Swivel

Swivel is currently featured in the local artists listening station at Virgin Megastore in West Hollywood! - Virgin Megastore West Hollywood

"In high school, I secretly listened to Madonna," Rivers Cuomo admits in the new Spin. Nothing wrong with Madonna, Rivers -- she gave us some of the best dance music of the '80s. But will she win over the indie kids of Indio? Will Giant Drag and Nine Black Alps fans kick off their sandals in the dance tent to gawk at the leotarded Queen Mum Of Pop? Stereogum has no idea. But we'll take the opportunity to share a sweet acoustic version of Madge's "Sorry" from indie rockers Swivel. Enjoy.
- www.stereogum.com

“Robotic Sex is fun, angry, funky, catchy and stupid. Which does a helluva lot more for rock pop in the new millennium than many established rock icons can say. And the groove is real!"

- Derrick Mathis of the LA Weekly

"Swivel never loses sight of the two H's -- hooks and harmonies.... channels Radiohead at their peppiest and the Beatles' blend of rock and R&B, with a little Kanye West bravado thrown in for good measure. " - of Mtv.com

"One of the most unbelievable bands to come around in a long time." - Whodaludaradio.com

Rihanna's "Umbrella" is arguably one of the most brilliant pop songs of the year. Producing a cover of it must be a daunting dask, but indie L.A. pop duo Swivel gave it a shot. Tai Heard and Eddie Tyclus have recorded an acoustic version of the song attempting to give it their own unique spin. It is virtually impossibly to beat the quality of the original, but kudos to Swivel for having the balls to give it a try. - Arjanwrites

Swivel is a mix of Rock, Electronica and Acoustic Guitar w/ a groovy vibe that swings from a string of smoke streams. A great band from the Los Angeles area this duo, made up of singer/songwriters Tai and Eddie, are a serious talent to be reckoned with. I met up with these guys at the Cat and the Fiddle on the Sunset Strip and had the pleasure of talking with them about everything from acting to how much they both love Madonna and their most precious prize possession to date: Their new demo, "Razor Blades' a prelude to their full fledged album coming out in Fall 2007.

Tai and Eddie met in High School. At the time of their meeting – Thai was an avid chess player and belonged to the Literary Arts Magazine – playing piano on the side.

"I was a nerd and Eddie was the popular one. He was already an aspiring actor working on the Cosby show and Ghostwriter – and had a ton of friends." On the day of their meeting, Eddie was singing in a songwriting competition and Tai saw him from afar. "He was just damn good. Couldn't believe it. He was a triple threat, singer/songwriter/actor." As time progressed and they became friends, Eddie taught Tai how to sing and they began to exchange ideas back and forth to each other – soon they were writing songs and forming the foundations of the later-Swivel. After High School Eddie decided to pursue an acting career and enrolled in NYU's prestigious Film School. Not even a year into college he landed a co-starring role with Mathew McConaughey in the movie "Lone Star." While Eddie was busy becoming a star, Tai had his own aspirations deciding to follow a career in physics. "I loved music, but I was going to do Physics – the sad thing is you're automatically not cool if you're a Physics major so I decided instead to follow my dream and enlisted in Berkeley's School of Music in MA." In Boston Tai found his true calling, meeting other like-minded musicians who had the same passion for music as he did. "I was finally cool." (Laughs) "Boston Musicians are a lot more laid back and in Somerville we'd just go hang out at bars and there was this real creative energy about the place." While each friend was pursuing different aspirations, Eddie and Tai still found time to send each other songs and build their songwriting repertoire. After College Tai decided to move to NYC while Eddie settled upon becoming a Film Actor in LA. It was a time of revelation for each of them. As Tai mentions, "When I moved to NYC, I had to take some time to find myself. I'm not like everybody else." Eddie: "That's true, when he visited me in NY during college he actually lost his virginity on my bed!" (Both Laugh)

After moving to Los Angeles, Eddie kept in contact with his best friend – and started to develop his own friendships around town – bringing him closer to the Music scene. "The truth is I wanted to be an Actor, but I did a lot of soul searching and found that Music was really what I wanted to do, it's in my blood. Just like me, my father loved music and used to play it all the time."

This time apart forced the duo to start thinking about the possibility of playing music together. As Eddie states, "We'd always sent each other demos back and forth listening to each other's work, but now we were like – 'You should play on this song with me' – and that was really the beginning of Swivel."

At first Tai was reluctant about moving to Los Angeles, comfortable teaching guitar at the Royal Academy of Music – but Eddie's badgering finally won through. "He kept telling me we're going to be Rock Stars. We're going to be Huge! I guess after awhile I started to believe it myself." Finally after years apart, Tai and Eddie were in the same room writing songs together, mixing dance beats with acoustic grooves and gaining a whole new fan base with their popular rendition of Madonna's hit "Sorry." -- "We incorporated a lot of our sound from Madonna's CD, Confessions on a Dance Floor." Other influences from this dynamic duo include – Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Queen, Prince, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Hole, Britney Spears, Radio Head and even the singer amalgam, Bjork.

Both Singer/songwriters are confident in their abilities together and on their own, but neither wants to go solo. As Eddie says, "We compliment each other well, and since Tai is great at recording it makes things a lot easier." In terms of how they write songs, Eddie confesses, "To be honest I came up with a lot of my melodies washing dishes at Starbucks." Thai prefers a nice walk with the walk-man and smoking a lot of pot along the way. Both are avid about finding sources of inspiration -- paintings/movies/books – anything with a personal story behind it. When I asked what their trick is to staying constantly ahead of their time as songwriters, they were all to ready to throw out some diamonds in the rough. "Keeping your ear to the street is important, find out what is popular and grab onto it. Constantly reinvent yourse - Ijamr magazine