Meet SWIMM, the psych-pop standouts who run their own festival and put on DIY shows from their LA warehouse home.
SWIMM’s brand of blurry psych pop/indie rock is a serene, free-flowing sound that will soothe your soul. They’re a band who pour every bit of themselves into their pertinent music and the community around them.
Their trademark psychedelic ambience has already spread across the LA scene, now catching the eyes of some prominent names in Aussie music, leading to their most recent release Feel Better.
“Adam and I grew up together in Florida. We surfed together for years before ever playing music,” vocalist Chris Hess, also known as Cookie, says of the band’s early formation with drummer Adam Winn.
“Over many a debaucherous night, we came to know a whole community of amazing musicians in LA. Handy and Marton were two of those musicians and we just fell in love with playing music.”
Cookie continued, “We really have such a unique love for each other as brothers in this wacky business that it helps keep me motivated.”
The band runs DIY-style shows right out of their own warehouse called the Cube, where they not only produce music, but live under the same roof as a fashion designer, a painter, photographers, and two other bands. The Cube is a hub of creativity.
SWIMM have gone as far as running and organising their own east side festival for three years now, called Love You Down. Just last year one of their indie-rock inspirations, Warpaint, co-headlined with the band.
Speaking of musical inspirations, Cookie spoke of another American indie-rock band that has fuelled SWIMM’s creative juices.
“I’ve always loved Spoon and was listening to them the other night when I had too much of a weed edible fruit roll-up and of course was blown away. I mean I could have been listening to a recording of mosquito wings flapping and I would have flipped out.”
Their experiences in LA and their creative muses combine in their latest single Feel Better, following the story of an aspiration-fuelled woman who has been taken advantage of by the men of Hollywood.
“You hear so much about the clichés of men in Hollywood taking advantage of starry-eyed transplants that you almost think you’ll be numb, or at the least, unsurprised when you see it first-hand. But when I witnessed it up close for the first time it had a pretty profound effect on me.”
SWIMM recently attracted the attention of Australian label Sweat It Out’s co-founder Matt Handley while in LA, responsible for helping launch the careers of RUFUS Du Sol, Winston Surfshirt, and Crooked Colours.
Seeing the potential of the band, Matt swiftly began the formation of Sweat It Out’s LA-based subsidiary Sunset Mesa Records, with SWIMM the debut signing.
Looking towards the future Cookie explained, “We have an entire album of songs in this similar vein ready and we just signed our first record deal to release it.”
“After being independent for so long it feels really sweet to have a partner that is as enthusiastic as they have been.”
Feel Better is out now. Stream or purchase your copy here.
