The Swillerz

The Swillerz were the first band to take the stage. Jim, the lead singer belted out the vocals as any punker, but on a couple of songs he surprised me with the range of a Mike Ness or Mark Lanegan type vox, before digging back into his bass and the band blasting their next punk rock chorus.

They were the first band on the bill at Kimo’s on April 1, 2006. At one point in the set, Jim, the lead singer ripped his guitar off his shoulder, during a song that sounded like the Pogues on speed, and ran right into the crowd starting a pit, then jumped back onstage and continued where he left off. It was brilliant.

I said hi to him after the show and he gave me a vacant ‘I’m too drunk to drive home and I might throw up on you’ stare.

Swill they will. - Tony Dushane

When Jim Swiller and Sammy Swiller married their wives, both men had the foresight to seal prenuptial deals guaranteeing them allotted time to surf, skateboard and listen to punk rock. But they forgot about beer. Fortunately, the old friends and roommates, who have played music together for years in the Bay Area and in Hawaii, did not panic. They just formed a new band. "We had a need to legitimize going drinking with the boys," explains Jim, "So instead of 'Can I go out?,' it's 'Got band t'night, babe.' " After adding longtime friends John Young and Matt Bostaph to the lineup, the band's name came to them at exactly 2 a.m. while swilling brews at a bar in Redding. "The Swillerz is the summation of what we stand for -- the freedom to swill. And swill we will."

Lineup: John Young, rhythm guitar, onstage fondler; Matt Bostaph, lead guitar, onstage ripper; Jim Swiller, vocals, bass, pelvic thrust; Sammy Swiller, drums, poster child for at-risk youth.

1. The Swillerz music should be filed between:

AC/DC and Creedence Clearwater Revival -- if you were on methamphetamines and liked small shrubbery, with which to build a path.

2. The soundtrack to what movie would your music best match?

"Deliverance," or "The Big Lebowski." We got fat on White Russians. Swill like a pig!

3. If you could collaborate on a song with any person, living or dead, who would that be?

John Bonham, and Bon Scott. Even dead they rock harder than anyone alive! And nine times out of 10 they smell better too!

4. If a junior high school asked you to play a cover song at the next talent show, what song and school would you choose?

The Swillerz would do a Bay Area junior high school tour with stops at Borel Middle School in San Mateo, Rohnert Park Junior High and Silva Junior High in Newark, which is now the site of an apartment complex. "Another Brick in the Wall," by Pink Floyd -- except we'd change the chorus to "We didn't get no eduma-cation," and you can quote that.

5. What is the meaning of life?

Having exotic women feed you grapes in a ghetto pool filled with vodka and waiting for the Domino's pizza guy to show up within 15 minutes, hoping, anticipating -- giddy like a schoolgirl -- that he shows up late so it's free. The land of the free. Free beer. God bless America.

Check them out: www.myspace.com/theswillers

Next gig: 9 p.m. Sat. with Junkload at Kimo's Penthouse Lounge, 1351 Polk St., San Francisco. $6. (415) 885-4535. www.myspace.com/kimosbar - SF Gate/S.F.Chronicle