Music
Press
Harvey Swagger Band is our Unsigned Artist Of The Week!
If you like what you heard this morning, check out their website here
Harvey Swagger Band
theswagger.com
Sydney based band - FBi Radio
Indie blues/Country outfit Harvey Swagger Band discover they have been played on 500 radio stations to an estimated 1.8 million listeners with a further 700,000 downloads.
The radio show, This American Life is produced by Chicago Public Media and has won all the major broadcasting awards and recently released a TV version that has won three Emmys. The show is consistently the most downloaded podcast in the United States. It is played locally on ABC 702 Sydney.
The song “Up to No Good” a tale of human weakness, fitted the program’s theme of “mortal vs venial sin” to a tee.
Singer, Harvey Russell was caught by surprise when he discovered that the song had reached so many listeners. “You can spend a life time of sweat and toil trying to get one of your songs on radio and when it happens it’s kind of hard to believe, especially when the audience is this large.”
“We have mainly been focusing our efforts on the American market, it is great that this work is starting to pay off” Harvey said.
So what is next for Harvey Swagger band? “We have a suite of new songs that we hope to release in early 2013 and we will continue to push for opportunities Australia and overseas” Harvey says. “We are briefly touring the South Eastern states later this year with dates in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney to promote our latest EP – Pioneer”.
You can catch up with the happenings of Harvey Swagger Band and hear their break out track Up to No Good at www.theswagger.com or at Facebook and Myspace. The radio show can be heard at
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/463/mortal-vs-venial
- This American Life
Harvey Swagger. Doesn’t that name just undulate with barely restrained masculinity? I imagine him as a moustachioed bloke stomping through the American Mid West in chaps, spurs and rakishly angled cowboy hat. He makes a perfect mascot for Harvey Swagger Band”
LIAM CASEY – Drum Media
- Drum Media
“Beautiful, lilting country. Makes me think of hitchhiking in the 1950s, eating watermelon in the back of some dude's pick-up truck.”
VIJAY KHURANA – Triple J
- Triple J
“Yes, Harvey Swagger Band is a little bit country (rock) and a little bit pop. They do it sincerely and do it well.”
NIC DALTON – Half a Cow Records
- Half a Cow Records
Discography
EP 2009
Pioneer EP 2011
Photos
Bio
Harvey Swagger Band inhabits a gritty world of challenges, temptations and words better left unsaid. It roams from past to present, exploring strangely familiar places and often draws inspiration from life’s less celebrated experiences.
With vivacious Californian native Josie Rothwell joining Harvey Russell up front, the Band’s rougher edges have been smoothed. Rothwell’s appealing vocals and bright, inspired contributions on keys bring a new depth to the material.
Harvey Swagger Band continues to refine its sound, discovering new collaborative freedoms along the way. Now more than ever its tracks display an element of the unconventional whilst retaining an accessibility which comes from experienced song-writing.
Harvey Swagger Band inhabits a gritty world of challenges, temptations and words better left unsaid. It roams from mainstreet to country back alley exploring a range of both familiar and exotic places, often drawing inspiration from life’s less celebrated experiences.
Earlier this year the lineup was rounded out with Jonathan Kelly on bass giving Harvey and the Langman brothers the new collaborative freedoms offered by the addition of a second guitar. The result is rewarding. The Band’s songs breathe more easily, taking the listener in and out of traditional structures. Josie continues to provide tight harmonies and elegant work on keys, contributing to the Band’s occasional Southern feel.
Since its inception in 2004, Harvey Swagger Band has unleashed a number of demo and EP recordings to the Sydney music community, all to positive responses. The Band’s Pioneer EP was launched at the Gaelic Hotel in December 2011 and captures the Band’s current energy. According to Harvey the release offers listeners “a taste of authentic alt-country and indie rock.”
In a live setting the Band can draw from either of these styles, or it can lurch seamlessly into the waiting arms of blues-fuelled rock or straight out rock’n’roll. To see Harvey Swagger Band in action catch them at one of their Sydney or Adelaide shows this year.
Links
