from jazz to hip hop to techno in the space of about 15 seconds, punctuated by animal noises. Publicly, Swimmer One continue to deny any involvement in this band, although a couple of us occasionally hope that they will reform for the much-discussed Sparklegash Unplugged comeback. Meanwhile, there’s lots of music on their MySpace page.
5. Secret Coldplay Gig
Possibly the only band ever to have covered both Vanilla Ice and Laura Veirs in the same 20-minute set. Secret Coldplay Gig have played only one show so far, on a farm near Montrose, where their line-up included a six-year-old girl playing a shaker filled with pasta.
6. The Fakesters
A fake band from Montreal, invented as part of an elaborate theatre installation for the Arches in Glasgow. They have, however, got a real MySpace page, some real songs (which may sound oddly familiar to Swimmer One listeners), and even some real fans.
7. The German Boys
A yet-to-be-realised Swimmer One spin-off which has been kicking around our heads (well, mostly Andrew’s) since around 2002, the German Boys are a hardcore electro duo (Herr Hamish and Herr Andrew) whose first single, Hi, We’re From Berlin (with its killer chorus: ‘German boys, making noise, with their electronic toys’) is surely a potential number one hit. At one point Psychogeography, from the new Swimmer One album, almost became this song. And would possibly have got played on the radio more if it had.
8. Porty Beach Wipeout
Laura and Andrew’s surf punk band. Think Husker Du dressed in wetsuits. We mean that literally.
9. Read Books Wear Cords
Laura and Andrew’s alt-folk band. Not much more than a band name at the moment. But what a name it is.
