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Comment RSSThe Ups and Downsizing of Punk
February 9, 2010 # 12:05 am # Features, Music # No CommentBy Jason Davis
The Swellers want you to listen and learn.
“There is always light at the end of the tunnel and things don’t just get better, you need to work hard to make them better,” says drummer Jonathan Deiner. He hopes fans take that message away from the band’s latest album, “Ups and Downsizing,” released in September on Fueled by Ramen, home of bands like Fall Out Boy, Cobra Starship and Gym Class Heroes.
Jonathan, along with his brother, guitarist and lead vocalist Nick Diener, guitarist Ryan Collins and bassist Anto Boros, formed the punk/alternative quartet eight years ago as a cover band. The Flint, Mich. group finished a three-song demo in three days, eventually landing a spot on the Vans Warped Tour.
“Ups and Downsizing” opens with “2009,” a track about that exact moment when you realize that people in your life will let you down; about living your life for you. The song is all about resolutions, Collins says. The Swellers’ resolutions for 2010 are “making things bigger and better, being added to a major headlining tour and building on what’s already been planned so far,” he says. A European tour and short stint on Warped Tour are already in the works for 2010.
The band’s musical tastes extend beyond the Warped Tour scene; Anto says his iPod holds an eclectic mix; “Team America, Spice Girls, Backstreet Boys, Ashlee Simpson, Hilary Duff, and Jamiroquai. But we don’t listen to that regularly, of course.” Their taste in food is offbeat, too—Nick and Jonathan are both serious vegans; their go-to vegan staples are Thai food and crispy tofu in a peanut orange sauce. “It’s not too hard when your girlfriend is a vegan pastry chef who makes the most amazing pastries,” he says.
Jonathan sums up the band’s sound in three words: “Super. Fucking. Awesome.” They make music “because it’s a therapeutic release and it’s fun.”
“The best thing in the world is making memories and we are lucky to do what we love for a living,” Jonathan says, quoting Billy Joel, “If you are not doing what you love, you are wasting your time.”
Download: 2009, Ups & Downsizing, Fire Away.
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