-=- SHGZ -=-
* Shoegaze * Indie * Post-Rock * Grunge * Dream Pop * Psych-Rock * Ethereal *
Artist..: Sway
Album...: This Was Tomorrow
GENRE....: Indie
STYLE....: Shoegaze, Electronic, Dream Pop, Ambient
LABEL....: Saint Marie SCENE.....: 2016-02-19
BITRATE..: 952 kbps avg STORE.....: 2011-00-00
ENCODER..: FLAC 1.2.1 -8 -V TRACKS....: 10
SIZE.....: 286.7MB SOURCE....: CD
URL..: http://www.facebook.com/theswaypage/
- TRACKLIST
1 Palos Verdes 4:47
2 What I Know 3:48
3 Running In Circles 5:12
4 This Was Tomorrow 3:45
5 Thirty-Seven Miles Beside The Ocean 3:40
6 Nucifera 4:29
7 Only Tuesday 3:00
8 Mary Blair Murals 4:00
9 Tunnels 3:51
10 What I Didn't Get To Say 5:02
Total Playtime: 41:34
This Was Tomorrow û An Interview With Sway
Back in 2010 when Sway first released the followup to the now classic Millia
Pink and Green EP, I offered to review it for him on this here blog. Many a
draft was started, but I wasnÆt quite able to express the everything about
This Was Tomorrow that made it so special. This Was Tomorrowæs USP is its
complete and utter departure from The Millia Pink and Green and this has,
unsurprisingly, left a few of the old-school gazers confused. Me, I see
Millia Pink and Green and This Was Tomorrow as entirely different,
uncomparable pieces of work. However I think think the poor purists would
like an explanation. So putting my electrogaze tendencies aside I decide to
ask The Man Himself (hi Andrew!) a few Qs about the album so we can get all
your perplexedness cleared up.
IÆm quite happy I took so long to get around to this because just last month,
Sway signed up to Saint Marie Records and so This Was Tomorrow had a fresh
release on the 7th of June this year. ThatÆs enough excitement and goings-on
in the Life of Sway to make up an entire interview, I thought. So here you
go:
The St. Marie Records signing was something like 6 months after you
independently released This Was Tomorrow. WhatÆs the story behind that? Is
TWT going to be out in many formats? CD, Vinyl, tape, 8-trackà Also what
would you consider the official release date?
This Was Tomorrow was initially intended to be a ôdigital onlyö release via
iTunes, Bandcamp, etc. I really only wanted to have it out in that format as
IÆm very much on-board with the idea of digital distribution of music. I love
it. I totally understand the desires of many music fans that want a tangible
copy of an album, but for me the most important thing is getting people to
hear my music in the easiest and most convenient way possible. I really kind
of feel that compact discs are on the way out. The album actually was
released as a download only in November of 2010, and a couple of months after
the release Saint Marie Records hit me up to do a CD release of the album. I
had received so many emails asking about when TWT would be released on CD
that I was planning to do a special limited run, and the Saint Marie offer
came just in time. So, for now, you have TWT as a digital download and a CD.
I suppose I consider June 7th, 2011 to be the official releaseà
TWT is totally different from The Millia Pink & Green EP. I know thereÆve
been some ôyouÆve abandoned us!ö reactions from the purists because (I think)
itÆs far more electrogaze than classic shoegaze. Much more digital than
analog. IÆm just speculating it was the 8-bitter in you that compelled you to
make the record. You know better so tell me û what were you thinking about
when you made each record?
Well, when I guess itÆs pretty obvious that my influences are bands like
Slowdive, Cocteau Twins, My Bloody Valentine, Lush, etc. When we did The
Millia Pink and Green, I wanted to do a very swirly album that would set us
apart mostly from a lot of stuff that was going on locally here on the West
coast (US). At that time, there really werenÆt many bands doing the kind of
stuff we were around here, and I really wanted to do something that would be
just a million miles away from all of the other albums coming out.
I have always been obsessed with things that sound lost and blurry in music.
Things that sound beautiful but strange, thatÆs why I was drawn to dreampop
early on. I always loved Enya and ethereal sounding stuff, and I like my pop
music that way too.
With The Millia P&G, I was just looking to make a blurry, floaty, windy EP
that would be a reminder of what Sway was doing live at the time. When people
came to our shows (we played a lot back then, believe it or not) they would
usually be somewhat confused by the sounds we were putting out and IÆm sure
wondered if most of it were intentionally done, you know? So, this was like a
reminder or proof that, yeah, we actually made music that sounded that way,
and meant to.
IÆve always been a gamer. All of the Sway kids were. We all grew up with
Atari and Nintendo stuff. There is something about 8-bit sounds and all that,
that really gets my nostalgia machine working. For me, part of the whole
dreampop thing is this weird nostalgic daydream feeling thatÆs induced by
swirly guitars. I realized a few years ago that those retro game sounds also
have the same effect on me, perhaps even more so, so I had to squeeze them in
there. In my opinion, it totally works. IÆm not trying to abandon all of the
people that are faithful to the textbook shoegaze sounds or anything, I just
feel thereÆs room for new sounds in this ôgenreö. IÆm actually kinda bummed
that itÆs far easier for most bands these days to more or less emulate
Slowdive or My Bloody Valentine twenty years later and have people eat it up.
That bugs me. I honestly love the classics and steal from them all day long
in my own way, but I constantly feel pressured to not go too far when it
comes to borrowing from them and their sounds or songwriting. TWT is a
dreampop album that uses plenty of my influences, and adds some new stuff
that you might not expect for this kind of music. ItÆs good to mix it up a
bit. I think if people give this album a real listen, theyÆll appreciate it
more. I made this for the listeners, the people that put on headphones and
like to lose themselves in the music.
What is a day in the life of Sway û are you a rockstar, an oversized kid, or
just a normal 9-to-5-er?
Definitely as far from a rockstar as can be. IÆm a dad, a husband, and I have
a full time job at a place that is totally unrelated to music, art, or
anything remotely creative at all. IÆm older now, and IÆm very busy and
tired. I donÆt love music any less than I used to. ItÆs torture to not have
many chances these days to just create music the way I used to and took it
for granted, but I still find time every now and then, and thatÆs fine. It
will never let me achieve any huge popularity or fan base from touring and
doing all the promo work that ôsuccessfulö bands do, but I think IÆm okay
with that. I love the fact that new people are always finding out about Sway
on the internet and from friends.
Even the most dedicated shoegazer likes more than just shoegaze. What
completely different music does your alterego(s) like?
I honestly donÆt listen to much ônugazerö stuff these days unless IÆm exposed
to it by friends, or people I meet or whatever. Most that I do hear though, I
really like a lot! I donÆt actively seek out new shoegaze bands. I do listen
to all the classic stuff from time to time to feed my cravings. As far as
other styles that I like, I know it may sound clichΘ, but I do listen to tons
of jazz. My first instrument was the saxophone, and I still play every now
and then. I love the freedom of jazz improvisation. I love the experimental
and sometimes dissonant chord progressions of avant-garde jazz and ônew
thingö jazz. I also love modern ôclassicalö composers and electronic art
stuff. I like crazy Japanese noise/electronic stuff. Anime soundtracks.
Minimalist classical, anything experimental and pretty. IÆm not into that
much electronica unless itÆs ethereal and not tooàelectronica-ish. I grew up
in the 1980s so I kind of have a soft spot for late 70s and 80s pop stuff. I
have very fond memories of being a little kid and listening to my walkman all
night to some of the top 40 stuff through out the mid and late eighties. I
mention it a lot, but one of the reasons that IÆm drawn to dreampop is
memories of falling asleep with my headphones on, and waking up late at
night, in a sleepy haze and hearing Pet Shop Boys or Lionel Ritchie or Swing
Out Sister or something, whispering to me in my ears. I love the Beatles.
IÆve always loved Michael JacksonÆs music. ôHuman Natureö is one of my all
time favorite songs. The older I get, the less I like hip, cutting edge
ôalternativeö and ôindieö music. ItÆs all starting to sound like noise to me
now, and not so much in a good way. ItÆs weird but true. Is that sad, or
what?
Do you want to know how I first heard about Sway? ItÆs not super-interesting,
but I thought you might like to know since it was not thru the internet
(shock!).
Sway: Hmmmmà not through the internet, huh? IÆm very curious! I doubt that
you took a leap of faith and bought a Sway CD from Tonevendor without a
recommendation or somethingà or did you? A friend?
Me: Well I guess it was indirectly the internet. But I think itÆs cool
because I wasnÆt a part of the Shoegaze Collective at the time (because it
didnÆt really exist to the extent it does now). I only knew a handful of
shoegazers from the internet and one of them IÆd known since I was in India
and he lived in Australia. So a couple of years after I landed in Melbourne
we worked out we werenÆt too far apart and decided to meet for the first
time. HeÆs like shoegaze bourgeoisie. I donÆt know where he gets his info
from but even the most thorough scouring of the internet doesnÆt reveal to me
the stuff he knows as soon as he knows it. He left me with a few names on our
first meeting and was positively RAVING about the Millia Pink and Green. Till
This Was Tomorrow I always associated Sway with ôFallö and, I donÆt know if
you know this, but itÆs a classic now. Anyway, I think itÆs pretty cool that
the first time I heard about Sway was via FACE-TO-FACE CONVERSATION omg.
-=- SHGZ -=-
P.S.
** Thanks ***
*** BCC FNT IPC SSR ***
*** For Knowing Where The Music Is At ***
--===--
*********************
* NuHS we miss you! *
*********************