{"id":2916,"date":"2011-12-23T17:17:12","date_gmt":"2011-12-23T17:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=2916"},"modified":"2012-04-15T23:55:28","modified_gmt":"2012-04-15T22:55:28","slug":"swimming-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nusic.org.uk\/wordpress\/swimming-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"SWIMMING INTERVIEW"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>SWIMMING<\/a><\/strong> is a band that is certainly making waves right now. iTune\u2019s Indie Spotlight even made Neutron Wireless Crystal (off the new album) its single of the week! We know they\u2019re great, Film4 seems to know it too, so our predictions of a Notts Number One are surely imminent. Frontman John Sampson takes Mary Ann Pickford<\/strong> on a journey around Nottingham to talk about their newest album Ecstatics International and the unique sound and musical ethos of the band. <\/strong>
\n
\nSo where abouts are we, John?<\/strong>
\n
\nThis is Random Recordings studio where we did a lot of the music for the Ecstatics International album. I think there\u2019s a big disconnect [between the way the building looks and Ecstatics International] because the album is kind of out there. If you were to look at that [the studio] you\u2019d associate it with maybe gritty British music that\u2019s been around recently. It just takes you to another place and that\u2019s why I thought it\u2019d be nice to show you some of the space we\u2019d been recording in. Then we did six or seven studios around Notts, Mansfield and Kirkby.
\n
\nKeeping it very local then, that\u2019s great. How was it recording the new album?<\/strong>
\n
\nIt was amazing. It was over quite a long period of time, like little pockets of intensity. I write quite a lot just at home on my own. And that\u2019ll be late night sessions when you can\u2019t sleep and you get a loop pedal out and come out with ideas, and sort of make little song saplings on the computer. And then you just kind of take them into the studio. We\u2019re [the band] all engineers in different places and so it was just choosing places that we felt comfortable in for each different song or different bit we were recording. Then we got our own little set up in Kirkby.
\n
\nAnd so we had just enough equipment \u2018cause there\u2019s no budget for this at all. It\u2019s interesting getting comparisons with some of the albums that it\u2019s been compared to and some of the bands that it\u2019s been compared to. There wasn\u2019t much money behind it. People get in touch asking \u2018which producers have you used?\u2019 and expect it to be done in big studios in London, which is quite nice but we say \u2018oh no we did it in Kirkby on a laptop\u2019.
\n
\nOccasionally we had some nicer gear or Random\u2019s got some nice gear we used. We had the right blend of lo-fi and hi-fi stuff and we got a really good mastering engineer to master it. On the whole it\u2019s like DIY hi-fi. We wanted that big sound but we had quite limited means to be able to get that. I think that\u2019s one of the great things about technologies. You don\u2019t have to wait around for a producer, you don\u2019t have to wait around for anything outside of the band to make stuff sound good. We\u2019re interested in that sonic side as much as the writing side of things.
\n
\nHow would you compare your new album to the previous one? How are they different?<\/strong>
\n
\nIt\u2019s different in loads of ways but in a way it\u2019s the same. The core message of what we sing about and the core reason for why we pick up a guitar, or play an instrument, or write a song in the first place is the same. The songs don\u2019t deviate that much from one pretty central theme.
\n
\nWhat is the central theme for you guys?<\/strong>
\n
\nI\u2019ll come on to that in a bit [laughs]. But sonically it\u2019s got to change otherwise it\u2019d be boring. Like, bands have to become brands to have this sound and I think that\u2019s pretty sad. Not everyone adheres to that obviously, I can imagine the pressures that you could possibly feel if you were successful with something. We\u2019ve never had any massive level of success, we\u2019ve never had huge budgets that put pressure on us to ensure it sounds or is a certain thing. It\u2019s just always been down to what instinctively we want to create and impulsively what we want to make. So we\u2019ve had total freedom.
\n
\nBut there are certain things from the first album and second album that are meant to have worked together. Like the second one\u2019s a proper sequel. If you hear the first one and get into it, listen to the lyrics and the way it goes from the first track to the ninth track, and then the way the next album starts, you\u2019ll see there\u2019s a continuity there.
\n
\nWill there also be continuity in the third album?<\/strong>
\n
\nWe\u2019ve not made it yet [laughs] so I don\u2019t know what that will be like. But sonically the second is very different. The first one, Blake\u2019s artwork sums up the differences really nicely. It\u2019s quite earthy. It\u2019s called The Fireflow Trade which is a subtle nod to the, kind of like Panthalassa when the world was just one massive landmass. That\u2019s Pangea and the ocean was Panthalassa. And long before man was around the continents drifted and that tectonic plate shift, that was what got me thinking about the fireflow trade, which is like the flow from man to life.
\n
\nThere\u2019s this beautiful quote that goes like \u2018the world is one country and mankind its citizens\u2019. I totally agree with that, that\u2019s the only way to view the state of the planet at the minute where man has got to in evolution. So that album is kind of a muddled way of exploring that idea and is quite earthy. The album cover has the three hands on it each holding a different element set on the backdrop of the sea. And then the new one is like, you kind of zoom right out and it\u2019s meant to be a bit more other-worldly and epic and certainly more psychedelic. The sounds do the same thing, the sounds are more out there.
\n
\nIs that the kind of theme that you represent in your albums?<\/strong>
\n
\nYeah totally. That\u2019s that one theme really, the fact that there\u2019s a spiritual dynamic to a lot of the problems there are in the world and how we deal with that.
\n
\nI know you and Pete (aka THE PETEBOX<\/strong><\/a>) are brothers, did you make up the core of the band first before the others arrived on the scene?<\/strong>
\n
\nYeah there were us two and a guy called Ben who\u2019s still a good mate. He\u2019s a visual artist now. We did literally go swimming at Vicky baths [in Sneinton before it got knocked down] on Saturdays and then in the afternoon generally we\u2019d get together and make music. We\u2019d record the sounds of water and we\u2019d kind of blend the sounds and the sounds of field recordings. We were really into electronica and he was getting me into loads of interesting electronic music. And mine and Pete\u2019s background, the bands we\u2019d been in before were totally guitar driven and song led. And so it was like just meeting the two, then we made our first EP.
\n
\nThat first EP was a total experiment. I listened back to it recently – I hadn\u2019t heard it in ages – and I thought \u2018there\u2019s a lot of good ideas in that\u2019. You could really hear that it was the first ideas of what Swimming ended up becoming. Some of that stuff stands up on its own anyway, particularly the more ambient stuff. Then we started writing songs and became a proper band. I kind of stopped doing Swimming and joined a different band and toured with them for the best part of a year and a half, which was sweet, but it meant I couldn\u2019t do Swimming. So I left them to keep doing Swimming then we wrote the first album and that came out in 2009. That\u2019s when Blake joined the band, then that\u2019s when we kind of felt that Swimming was a proper band.
\n
\nI\u2019m guessing you all met in Nottingham, swimming around in Vicky baths maybe?<\/strong>
\n
\nNo we all went to school together. Blake and Andy were in Peter\u2019s year at school, so I ended up in a band with my brother\u2019s mates. And Jonathan was the year above us at school but we didn\u2019t know him. It was only \u2018cause I started working at a studio where he was a technical manager that we were like, \u2018aw you can come play guitar in our band and you can do stuff that I can\u2019t dream of doing, like make your guitar sound like synthesisers and that sort of thing\u2019 [laughs].
\n
\nSo how did you come to sing?<\/strong>
\n
\nI sang as a kid but then I totally went off the idea of singing. Singing\u2019s a weird one because it\u2019s so personal. It\u2019s your voice, it\u2019s not like an instrument which has its own qualities about it or anything. It\u2019s as direct an expression you can get without mastering an instrument I think. And I was listening to a combination of singers back then. I love the sound of H.R\u2019s vocals and the way he sings in Bad Brains – I know that might come across as a weird reference to people who know our music – but the way he sings is frickin\u2019 unreal. And a lot of soul singers as well like Terry Callier and a lot of that stuff.
\n
\nIs that who you\u2019d say your influences are?<\/strong>
\n
\nNo, only in terms of singing.
\n
\nAnd what about generally?<\/strong>
\n
\nTo be honest it\u2019s more like the stuff I was talking about earlier. That\u2019s the reason why you\u2019d pick up a song. I listen to pretty much electronic music, I don\u2019t listen to much guitar music anymore. I used to love it so that\u2019s still in there, like bands like the Pixies, they were a big influence, and Sonic Youth were a big influence\u2026 Showing my age a little bit here [laughs]. But they were who I listened to, like Melvins and Nirvana.
\n
\nI was into American alternative guitar music and post rock bands. So that was on the one hand but then on the other hand I loved music like Aphex Twin, Oval and some European electronic music. And then the Flaming Lips and TV on the Radio are two of my favourite bands. If we ever get compared to people they\u2019re the ones that I go \u2018yesss\u2019 at. We don\u2019t necessarily sound like them but I think we\u2019re similar in terms of the approach and the blending of the instruments, and the \u2018anything goes\u2019 kind of attitude that they have, like they\u2019re not fixed at all to a specific sound or genre or anything like that. I think we share quite a lot in common with TV on the Radio and Flaming Lips. They\u2019re obviously amazing bands so I don\u2019t really want to compare ourselves at all but in terms of approach that\u2019s the kind of ball park we\u2019re in\u2026
\n
\nThat\u2019s cool. I\u2019ve heard you\u2019ve had interest from Film4 recently, what\u2019s been happening?<\/strong>
\n
\nFilm4 picked up one of our tracks\u2026 It was quite humbling to hear it over some of my favourite British films. Four Lions was on there.
\n
\nWhich track is this?<\/strong>
\n
\nOne called I Do off the new album. So that was pretty cool.
\n
\nCongrats are in order then! That was brilliant, thanks for chatting John.<\/strong>
\n
\nINTERVIEW ENDS.<\/strong>
\n
\nWe have featured SWIMMING<\/strong><\/a> as our artist of the month. To hear tracks from their latest album check out our New Music Podcasts here<\/a>, and for live reviews of the band click here<\/a> for our blog.
\n
\nFind out more about SWIMMING’s<\/strong> brand new album HERE<\/a><\/strong>. And then go buy it!
\n
\nIf you want to see your music in the next New Music Podcast send us your demos! More info can be found on our FAQ page<\/a>.
\n
\nFor all the latest Nusic news join our Nusic Facebook Page<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SWIMMING is a band that is certainly making waves right now. iTune\u2019s Indie Spotlight even made Neutron Wireless Crystal (off the new album) its single of the week! We know they\u2019re great, Film4 seems to know it too, so our predictions of a Notts Number One are surely imminent. Frontman John Sampson takes Mary Ann…<\/p>\n

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