About
Swank
Label: Bonerattle records
since circa 1992
Swank's first album, "Pappy's Corn Squeezins" (2001) was conceived by the band to sound like The Ramones playing Johnny Cash. Produced by Howard Redekopp, the album was described by the legendary Ray Condo as "New Wave Country"-an apt description for a fine debut that holds its own to this day.The group's second album "The Survival Issue" (2004), also produced by Howard Redekopp won huge critical favour across North America and Europe (rated 9/10 by Americana UK) as much for its unique sleeve design as for its inspired music and lyrics. Many of the songs on "The Survival Issue" were inspired by the events of 2001 and the resulting U.S. paranoia and xenophobia that followed.
A computer animated video of a song from this album, "How Do We do!" directed by Patrick Carroll (The spiderman Series, Mainframe) was recently used in one of the final episodes of the TV series "Smallville", with two of the actors performing it as a karaoke song.
Their third album, "Campfire Psalms" (2008) produced by Howard Redekopp and Swank was the band's sprawling opus, a two disc set with a wide variety of seventeen songs on one disc, and ten videos on the other that can be viewed as music videos or sung along to as a karaoke DVD.
The theme of "Campfire Psalms" is religious extremism and the devil is mentioned in a number of songs which has proved fruitful for the band, as the TV series "Supernatural" purchased songs that have been featured in their Seasons 4,5 & 6 gag reels as well as background music for episodes.
Swank have just finished their fourth album, produced by Marc L'Esperance. Their lineup refreshed with the addition of Eric Lowe on drums and Gord Smithers on guitar, Swank have created an exciting batch of new songs with a swinging early sixties feel. Appropriately, the new album's cover art is by legendary 60's Rock Illustrator Bob Masse.
The album was released in May 2015 & in January 2016 made Tom Harrison's "Best Of 2015" list in The Vancouver Province.
Available for Shows/Gigs
Current Lineup
Past Members
Band Articles
Nervous Fellas with Deadcats and Swank
Nervous Fellas with Deadcats and Swank
June 20th, The Rickshaw Theatre
By Allan MacInnis
I remember witnessing a leather-jacketed rocker viciously take to pummelling a much smaller, dreadlocked kid at a Reverend Horton Heat show a few...
Published by:
The Skinny Magazine
Author: Allan MacInnis
What Swank Did on Their Summer Vacation.
Swank sashayed out of Van this summer. How many gigs in how many nights?
6 gigs in 6 sweaty nights! It was like a military operation, but with booze.
Name clubs and the bands that you played with.
The Grateful Fed, Kelowna, The S...
Author:
The Skinny Magazine
Published by:
The Skinny Magazine
