Nick Diener - The Swellers (28/11/2014)
After being a band for over twelve years, and after five albums, multiple EP’s, seven-inch’s, demo, countless tours, The Swellers are now calling it a day. One of the bands last ever tours will be here for next years Soundwave Festival, so for this very special occasion, The 59th Sound recently had a chat with front man Nick Diener about the last chapter in The Swellers book.
“It’s really weird. We have a lot of time to sit and think. I don’t think its gonna settle in until we have no shows left to play. We still have like seven or eight months of shows scattered left. It is funny doing all of these interviews in a row, just beating it into my head, like ‘Hey dude, your dream is dying, how do you feel?” laughed Nick, “But its more of a positive thing. I think its good that we can look back on everything that we’ve done and feel good about it”.
That’s Nick and the rest of the band’s attitude to things lately, and it seems surprisingly positive all things considered. The four-piece are all looking towards everything coming their way within the next few months, especially Australia. “We were just glad we could fit so much in. We didn’t actually think we’d get to come back to Australia, but when we got offered the tour, it was perfect and everything can then fall into place. I kind of want us to keep booking shows for as long as we can. But I know that’s not possible. We’ll have to hang it up at some point”. Nick also pondered about once it’s over too. “Maybe it’ll be therapeutic for us to take a break, for us to miss it, for people to miss us. Who knows if we’ll do it again, though I’m sure we’ll all play together at some point down the road. It’s just really bittersweet at the moment”.
The front man also had some very kind things to say about Soundwave Festival. “They really, really take care of their bands, it’s a really comfortable tour, nice hotels and flights, so it’s not a lot of stress. I really didn’t want to do a ton of extra work and spend a lot of money at this point, so this should be good”.
At the end of the day, maybe the band do wish things went a little differently at times, but would the singer change his decision to be in this band over a normal job? Nope! “I would do this all over again because I don’t know how to do anything else. Like if I had to go to school I would freak out. There’s really no occupation that I could think of. I guess getting this out of the way and experiencing this is good, like I’ll always be a musician. That’s always going to be my number one. Its just not my number one way of making money since I don’t really have a project going right now”.
Some may not know that the singer also has a small gig as a recording engineer, so we got him to talk about what soon may become his full time job. “I just make records with bands. I wouldn’t have gotten into that if I wasn’t in a band, so being in this band was a gateway to doing production and recording. It’s just a whole lot of Michigan bands that are all pretty local. I don’t actually put myself out there a lot. It’s more of a low key, word of mouth thing, which is really cool. The first bands were from far away. Some have come from Florida, Quebec City, and just really long distances. They just said they like my style, the songs I’ve written, and its just cool that they chose me out of how ever many people. They also know that I make records the real way, like there are some people out there who won’t let bands play their actual instruments, like they won’t let the drummer pay actual drums. Because so much is done on computers, you might as well get it as real beforehand. It’s actually pretty disheartening, but that’s just my take on it all”.
Being the singer of the band, having his own studio setup, and already having an established name, we asked Nick whether he may go solo after this, and he offered some interesting thoughts. “I’ve actually been thinking about that a lot lately, but I haven’t narrowed it down yet. I’ve written so many different songs and there are a lot of people that want to start something with me. But at the same time, it’d be great to go solo. It’d be more money for me, less gas money to split; I don’t have to drive a big van, no loading in a ton of gear. It’s like everything I hated about touring that I wouldn’t have to do. I have a little recording studio now, so who knows”.
With regards to the final shows, we asked Nick if the band would be planning anything special for the final shows. “We’re just going to try and hit up every place that we can and I don’t know what the last, last thing will be but we have some stuff in the works to get out to UK or Europe. Like if our last show ends up being a great festival in Europe, then that’s great. If our last show ends up being in San Diego, California then maybe we should play a local Michigan show with just us on the bill. Just play for three hours straight or something. We’re playing our final Detroit, Michigan show already, so we don’t want to piss too many people off, that’d be really lame”.
When it comes to the last show, some bands like to film the set, have it immortalized and stamped for future listeners and bands to see and hear. However, The Swellers haven’t really given it much thought yet. “I think there’s been some people who have been documenting the shows. I would love to record one or two of the shows for the audio. We’ll see how much work that is but it’d be great to immortalize the shows, just so we have something”.
Choosing the right songs for any show can be irritating, but picking the right songs for your last ever show can be a doozie, but it looks like the band have it down pat. “We’re going to try and span our whole discography and each get some of our favourites in. maybe just try and play some of the big sing-along songs, make it feel like a big family thing. Depending on how we’re feeling and how we’re playing might mean our set gets really long”, laughs the singer.
As we said before, it’s a grim time for the band, so let’s focus on some of the cooler things Nick has done, and he was more than happy to share some of the more surreal moments of his time in The Swellers. “I’d say getting to meet bands that we all idolized and listened to in the beginning, like No Use For A Name or Saves The Day for example. When Tony Sly from No Use For A Name passed away, we hadn’t met them or knew any of them. But when we toured with Strung Out, we combined bands and covered a whole bunch of No Use For A Name songs each night. And a couple of those nights, a few members from that band came out joined with us. So to have some of the guys from one of the bands that made us want to start out, playing with us to pay tribute to their singer who died was nuts. To have them come up to us and say that they love our band and your records was insane. They actually recorded in my hometown for their last couple records and that’s where we did our last record too, so it all sort of came full circle in the end. And I actually got to meet and become friends with Less Than Jake in 2006 because I played bass in A Wilhelm Scream for a tour, which Less Than Jake headlined. That was my first tour when I like was 18. So even though it’s not really Swellers history, that’s what taught me about touring, and it was through touring with those bands, which was just so cool”.
Alexander Sievers
SOUNDWAVE 2015
SATURDAY 21 & SUNDAY 22 FEBRUARY - ADELAIDE
SATURDAY 21 & SUNDAY 22 FEBRUARY - MELBOURNE
SATURDAY 28 FEBRUARY & SUNDAY 1 MARCH - SYDNEY
SATURDAY 28 FEBRUARY & SUNDAY 1 MARCH – BRISBANE
“It’s really weird. We have a lot of time to sit and think. I don’t think its gonna settle in until we have no shows left to play. We still have like seven or eight months of shows scattered left. It is funny doing all of these interviews in a row, just beating it into my head, like ‘Hey dude, your dream is dying, how do you feel?” laughed Nick, “But its more of a positive thing. I think its good that we can look back on everything that we’ve done and feel good about it”.
That’s Nick and the rest of the band’s attitude to things lately, and it seems surprisingly positive all things considered. The four-piece are all looking towards everything coming their way within the next few months, especially Australia. “We were just glad we could fit so much in. We didn’t actually think we’d get to come back to Australia, but when we got offered the tour, it was perfect and everything can then fall into place. I kind of want us to keep booking shows for as long as we can. But I know that’s not possible. We’ll have to hang it up at some point”. Nick also pondered about once it’s over too. “Maybe it’ll be therapeutic for us to take a break, for us to miss it, for people to miss us. Who knows if we’ll do it again, though I’m sure we’ll all play together at some point down the road. It’s just really bittersweet at the moment”.
The front man also had some very kind things to say about Soundwave Festival. “They really, really take care of their bands, it’s a really comfortable tour, nice hotels and flights, so it’s not a lot of stress. I really didn’t want to do a ton of extra work and spend a lot of money at this point, so this should be good”.
At the end of the day, maybe the band do wish things went a little differently at times, but would the singer change his decision to be in this band over a normal job? Nope! “I would do this all over again because I don’t know how to do anything else. Like if I had to go to school I would freak out. There’s really no occupation that I could think of. I guess getting this out of the way and experiencing this is good, like I’ll always be a musician. That’s always going to be my number one. Its just not my number one way of making money since I don’t really have a project going right now”.
Some may not know that the singer also has a small gig as a recording engineer, so we got him to talk about what soon may become his full time job. “I just make records with bands. I wouldn’t have gotten into that if I wasn’t in a band, so being in this band was a gateway to doing production and recording. It’s just a whole lot of Michigan bands that are all pretty local. I don’t actually put myself out there a lot. It’s more of a low key, word of mouth thing, which is really cool. The first bands were from far away. Some have come from Florida, Quebec City, and just really long distances. They just said they like my style, the songs I’ve written, and its just cool that they chose me out of how ever many people. They also know that I make records the real way, like there are some people out there who won’t let bands play their actual instruments, like they won’t let the drummer pay actual drums. Because so much is done on computers, you might as well get it as real beforehand. It’s actually pretty disheartening, but that’s just my take on it all”.
Being the singer of the band, having his own studio setup, and already having an established name, we asked Nick whether he may go solo after this, and he offered some interesting thoughts. “I’ve actually been thinking about that a lot lately, but I haven’t narrowed it down yet. I’ve written so many different songs and there are a lot of people that want to start something with me. But at the same time, it’d be great to go solo. It’d be more money for me, less gas money to split; I don’t have to drive a big van, no loading in a ton of gear. It’s like everything I hated about touring that I wouldn’t have to do. I have a little recording studio now, so who knows”.
With regards to the final shows, we asked Nick if the band would be planning anything special for the final shows. “We’re just going to try and hit up every place that we can and I don’t know what the last, last thing will be but we have some stuff in the works to get out to UK or Europe. Like if our last show ends up being a great festival in Europe, then that’s great. If our last show ends up being in San Diego, California then maybe we should play a local Michigan show with just us on the bill. Just play for three hours straight or something. We’re playing our final Detroit, Michigan show already, so we don’t want to piss too many people off, that’d be really lame”.
When it comes to the last show, some bands like to film the set, have it immortalized and stamped for future listeners and bands to see and hear. However, The Swellers haven’t really given it much thought yet. “I think there’s been some people who have been documenting the shows. I would love to record one or two of the shows for the audio. We’ll see how much work that is but it’d be great to immortalize the shows, just so we have something”.
Choosing the right songs for any show can be irritating, but picking the right songs for your last ever show can be a doozie, but it looks like the band have it down pat. “We’re going to try and span our whole discography and each get some of our favourites in. maybe just try and play some of the big sing-along songs, make it feel like a big family thing. Depending on how we’re feeling and how we’re playing might mean our set gets really long”, laughs the singer.
As we said before, it’s a grim time for the band, so let’s focus on some of the cooler things Nick has done, and he was more than happy to share some of the more surreal moments of his time in The Swellers. “I’d say getting to meet bands that we all idolized and listened to in the beginning, like No Use For A Name or Saves The Day for example. When Tony Sly from No Use For A Name passed away, we hadn’t met them or knew any of them. But when we toured with Strung Out, we combined bands and covered a whole bunch of No Use For A Name songs each night. And a couple of those nights, a few members from that band came out joined with us. So to have some of the guys from one of the bands that made us want to start out, playing with us to pay tribute to their singer who died was nuts. To have them come up to us and say that they love our band and your records was insane. They actually recorded in my hometown for their last couple records and that’s where we did our last record too, so it all sort of came full circle in the end. And I actually got to meet and become friends with Less Than Jake in 2006 because I played bass in A Wilhelm Scream for a tour, which Less Than Jake headlined. That was my first tour when I like was 18. So even though it’s not really Swellers history, that’s what taught me about touring, and it was through touring with those bands, which was just so cool”.
Alexander Sievers
SOUNDWAVE 2015
SATURDAY 21 & SUNDAY 22 FEBRUARY - ADELAIDE
SATURDAY 21 & SUNDAY 22 FEBRUARY - MELBOURNE
SATURDAY 28 FEBRUARY & SUNDAY 1 MARCH - SYDNEY
SATURDAY 28 FEBRUARY & SUNDAY 1 MARCH – BRISBANE