Not every band can become the next Rolling Stones or U2, nor does every band want to. But even for every act that ‘makes it’ – whether that means becoming huge off a debut album and living off the fat of the royalties for the rest of their days or simply meaning something significant to a cult following – there’s plenty more bands that never even make it out of the garage.
Then there’s The Swellers.
“You know when someone mentions a band name and it sounds vaguely familiar, so you politely say you think you’ve heard of them? I’m in one of those bands.” So writes Jonathan Diener, “soon-to-be former drummer” of The Swellers, in a fascinating career retrospective-come-think piece for Noisey.
Australian fans might recall the Michigan four-piece for their 2012 tour as part of the Soundwave Counter-Revolution festival, or perhaps for their single ‘The Best I Ever Had‘ (“the closest thing we’ve ever had to a hit song,” says Diener). But even if you don’t – that’s the point.
Even though they toured 18 countries across five continents, and produced five albums and a handful of EPs, by all accounts – including the band’s own – they were a mid-sized band whose career was defined not by highs and lows but a series of plateaus.
“…We never had the momentary major success like a lot of our friends did to fall back on. We just opened for them.”In candid detail, Diener’s piece describes The Swellers’ so-so rise to so-so fall. Beginning with a bitter lesson from their original signing to Nitro Records (the label owned by The Offspring frontman Dexter Holland). “At an early age, we found out the music industry doesn’t always keep its promises,” writes the drummer after the band’s albums were (literally) pushed aside for branded hot sauce.
Next they find a new home at Fueled By Ramen records, the best place for a pop punk band to be in the mid-00s boom, alongside a roster featuring Panic! At The Disco, Gym Class Heroes, and Paramore – who gave The Swellers their first ‘break’.
As Diener writes of the release of their sophomore album Ups And Downsizing:
In 2009, we were launched into a new world when we toured with Paramore. Both of our albums came out the same day and the tour was bigger than anything we’ve ever done. Unfortunately, our first week album sales were not sent in properly to SoundScan in addition to the first week of the tour being postponed. It wasn’t a smash hit like it could have been, but we made up for it by personally walking around after shows and selling around one hundred albums a night.
Approval from both critics and like-minded musicians followed (“We were what is known as, ‘a band’s band’”), as well as a slot on the popular Tony Hawk Pro Skater videogame series (“In typical Swellers fashion, the game ended up being the dud of the franchise”) – but for all the outward momentum
“To people back home, we finally made it. To us, we were just now able to afford our already cheap rent,” says the drummer. “We weren’t starving by any means, we were just getting by because we didn’t have time to get jobs between tours. That’s what happens when you try to dedicate your whole life to being in a band and it doesn’t pay you back.”
Even their most popular song, 2011’s ‘The Best I Ever Had’ was marred by irony. “The video has over one million views and is our biggest song to date on our most expensive album that sold less than the one we funded ourselves. Go figure.”
In June this year, the band confirmed they would be calling it a day. “Now we’re booking our final shows this fall,” notes Diener, a decision they didn’t want to make but “by getting out now, we could at least preserve some kind of legacy,” he continues. “After all, we never had the momentary major success like a lot of our friends did to fall back on. We just opened for them.”
The individual details may differ, but The Swellers’ career non-trajectory reflects that of so many bands in the industry – a group that had the requisite lucky breaks and one or two successes to sustain a decade-long career, yet never tasting enough of the sweet flavour of success to make a sustainable living (let alone a killing) from being in a band full-time.
“Maybe posthumously we’ll become a big deal or just fade away. In retrospect, it doesn’t matter if you’ve heard of us or not. No one ever said you had to be a household name to be successful.”
Read Jonathan Diener’s full Noisey article here.
