I’ve been having a bit of a play with blip (the musical Twitter) this evening and have continued an early 90s nostalgia trip that started on the train home tonight. Basically I’ve been listening to lots of bands that, rightly or wrongl, were categorised as shoe-gazers back in the day.
My journey home was made a lot more pleasant thanks to Ride, Slowdive, Lush & many more. However just now I dug out a band who, whilst being around at a similar time to these bands, definitely brought a bit more attitude.
Swervedriver had more in common with bands like Mudhoney & Dinosaur Jr. than Slowdive but, because they were signed to Creation (this was in the days before they signed Oasis) they often ended up being lumped in with the ‘scene that celebrated itself’. But, as you can hear if you listen to Duel, they definitely knew how to rock: they also, as Duel again shows, had an amazing ear for a melody, meaning their tunes were perfect little slices of rock pop.
Unfortunately, and contrary to what Noel Gallagher once said about his former label-mates, due to the financial idiocy of Creation owner Alan McGee, the band got screwed and never fulfilled their full potential. They’ve now reformed so if they’re playing near you it might be worth checking out Swervdriver to see if they still manage to blend melody & rock into such perfect little packages as Duel.
