Son Of Mustang Ford:
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Swervedriver are playing a show in San Francisco at the Fillmore on May 29th. I will probably be there. Actually, I *should* be there as I have been a fan for a decade or so, long after they stopped being a touring band and playing arenas with The Smashing Pumpkins, and touring with Hum, Soundgarden, and Shudder To Think, and long, *long* after they were hanging out with Ride in Oxford.

We were watching the new 120 Minutes last night on VH1 classic with JACT and a Catherine Wheel video came on and I mentioned that we should go see Swervedriver. J said “I never got into Swervedriver” and I took that to mean that she had heard them but wasn’t a fan, but it turns out she has just never heard them (which made me think I should write about them on PIZZA of course). T again said “I always get them confused with Skrewdriver.” A was totally game.

I still remember exactly when and how I got into Swervedriver. I was still living on 63rd street in Rockridge and was having a late night IM conversation, windows open and vinyl on the stereo, and I told a friend in Sacramento that I would buy whatever CD she told me I should get the next day when I visited the Amoeba Records on Telegraph avenue. She told me to get Mezcal Head, Swervedriver’s second record that came out in 1993 (my memory is hazy, but I think I was late-night chatting and record shopping sometime in 1999).

So, I did.

Last Train To Satansville (Edit):
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I think I listened to Mezcal Head for the first time driving to the East Oakland practice space of my first band. I remember pulling into the parking lot and waiting for “Last Train To Satansville” end. I was totally hooked on the huge guitars, awesome drumming, and the way they allowed a pop/rock song to get huge, get long, and just keep going.

Duel (Edit)
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Another single, “Duel,” also featured huge guitars (perfect for the nineties) and was a favorite at NME. Sure, Adam Franklin had unfortunate dreads but I was listening to them years later and didn’t bother to look up what they looked like. I can see how I missed the dull video for “Duel” on 120 Minutes.

Sadly, the band was always overshadowed by bigger acts (rumor has it they got dropped from Creation Records in 1995 so they could focus on Oasis). The cool thing with Swervedriver was that their records continued to be awesome despite sagging sales and changing tastes. After Mezcal Head they recorded two more records, Ejector Seat Reservation and 99th Dream, both of which were either not initially released or released and then quickly went out of print. Luckily, I found both on CD so I got to enjoy some more of the Swervdriver magic before MP3s for long out of print records were widely available.

How Does It Feel To Look Like Candy?
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99th Dream
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But now they’re back and they’re touring and I think I’m going to go see them play an oversized rock show at a much overrated venue. I will drink some beers and hopefully they will be loud. Good times, good times.