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The best kept secret in music
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I never, in my wildest dreams, would have guessed that I would be giving my highest marks of the night to a group that was a last-minute addition to the lineup but it’s true. As I mentioned in part 1 of my review, Swing Shot is a group from Knoxville that was called in at the last minute to replace 3 Minutes to Live, who had to cancel due to a death in the guitarists family. I had pretty low expectations for this group, given the short amount of time for preparation. Boy, was I in for a surprise! Swing Shot took the stage and basically punched us all in the mouth and left us craving more. This group is talented in all facets of their lineup. First of all, this is a band that features a background vocalist that plays a set of conga drums. Yes, you heard me correctly. Another interesting feature of Swing Shot is the fact that almost everyone sings. LTC set things up with their dual vocal ability and Swing Shot knocked out the strike with almost every member of the band contributing at some point in the set. Lead vocalist, BJ Griffith, satisfied all of the metal fans in the audience with some guttural growls that sounded extremely authentic while other band members such as percussionist Shane Reed and drummer, Matt Bradley provided some original melodic vocals to even things out. Bassist, Loren Queener, while having a great singing voice, does a great job by playing simpatico with, not one, but 2 different drum/percussion players and guitarist, Jason Puckett broke into some great riffing on song such as ‘Divinity’ and ‘Kurdle’. I really dug the conga part at the end of ‘Left Empty’ and the high number of changes in ‘Divinity’.
Swing Shot provided a highly entertaining set that included a melding of many influences, energy from start to finish, and so many changes in songs and structure that you are guaranteed to never have a dull moment. I don’t say this lightly, if they are in town and you like rock or metal music in any fashion, Go See This Band!
Review By:
Chris ‘Uncle Daddy Longlegs’ Czynszak
www.nashvillerock.com - Nashville Rock
Discography
"The Growth Inside Your Mind" (2001) Self Released LP. Recorded at Brimstone Studios, Huntsville Tn.
The Track " The Pit " received airplay on 94.3 xtreme Radio.
"7 Deep" (2002) Self Released Single. Recorded at Underground Studios, Knoxville Tn.
7 Deep was also included in 94.3 xtreme Radio compilation cd, South East Xports S.E.X. Vol. 5
and received airplay for several months
"Diversified" (2004) Self Released 3 song EP. Recorded at The Sound Lair, Knoxville Tn.
"Loss & Effect" (2005) LP Released by Vision Metal Records, Recorded at The Cave, Harrogate Tn.
Songs are available in streaming and mp3 format on www.myspace.com/diversified
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
For Swingshot Music visit www.myspace.com/swingshot
SwingShot originally manifested itself in late 1998 to early 1999 under the name Diversified.
After several lineup changes, we have formed a solid brotherhood in our current incarnation.
The new name SwingShot was chosen to reflect the new direction the music has taken over the course of time,
and so you get the swingy metal noise you hear today.
If any one of the five elements is missing, the sound is incomplete.
Drawing on influences that range from every end of the musical spectrum,
from old school thrash to nu-metal bounce, from dancehall swing to hardcore punk,
from classic rock to radio pop, we try to bring something that everyone will feel.
The purpose of music is to convey emotion from one person to another.
What we are trying to make our audience feel is the Human experience that we,
the individual members of Swing Shot have gone through.
We have each suffered our own loss,
the emotional damage we have received from dealing with the death of loved ones,
divorce, substance abuse, break-ups, cancer and a number of other tragedies.
We try to focus all that pain, anger, and sorrow into our musical craft,
attempting to turn something negative into a positive.
Our lateset cd's title 'Loss & Effect' is the result of this attempt.
With concentrated effort, over the past year we have booked at least 4-5 shows every month,
obtained sponsorship from several local businesses, produced and distrubuted all our own merchandise,
including stickers, t-shirts, and with the help of Vision Metal Records,
recorded and produced our debut cd 'Loss & Effect' in early 2005.
We now seek to branch out, expand our fanbase, and become a national, and eventually an international act.
Links
