California's Swimmers - formed of brother guitarist/singers Max and Cole Becker and drummer Joey 'son of Billie Joe' Armstrong - spent 10 years performing under the name Emily's Army before their recent rebirth.
"School Of Rock came out and Cole, my younger brother, and Joey, our best friend, started a band and I became the bass player for 10 years," explains Max, who recently switched to six-string. "We realised we had grown up doing that, but we didn't really find our sound until this year."
"Surfy Ramones"
That sound - as Max later states, a "surfy Ramones" - is held together in exquisitely jangly fashion by Max's Danelectro DC59 and brother Cole's Squier Jaguar. It's the kind of thing fans of The Vaccines, Wavves and FIDLAR will lap up. Indeed, the band's recent Swim EP was released on cassette via the FIDLAR-affiliated Burger Records.
"We did our first Burger show at Beach Goth festival and it was nuts," enthuses Max. "It was like, 'We've finally found a home!' They have a following, so whatever the fuck they put out, people listen to it. It's like Lookout Records was [in the 90s]. It hasn't quite hit a pop scene in America yet, it's still bubbling."
Releasing a cassette is fine, but does anyone still have a tape player? "It's just cool to have something," laughs Max. "We tell people to listen to it on Spotify and hold it front of their faces!"
- For fans of: The Vaccines, FIDLAR
- Hear: Ammonia And Bleach
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