Interview: Swearin’ (Brooklyn, NYC) @ Luneta Cafe Mar.13
By Sacha KW
Swearin’ is one of the bands I’ve listened to most in the last year. Songs like “Dust in the Gold Sack,” “What a Dump,” and “Just” (with its unbeatable chorus of “I just want you to love me, woah-oah-oah-oah-oah”) are burned into my psyche. Swearin’s songwriting style, which is both universal and extremely specific, makes for choruses and verses which I’ve come to associate with moments in my own life. I’m pretty sure anyone can relate to a song like “Loretta’s Flowers”, a slower number which singer Allison Crutchfield describes as being about “watching your friends make mistakes in their love lives”. This is all a slightly tangential way of saying that I went to this show with high hopes and was not disappointed. The band seemed appreciative of the packed, lively house at Luneta and returned the favour with an energetic, highly enjoyable set.
It also helped that they played all of my favourites. At first, Swearin’ seem reminiscent of a louder, more pissed off version of their sister band Waxahatchee. But after repeat listening, they reveal themselves to be a powerful force with their own unique voice. Two main factors set them aside from the bands they’ve been associated with: honest, descriptive language and an occasional tendency toward raw aggression. Take, for example, Crutchfield’s words in “What a Dump”– “being pretty is infinite, but being angry is real important.” I had the chance to speak with Crutchfield prior to the show, give the interview a read below.
Interview with Allison Crutchfield
Allison Crutchfield: I heard that Ottawa has a cat parliament.
Sacha KW: I have never heard of that before.
AC: (laughs) Apparently Cat Parliament was a government-mandated house that stray cats lived in. I don’t know anything else about it or if it still exists anymore.
SKW: If it still existed, would you just go there and hang out?
AC: Yeah, I would love to. I would just lay on the floor, let the cats walk on me, and just be one with them. I think that my friends from the US have been there and talked to me about it. I’ve definitely heard about it. I’m pretty sure it’s real. (Update: Sadly, the Parliamentary Cat Sanctuary no longer exists. However, the cats were adopted by volunteers upon its closing in January 2013.)
SKW: Have you been to Eastern Canada before?
AC: Never in my life.
SKW: Have you been to any of Canada before?
AC: I’ve been to Vancouver.
SKW: Vancouver’s not Canada.
AC: Why not?
SKW: It’s basically California.
AC: I understand that sentiment. I’m from east coast America. The west coast is a totally different beast.
SKW: Why are you in Canada right now? Why not wait until it’s warmer?
AC: We projected, optimistically, that mid-March would be okay. We knew it wouldn’t be warm, but we thought it would be fine. It’s really awful. Yesterday was almost scary. We were in Montreal and there was an insane snowstorm. I absolutely hate the snow.
SKW: Do you live anywhere or are you always on the road?
AC: I live in New York right now but I’m about to move back to Philly.
SKW: Why are you moving back to Philly?
AC: The thing about the scene in New York is that I never really felt like part of a community. It’s so oversaturated and feels competitive in a way that sucks. In Philly, everybody is supporting everybody. It’s a lot more DIY there too. Also, all my friends live in Philly. I’m a lot more connected to the scene there.
It’s like half the price of living in New York. All I do is music, and I need to find a cost efficient way to do that. Right now I can’t play music and live in New York without having to work all the time.
SKW: Are you concerned about not getting as much exposure in Philly or is there so much going on in New York that you would probably get more attention in Philly?
AC: I try not to worry about that kind of thing, but I will say that the attention a lot of bands get when they’re in New York is not real attention, if that makes any sense. It doesn’t really mean anything. It doesn’t last. Philly is a big city and there are lots of communities in different neighbourhoods. They all intertwine. It’s a lot more down to Earth. Also, I feel that in our day and age, with the Internet, it’s easier for bands to get exposure. You can put yourself out there easier.
SKW: Your new-ish record, Surfing Strange, is a little slower than your last one. Were you at a different place in your life when you wrote that record compared to when you wrote the first one?
AC: Surfing Strange sounds the way that it does because it was a lot more collaborative. It was written in this period where everything was happening fast for us. We made time to write a lot together. I didn’t contribute nearly as much as I did to the first record. That’s because of where I was in my life. We had just moved to Philly for the first time and I wasn’t writing a lot.
SKW: I saw your video on Rookie in which you have a terrible cut on your face. How did that happen?
AC: There’s still a scar from that. We shot the video the day after it happened. Swearin’ had a record release show at a really awesome house in Philadelphia called Golden Tea House. It’s my favourite place to play. We were setting up and we’d had a few drinks when I reached down to pick up my guitar when our drummer Jeff grabbed his cymbal, hoisted it up, and accidentally hit me in the head really hard. He said, “you’re bleeding,” and I said, “I know.”
When my sister had her record release show at the same venue, I did something similar where I got too excited with a bottle of champagne, shook it, and the cork hit me in the eye. I’m really dumb.
SKW: Has anything worse than bleeding from your head happened during this tour?
AC: No. It’s been pretty good. I fell last night while trying to drunkenly slide on some ice. It wasn’t as bad as bleeding.
Swearin – 2014 Tour Dates
Feb. 13 – Middletown, CT Wesleyan University
Feb. 14 – Purchase, NY Suny Purchase
Feb. 15 – Kenyon, OH Kenyon College
Mar. 6 – New York, NY Cake Shop
Mar. 7 – Brooklyn, NY Rough Trade
Mar. 8 – Boston, MA Great Scott
Mar. 9 – Northampton, MA the Flywheel w/ Potty Mouth, California X
Mar. 10 – Portland, ME Space 538
Mar. 11 – Burlington, VT Monkey House
Mar. 12 – Montreal, Quebec Casa Del Popolo
Mar. 13 – Ottawa, Ontario Luneta Cafe
Mar. 14 – Toronto, Ontario the Shop Under Parts & Labour
Mar. 15 – Buffalo, NY Waiting Room
Mar. 16 – Pittsburgh, PA Mr. Roboto Project
Mar. 17 – Washington, DC Black Cat (Backstage)