Hi I’m Andrew from Andrew Swift & The Rattlesnake Choir, we’re four musicians from the South Eastern suburbs of Melbourne. We’ve just finished our new EP, ‘Up With The Anchor’, it was recorded in 4 studios with 3 producers in 2 countries. We didn’t do it like that to sound impressive, it just kind of happened that way. To celebrate its release we have a small run of shows along the east coast, the main launch is at the Bendigo Hotel in Collingwood on Saturday 29th of June with Jonesez, Escapegoats and Donnie Dureau.
Do you remember the moment you realised you could sing?
I remember the moment I tried to sing… I used to sit in my room playing a song, then when I thought I had it, I’d come out and play it to my mum and sister, on more than one occasion I was told to stop half way through because I was ruining it. Practice didn’t always make perfect. I stuck with it though and it wasn’t long before I was encouraged to get my guitar out and sing a song when we had people over.
Tell us about your Rattlesnake Choir, where did that name come from and how did it all come together?
The name came from the sound of a layered vibraslap we put together for one of the tracks when I was recording ‘The Way We Were Raised’ in El Paso. I made the comment that it sounded like a choir of rattlesnakes and it stuck. We had tried a few names but that’s the one that just seem to fit with us.
I often get asked how many people it takes to make up a choir, I think people expect to see a vocal choir get on stage with me, but it’s just the four of us, bass, drums and a couple of guitars. I’ve been friends with the other three guys for years individually, but they’d never met each other, Nate was my high school drum teacher, Matty and I use to tour together in our old bands and I worked with Col in a small regional music store. It’s been great to see the three of them form a bond together, usually it involves the three of them uniting to pick on me about something like how I stand on my tip toes while I sing or my ginger beard!
Your forthcoming EP ‘Up With The Anchor’ is due for release on the 28th June, tell us about the concept of this EP about being restless and wanting to escape?
I wouldn’t go as far to say it’s a concept EP, but there is a common theme in a few of the songs. I never try to force my writing, I just let it come out. I’ve always loved being on the road but in the last few years I’ve been doing more international travelling, a bit of back packing in Europe, road trips in the USA. It’s helped me realise how much I love exploring new places. A couple of these songs really express that, I think I wrote them when I arrived back home and was going through that post holiday blues phase which could explain the recurring theme.
What is your most memorable moment from your time in the studio making your EP?
I think the most memorable thing for me was having my nieces come into the studio when we were in at Sing Sing on Chapel St. My sister brought them in for a couple of hours while we were working on ‘The Dockland Lights’, they loved it. They got some photos pretending to play the instruments, I showed them around the studio and they were itching to press all the buttons on the desk. Now whenever they hear that song they tell people they were there when we recorded it and go on about the studio. I love being able to include them in that part of my life.
Tell us about the making of your current video for ‘Refer To The Atlas’, you worked with Dads Old Axe, how much did of an input did you have into the creative for the video?
I let the guys from Dads Old Axe do their thing, I’ve known those guys for years and trust them 100% with what they do, I was regretting that trust a little bit by the end of the shoot though, they said it’d look good if I didn’t wear shoes, I couldn’t feel my feet by the end of the day and the paddock was a mine field of kangaroo shit. Happy to say I was agile enough to miss every little nugget.
I love what they’ve done with it though, it was a long day, but definitely worth the effort, I think it was a little more relaxing for the Dads Old Axe guys, after the set up of the camera they got to sit back with some beers and sandwiches while I pushed a boat across a field for 3 hours. That’s fair, right?
If you could curate your own festival, where would it be, who would be on the bill, how many people would you let in and what features would it have?
I like this question, gets you thinking. I’m thinking on an island maybe Bruny Island in Tasmania, I went camping there once, and loved the place! On the bill would be, Hot Water Music, Jimmy Eat World, Gaslight Anthem, Mariachi El Bronx, Sparta, Against Me!, King Cannons, The Royalty, The Lusitania, Brand New, Boxcar Racer, Blueline Medic, Eve 6, Ballpoint, The Smith St Band, Bodyjar, Mutemath, Tegan & Sara, Antiskeptic, Trial Kennedy, Bruce Springsteen, Cat Stevens, Linc Le Fevre, Jamie Hay, Frank Turner, Crowded House, Jen Buxton, Lucy Wilson… is there room for us to jump on this festival too? I could just keep listing artists!
For food there would be souvlakis, pizza, cupcakes, ice-cream, hot chips, pasta, arancini balls… ok this is just turning into planning the best day of my life I think, there would be rides and magicians and carnival games that you can actually win! Can we actually put this together? Tone Deaf presents ‘The Best Day of Andrew Swift’s Life!’.
Because it’s more fun to do things together, which living Australian artist would you most like to collaborate with?
I’d love to collaborate with Neil Finn, we’ve claimed him enough to be Australian right? He’s been such an amazing song-writer for so long. His songs are a massive part of the soundtrack to my life, I remember watching their farewell concert on TV and it was like the end of an era. I have no doubt I could learn so much from a day of working with Neil.
What is your band’s music the best soundtrack for?
It’d probably make a good soundtrack for a high school power-point presentation on photosynthesis. But if we’re thinking big our music would be great for movies, maybe in the background of a scene in a diner. I’d like to say a car chase, but that’d be unrealistic. We’re not that adrenaline-pumping.
Tell us why we shouldn’t miss your upcoming east coast tour
Because we’re not quite sure how to explain to Nathan’s daughter that nobody likes us. So if we can get some photos of people at our gigs then she can be proud of her Dad. Also, we love to play, but we love it even more if we have people to share those shows with. I can promise we will play to our best and there will be banter with the audience, we’re not one of those bands who just goes from song to song.
Andrew Swift & The Rattlesnake Choir 2013 Australian Tour Dates
June 29 – Bendigo Hotel, Collingwood, VIC w/ Jonesez, Escapegoats, Donnie Dureau
June 30 – Fist2Face Records Instore, VIC
August 4 – John Curtin Hotel, VIC
Refer To The Atlas:
