Stub Stories #7

SWERVEDRIVER 

Swervedriver just happens to be one of my favorite bands ever. Definitely in the top 3. Most people have never heard of them but they are huge for me. They were part of the British "shoegazer" movement of the early 90's. Learn more about them here.

In 1998 I had an art show opening at Lump Gallery in Raleigh, NC. I was showing a series of portraits. The opening just happened to be the same night as Swervedriver's show at the Cat's Cradle, 35 miles away in Chapel Hill. I had to go to the opening since I was part of the show so I did my time there and then bolted as soon as I could. Brian Simpson and I drove to Chapel Hill. We arrived at the club and we could hear that they were already playing. Made our way into the club and then a guitar strum and "Thank you, Goodnight." I was in disbelief. I had missed my favorite band. For some reason they were opening for a band called Hum. This was not right. It turned out to be Swervedriver's last tour of America and they broke up shortly after. I had seen them at least a couple times before but this turned out to be my last chance to see them and I was only able to see their last note. 

Fortunately for me, many of my favorite bands from the 90's are reuniting like Polvo, My Bloody Valentine, and drumroll, Swervedriver. I bought my ticket as soon as it went on sale. Now I bought it through Ticketmaster and the ticket cost $18 but there were $14 and some change in fees. This seems to be the norm at Ticketmaster now and I would like to say FUCK YOU TICKETMASTER AND YOUR ASS RAPING FEES. The only option for the ticket was will call which isn't very convenient but I had to pay plenty of convenient charges. But enough of my ranting about those thieves. 

Film School opened for Swervedriver and I found them to be a great new shoegazer style band. Tony Richter had recommended them to me so I made sure to catch them and I thought they did a great job opening.

Swervedriver came out and finally the disappointment of missing them in 1998 subsided. They are guitar heros to me. Swirling, crunchy, rich walls of sound. The audience showed much love to the band. Swervedriver could have played a couple more hours and I wouldn't have grown tired of watching them. I hope I get another chance to see them. At least I will sleep well knowing that if this was my last chance, I was there on time and saw the entire show.