Interview: Swervedriver’s Adam Franklin on new music and the “shoegaze” sound

Oxford’s Swervedriver were always a bit of an outlier in the so-called 90’s “shoegaze” scene. While they shared the swirling guitars and intricate melodies of bands like My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive, they were never as precious as most bands lumped into that scene. Essentially, Swervedriver were never afraid of rocking out. Although they were signed to the quintessential shoegaze (and eventual Britpop) label Creation Records, the band’s bombast had more in common with what was happening in the US at the time, especially with the guitar heroics of bands like Dinosaur Jr. and Smashing Pumpkins (who the band toured with).

Swervedriver reunited back in 2007, preceding the onslaught of band reunions from that era, and have just released their first album in a whopping 17 years. I Wasn’t Born to Lose You (Cobraside) is unmistakably a Swervedriver record, and the band’s most eclectic one to date. The band’s shimmering pop is intact, while branching out into psychedelia on the sprawling “Everso,” and amped-up blues rock on “Red Queen Arms Race.”

We spoke to frontman Adam Franklin to discuss the pressure of releasing new Swervedriver music, what it was like being on Creation Records at the height of the label’s notereity, and what he thinks of the shoegaze label.

Swervedriver are currently out on tour in support of  I Wasn’t Born to Lose You, which includes a stop at Montreal’s Theatre Fairmount on May 4. For all upcoming tour dates, visit http://www.swervedriver.com/.

I Wasn’t Born to Lose You is the first Swervedriver album in 17 years – when did you decide you wanted to record new music?

It may have been like 2013, or 2012 or something. I think it was when we were asked to go and play in Australia, to perform Raise, the first album, from start to finish. I think that was when Jimmy and Stevie from the band were really at the point of saying, “We’ve been playing this old stuff, but we really need to begin to write some new material.” Which I was fine about. The sort of thing that was going on in the time since Swervedriver got back together in 2007 –  I’d put out a few albums myself, Adam Franklin or Bolts of  Melody albums, so for me there wasn’t maybe so much of an urge at that time, because I was sort of getting that itch scratched by doing my own records. But I think with Jimmy and Stevie saying, “C’mon, let’s do something new!” it was like, “Yeah, let’s do it already.”

Was there any self-imposed pressure to come out with a new Swervedriver record after so long?

I think the thing that we set when we first got back together and toured in 2008, was that it felt great to just sort of step out from the music industry in a way. All we had was a publicist and a bus, and we just went off and we played these shows, and we didn’t have to, you know … there wasn’t reviews of albums, and there wasn’t pressure to do all the promotional stuff, because we weren’t really promoting anything except Swervedriver getting together and playing some tunes. But by the time we decided to write a new album, there is obviously a self-imposed pressure, because you wouldn’t want to make an album that completely sucked and sort of screw up the legacy. It’d be terrible to come back and be like, “Hey, here’s our fifth album!” and people to be like, “hmph.” But, you know, it’s interesting because it’s part that you can discuss these things, but really it’s more instinct and stuff, when it comes down to actually coming up with music that you think works for the thing you’re doing, you know?

Did you have a goal musically with this record? It definitely seems to be your most eclectic album so far.

Yea, I think it’s like, obviously, it would be ridiculous to come back and do something that didn’t really sound like Swervedriver. If the band had taken to putting albums out since ’98, perhaps the album that we put out in 2015 would have been quite different, because we might have gone through all these evolutions. But since we didn’t have that evolution, its kind of going back to the source. But like you say, also trying to express the various different sides I think, of what Swervedriver has always touched upon. People say like, “Shoegaze, OK,” but there might be a shoegaze element here, there’s also the sort of psychedelic stoner rock thing over there perhaps, and then maybe more of a sort of dirty, almost power-poppy sort of angle to it as well.

One of the bands we always felt most aligned with on Creation Records was Teenage Fanclub really, and obviously they’re sort of a much more melodic pop sound, but we like delving into a bit of that as well. I think we might have sat down and said, “It would be nice if the album sort of expressed elements of all that stuff.” But at the same time, you couldn’t really be held ransom to an idea of what an album might sound like, you know? Because the sort of meat and potatoes of the whole thing is actually having the idea. So in the end, we kind of lucked out in a way, because we did end up with an album that has elements of these things, and also has a long, expansive psychedelic track. We kind of thought it would be good to have a couple of long, sort of sprawling songs, but we didn’t know where they were going to come from. Thankfully, they did come to us in the end, you know?

What was the recording process like this time, compared to the records you made with Alan Moulder in the 90’s?

Well, we did work with Alan Moulder on this album as well. We worked at his studio. He was keen to work there, but we were well aware that we couldn’t really afford him, because he’d done all this other stuff and he’s very busy. He listened to the demos and loved them, and really wanted to be involved, so in the end we did it at his studio in London, in a studio called Assault & Battery. And we worked with John Catlin, he’s one of these sort of guys that came up working for Alan, so he had a similar sort of style, and he sort of learned from Alan all these sorts of things about the frequencies and finding space in things. So yeah, initially we went in and did the mixing with John, and Alan would pop his head around the door and then after a time we didn’t really need him to be there, but it was nice having him around. He’d walk past the door and say – you know, he was hearing these bendy guitar chords, and he’d say, “Sounds like typical Swervedriver!”

Do you prefer the process of putting out records today?

Well, I mean, there are very good things about it. I suppose the fact that you can just create a video or a clip of a song and just put it up on your own page and then get immediate response from the people that like the band. As opposed to back in the day, when you’d be sort of held ransom to whatever some guy was saying at the NME, you know? I think there’s more of a sort of spontaneity now, and it’s good that people can actually hear stuff really. In England in the late 80’s and 90’s, you might read a review of a band in Melody Maker or NME,  but there was really no way of hearing them, because there wasn’t much in the way of a punk radio thing gong on. But now everyone can hear everything. But of course the downside is now everyone can grab everything as well, and they can just listen to an album endlessly on Spotify, and whether that’s going to help you to be able to tour and record the next album is another whole issue.

Do you use any of the streaming services like Spotify?

Yeah, I mean I got Spotify, I got the free thing initially, and then closed it down. Then I got an e-mail from this guy from Spotify and he said, “Hey, why are you closing this down?” And I said, “Well, I’m a musician myself, and I’m not sure if I really want to have this service,” and he said “Oh, if you’re a musician we’ll offer you three months free,” and I thought that was kind of fair enough in a way. Maybe they should do that across the board, then everyone would say, “I’m a musician.”

But Spotify does deliver a depth to it. When I finally did sort of investigate the whole thing, whether it’s like Italian film soundtracks from the 1960’s, they’ve got a lot of stuff in there. But like many things in the modern world, it’s kind of not sustainable really. It’s weird, people now feel like they should get things for free, and that’s not necessarily a great thing because everyone has to work. Those people themselves are working, but at the same time, nobody’s making any money, so you can understand why people want to … I mean, there are kids today out there with the idea that “You used to pay for music? Why did you pay for music?” The concept is alien now, you know?

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How do you think bands can reach those people who are used to getting music for free their whole life?

Well, I think an album should always have a great sleeve. I think there was probably a period in the 90’s or whatever, when CD’s became really horrible with jewel cases, and just maybe even like a fold-out piece of paper that was white on the inside. I think now people realize you can’t do that anymore. You’ve got to put some effort into it, and make it an artifact that people want to own, you know? But it’s like music for rent now. And people pay $10 a month or whatever for Spotify, and that adds up. It adds up over time, but you don’t actually own it. It’s a weird concept really, it’s all up in the air. If Spotify is going to be closed down because of massive losses. people will then be really pissed off. They’ll be like, “Wait a minute, I had all these things in my playlist,” and Spotify will say, “Well, you didn’t own it. You were just renting it.” So it’s a weird thing really.

To take thing back, you were on Creation Records at the height of that label’s notoriety, what was it like to be on the label at that time? 

It was great. It was an unexpected label for us, because the label we initially went to was Blast First, which was ain Britain that was licensing Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth. That was the first place we took our demo to, and then our very last demo was handed to Creation, because we knew some of the people on the label. But it felt like the right kind of label, because there was more of a sort of outlaw spirit. There was more of this sort of cowboyish spirit you know? And the fact that there were parties going on at their offices all the time. And there were plenty of bands on the label that we respected and loved. It was great being on the label because people who were interested in the label – every release on the label, people were interested in. So it was a massive sort of steeping stone in that sense as well.

How did you feel being labelled as a “shoegaze” band? Did you feel you had something in common with bands like My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive?

Well, I  think all the bands were kind of separate entities in a way. You had a band in Oxford doing their thing, and a band in London doing their own thing, and a band in Reading or wherever else … And then suddenly, just wanting to do something different with guitars that was just sort of more psychedelic thing. Rather than just being an E chord or an A chord, suddenly all these chords are blurring into each other, and it was an interesting development. And it felt really modern, you know? It felt like the latest thing, it wasn’t a retro thing. The initial period was more exciting when there wasn’t a name for it, when it was just all these bands. But also, lots of heavier bands that we were kind of lumped into, rockier bands in London as well. It was a derogatory term, which is why it’s much better now – after all this time it’s become sort of an embraced thing. Good thing people don’t think about the “shoe” element of it, which we all thought was ridiculous – having a shoe as a part of a musical genre! But the “gaze” part is fine. People now often just refer to it as “gaze,” which is fine, you know?

Swervedriver and Gateway Drugs at Theatre Fairmount (5240 Park Avenue), May 4th, 9:00pm. Tickets are $22.50 / $26, available here.