Running Out Of Places To Go: All While Finding a Place to Stay

The Swellers new EP cover

The Swellers are one of the few great up and coming alternative bands who have been floating around the alt-punk scene in these last few years. Masterfully playing his drums with a quick tempo Jonathan Diener enables the melodic voice of his brother, lead singer and front man, Nick Diener to allow their listeners into a different world, their world. As the leading members of the band formed in 2002 the brothers found cohesion, and a jump into stardom, in 2009 when they finally met committed members in bassist Anto Boros and their guitarist Ryan Collins.

Recording two albums with the current unit with the label Fueled by Ramen label entitled Ups and Downsizing and Good For Me, the Grand Rapids, Michigan based ban now finds themselves at odds with Fueled by Ramen and are thus without a label. Which is shocking to some considering the band has had success playing on popular alternative and rock tours such as the AP Fall Tour and Vans Warped Tour, and have been on tour with leading acts such as Paramore, Less than Jake, and Motion City Soundtrack.

           

Though The Swellers have no label they have surprisingly come out a brand new five song EP entitled Running Out Of Places To Go. Independently recording and producing the EP The Swellers have now caught a resurgence many felt they lost when leaving Fueled by Ramen this past April. Being released October 16th, it is clear to see the band has been busy over the summer in an attempt to continue its career.

             

Ups and Downsizing is a harder and quicker paced album with many songs being accompanied by a rapid drumbeat and intense guitar rifts. Good For Me is an album where the lyrics were more emphasized and held many slower, well slower for The Swellers at least, songs. Running Out Of Places To Go has found The Swellers successfully creating a sound somewhere in the middle.

           

Opening with the song entitled “Hands” the aforementioned quick pace is solidified and the lyrics emphasize a band who has found their own independence with lines like, “Oh, I'm tired of waiting for something to change/We're better than this.” With tracks two “Let Me In,” three “Bad For Me” (which is an interesting play on words considering the title of their most recent major album), and three “Making Waves,” keeping with a fastly beat drum rhythm and speedy bass plucking by Boros. Also Diener is continuing along with the angst-based lyrics against their previous label.

           

In “Bad For Me” Diener sings, “I woke up in this bed, alone but I’m okay, and I’ll remember that/ This will never get me down, no matter what it weights, yeah I’ll remember that.” Again this is heard in “Making Waves” when Diener screams “So thanks a lot/ Cause I’m making waves and you’re not/ I’m done taking bad advice if that’s fine by you.”

           

The final and title song of the EP “Running Out Of Places To Go” comes in a little smoother and slower and brings all five tracks full circle. It is a return to some of the familiar sounds found on Good For Me, all while keeping with the overall tone of the EP. With Diener coming off of the slower guitar melodies singing lines like, “This is for an audience of one at a time/ So I’ll sing it straight/ I’ll sing it loud.” But the line that symbolizes the band, this EP and their message to the fans comes at the listeners first with only a quick and plucky guitar solo transcending to all three vocalist screaming the words, “I miss my bed/But I can't remember how it feels compared to yours or any others/But thank you for letting me into your home (I was running out of places to go).”

           

The Swellers may be without a label, but the band just finished a nine-show tour in Australia and recently embarked on the commencement of an 11-show tour of the eastern United States, which began on October 30th. Don’t view this band as down and out for the count, because The Swellers are doing just what their namesake expresses, and are just starting to climb back onto another new and exciting crest.

           

The Running Out Of Places To Go EP can be purchased on iTunes and at the bands website, www.theswellers.com, for around 5 five dollars.