Demos are an odd thing in the world of the music scene, they range from the promisingly impressive, to the downright dire. But then not many of today’s bigger bands ever needed to produce a demo, a lot simply put on their atticus tee’s scream a bit about girls and get signed, luckily Swallows show more of the promise and less of the bilge. The three piece have put together a very short and sharp four song demo (one of which is a video) which eerily reminds you of decade old Blink 182, maybe I am showing some bias, but even the littlest things down to recording quality remind me of the San Diego trio’s glory days.
It starts with ‘Politics’ a frantic number with in your face lyrics and a catchy little chorus that is designed to entertain rather than be thought provoking. The accompanying video is basically one of those textbook montages you see every so often, showing the band at their jovial best, larking about with friends and generally making us believe they are bludey good chaps. ‘Scrapheap’ is a personal favorite with a simple guitar riff skimming along as the song changes pace on a regular basis and the distinctive vocals of frontman Charlie keeping the song ticking over. ‘Jen Song’ is a little weaker, but the influences of the aforementioned Blink 182 are concurrent throughout, as pacy drumming, girl angst and pick slides are blended seamlessly. ‘Tale of two friends’ wraps up our short pop-punk journey with a slightly darker tinge to a bouncy song, and is probably the weakest of the four tracks.
It is clear to see where the trio have gotten their influences, as they fuse all of the ingredients for a pop-punk band together and produce a mighty fine taster of what they are capable of. Quite often when listening to demos it is easy to become distracted and bored, but Swallows have managed to maintain the interest and even stick on a bonus video to spice things up. Hopefully they will have a bright future and we can expect to hear more from them. Mean while check out there website at www.swallowsmusic.com and hassle them for a copy…
Jay