Interviewee: Full band
Year: 2009
Website: myspace.com/swingshot
MySpace: myspace.com/swingshot
Label: None
Featured on: Loucifer Speaks Exclusive... So far!
Yet again, MySpace has provided me with a little gem of a band! A band that throws every possible influence into the mixing pot and creates a beast - an audio equivilent of Frankenstein's Monster perhaps? But in a good way! After listening to the tracks on their MySpace for a while, I decided to pick up a copy of their album, "There's Nothing Like A Beating" (and, until 18th August 2009, you have the opportunity to win that album on this site - Click here for full details). Keep reading to find out what Swingshot have to say for themselves...
Lou: Hi guys, thanks for agreeing to answer my questions! Let’s get the run-of-the-mill questions out of the way first… and then I’ll throw in some random ones later! How long has the band been together?
Shane: SWINGSHOT started in 2005. In late 2007 Mike took over Guitar duty when former Guitarist Jason Puckett left the band.
Lou: Who is in the band?
BJ Griffith: Lead Vocals
Mike Collins: Guitar
Loren Queener: Bass Guitar/Vocals
Shane Reed: Additional Percussion/Vocals
Matt Bradley: Drums/Vocals
Lou: How long have you each been playing your respective instruments?
Matt has been playing Drums for 18 years.
Shane started playing Drums 10 years ago.
Loren started playing Bass guitar 11 years ago.
Mike has been playing Guitar for 8 years.
BJ has been doing Vocals for 8 years.
Lou: Where does the name Swingshot come from?
Matt: A drunken stupor.
Shane: The name is meaningless, but it sounds fuckin' cool! I didn't like it at first, but it's grown on me. I think it's pretty original.
Loren: 3 of them were getting drunk in a bar, and BJ just spit the name out and they were like, "That's badass!"
Lou: How would you describe your music?
Shane: Our music serves as a positive outlet for the negative emotions inside us all. It is musically, a blending of several different and sometimes opposing influences.
Mike: At times it's angry, and aggressive....sort of a pissed off sadness, I don't know how to explain it.
Lou: Both as individuals and as a band, who would you say were your biggest musical influences?
Mike: Lamb Of God, Metallica, Mudvayne, Meshuggah
Loren: My High School band director was the biggest influence on my life musically.
Shane: The Beatles, Aerosmith, Guns N' Roses, Metallica, the Melvins, Korn, SlipKnoT, All Shall Perish
Matt: Metallica, 311, Lamb Of God
BJ: Pantera, Nirvana, Metallica
Shane: As a band, we try to sound as unlike all the other bands out there as we can, we still feel originality is our biggest selling point.
Lou: Your music is quite diverse, so I was wondering if you’ve ever faced any opposition from the metal crowd at all? Or have you generally always been welcomed with open arms?
Shane: Actually, 4 of us used to be in a 7 piece band called Diversified together. We used to even have a DJ in the band. Our music has always leaned toward the metallic side, but it's only been in the past 4 years that we have been intentionally trying to write metal songs. I think we have been well received in that time, I mean we got to play on the Mayhem Festival tour in Atlanta last Friday, right?
Lou: What sort of subjects do you like to write about?
Shane: That's a question for BJ.
BJ: Personal situations are definitely the focal point of my writing.
Lou: What has the reaction from the fans been like for “There’s Nothing Like A Beating”? (I know you released it a while ago, but it’s still new to me!)
Shane: I think our music has a little something for everyone that digs metal music. It has heaviness, crunch, and melody, and ... cool lyrics. (laughs)
Lou: What is your favourite track from that album and why?
Matt: Who's Your God?, it's a tight track.
Shane: Who's Your God?, because I came up with the intro riff riding in the car back home from practice one night in the rain, listening to the windshield wipers slap out a beat.
Loren: Hophead, because as far as playing the bass, it's one of the bouncier songs. It's almost all slap and pop technique instead of playing with my fingers.
Mike: One Leg Exit, because it's heavy as fuck.
BJ: Fred, because it's completely random and off-the-wall. It's totally different than the rest of the songs on the cd.
Lou: What is your favourite lyric from a Swingshot song and why?
Mike: "From this day on you will live inside your own prison, trying to find a way out trying to make sense" because I believe it pertains to my own life.
Loren: "My eyes never tell the time, but i remember memories, choking on my own tongue, death." because it's a tongue twister.
Matt: "I'm a little concerned because I hurt myself and I don't want to get help, so what's the point?" because I enjoy the mixture of sarcasm and sorrow.
Shane: "I'm gettin' pussy tonight!" I think the reason is pretty self explanatory. (laughs)
BJ: There's no way i can answer that. All of my lyrics are very personal and I can't pick a favorite.
Lou: Which track is the most popular at gigs?
All: Fred!
Lou: How would you describe a Swingshot show?
Matt: High Energy. Connection with the crowd.
Shane: My time to expel my own demons.
Loren: Fun. I have fun.
Mike: Energetic and goofy.
BJ: Aggressive, fun....gives me a hard-on. (laughs)
Lou: Have you ever experienced any embarrassing moments whilst being onstage? If so, tell us what happened... we won't tell anyone... honest...
Matt: I got locked in a bathroom once before a show, and everyone in the place knew that the band onstage couldn't start playing until the drummer was let out of the bathroom. That was pretty embarrassing.
Shane: We were doing a metal cover version of a Snoop Dogg song and my voice cracked really bad during a scream, and it was being recorded for a live cd in front of a fairly large crowd.
Loren: I tore my ACL at The Downtown in Morristown and fell down like a big friggin' mongoloid.
Mike: My first show.
BJ: Forgetting lyrics in the middle of a song is pretty embarrassing.
Lou: Which festival would you most like to play at?
Loren: OZZFEST, definitely... or Bonnaroo.
Shane: Sounds Of The Underground
Mike: I want to play Mayhem Fest again!
Lou: What was the last (non-Swingshot) gig you went to?
Mike: All Shall Perish and All That Remains in Knoxville
Shane: I don't have the money to go see other bands, unfortunately.
Lou: Small gig vs Festival?
BJ: FESTIVAL, because we've played enough small gigs in our lifetime. (laughs)
Lou: Jack Daniels vs Jim Beam vs Jagermeister?
Shane: That would be a hell of a fight! Our money's on Jager to win. But really, this is a silly question, we are a Jagermeister sponsored band. (laughs)
Lou: I understand that you're currently working on an album at the moment (well, I think that’s what I've read!). How will the new material compare to "There’s Nothing Like A Beating"?
Loren: Heavier, more complicated, more melodic
Shane: A true progression in all manner of speaking
BJ: The difference in night and day
Lou: Are you able to tell us anything about the new material? Do you have an album title yet? Or a release date?
Shane: No. (laughs)
BJ: We're tossing around a name but we don't want to say anything until we've decided.
Lou: Are you involved with any other bands at the moment?
Loren: You mean like sexually? Not currently.
(all laugh)
Lou: If you could have written any song in the world, which song do you wish it could have been? And why? (Obviously not a Swingshot song!)
Loren: "Time In A Bottle" by Jim Croce, because it's a beautiful fuckin' song.
Shane: "Seek & Destroy" by Metallica, because it's the most metal song ever! Just listen to the lyrics, and that riff is just a groove I want to live in, man.
Mike: "The Doom Of All Fires" by The Cavalera Conspiracy, because it makes me wanna punch my mother!
Matt: "Jump Da Fuck Up" by Soulfly, because it's a happy-feel-good kinda tune.
BJ: "Cemetery Gates" by Pantera, because of the mood and the creativity.
Lou: What are the best and worst things about the music scene in your local area at the moment?
Mike: The good thing is there are a ton of killer bands around here, the worst thing is, no one is willing to come out to the clubs and see them.
Shane: The best thing is that most of the bands around here are really nice to one another and try to help each other out with booking shows and stuff, the worst thing is like he said, playing for no one but the other bands sometimes. We throw down either way though.
Lou: Star Wars vs Star Trek?
Loren: I'd watch that fuckin' movie!
Shane: Every wall in every room of my house is covered with something Star Trek, and I am being totally serious.
Matt: He is. The differnce between Shane and Me is, I have Star Wars toys, and they are still in the boxes, but they are put up in a box somewhere... I really enjoy Star Wars though.
Shane: Yea, but mine is more of an obsession than his.
Mike: Nerds!!!
BJ: Michael Myers owns you!
Lou: Do you have any merchandise available? If so, where can we buy it from?
Shane: You can buy our cd online at www.cdbaby.com/swingshot and we have cds and t-shirts for sale at our live shows, come out and see us if you have a chance! (laughs)
Lou: If there was a film made about Swingshot, which actors would you get to play you?
Mike: Brad Pitt
Loren: Mr. T!
Shane: Hugh Jackman, the guy that played Wolverine
Matt: Sean Connery
BJ: Wee-Man, that midget from Jackass
Lou: Do you have any embarrassing records in your collection?
Loren: I don't have a cd collection, I mostly borrow cds from my friends.
Mike: Miranda Lambert
Shane: Michael Jackson
Matt: Kelly Clarkson
BJ: The Village People
Lou: Tell us a joke... Go on...
Shane: Fred hits his golf ball into the trees, his partner Jake laughs, but then somehow manages to hit his ball into the trees too. Fred finally finds his ball in a patch of pretty yellow flowers amid the trees. In frustration, he takes his club and thrashes every single flower in the patch. In a flash and a puff of smoke, a little old lady appears. "I'm Mother Nature", she says. "Do you know how long it took me to make those buttercups? Just for that, you won't have any more butter for the rest of your life!" Then poof! She's gone. Fred composes himself and yells, "Jake, where are you?" Jake yells back, "I'm over here in these pussy willows!" Fred screams, "Don't swing! Don't swing!"
Lou: What was the last album you bought?
Matt: That was years ago, I don't remember.
Shane: The last cd I actually bought was Slipknot - Vol.3:The Subliminal Verses, also years ago.
Loren: A band called Butcherpriest, I don't remember the name of the cd.
BJ: All That Remains - The Fall Of Ideals
Mike: Lamb Of God - Wrath
Lou: CD vs MP3 vs Vinyl? Discuss...
Loren: I'm an analog kinda guy. I feel that the digital revolution has kind of fucked the music industry in a way. I mean technology has it's place, but it's forced music down a road it didn't have to go, I think.
Shane: MP3 all the way. If it wasn't for "illegally downloading" music, I would never have known about half the bands that I consider to be major musical influences. I hope that people like our cd enough to buy it, but I really don't care how they get it, as long as they are listening to it. Buy it, steal it, copy it, I don't give a fuck, just give it a chance. (laughs)
Lou: What’s next for Swingshot?
Mike: Another shot of Jager! (laughs)
Loren: Many more years hopefully, just playing music is all that we care about.
Shane: Hopefully Jagermeister will hook us up with some more big shows like this Rockstar Energy Drink MAYHEM FESTIVAL we just played in Atlanta on July 24th.
Lou: Any final thoughts before the interview finishes?
Shane: Thanks for helping us spread the word! You rock!
Lou: Thanks guys!