Music
May 17 - Victoria: Current Swell
Learn more about Current Swell who played in Victoria on May 17th, 2014.
Current Swell
© [unknown]
Current Swell
© [unknown]
Cultivating the unique moments when a first take becomes the final cut, or when a fleeting idea turns into a fully realized creation, has become something of an unofficial philosophy for Current Swell.
Considering the pace they have set in recent years - including a first place win and $100,500 top prize at Vancouver’s Peak Performance Project and sold-out headlining tours of Brazil and Europe - Current Swell had no reason to re-write their approach heading into the sessions for Ulysses, the band's anticipated second release for Nettwerk Records.
Not after a six-year run which has positioned the group as one of the bright lights on the Canadian musical landscape. But here's the thing with Current Swell. When it comes to the process of songwriting, touring and recording, the four friends from Victoria, BC are compelled to improve as artists, to better what they did the last time around. Motion is everything to singer-guitarists Scott Stanton and David Lang, drummer Chris Petersen and bassist Ghosty Boy, so they decided to give an old partnership a new coat of paint.
During each of the four previous Current Swell recordings, Stanton and Lang largely wrote independently of each other, working in tandem only when the band got into the studio. For these sessions, the two bandmates sat down face-to-face on a number of occasions. The rules were kept loose on purpose, so that both could look at the other’s creations in an unfiltered light.
The early days of the group stretch back to St. Albert, Alberta, an Edmonton suburb where Lang and Stanton first met. It wasn't until their paths crossed again on Vancouver Island that the thought of playing music together came to fruition. Shortly after its first official gig, the band quickly became an in-demand attraction in Western Canada, backed by growing acclaim from across the country.
Theirs hasn’t been a traditional career arc. Shortly after Current Swell came together, the members spent five months touring Bali, New Zealand and Australia as an independent act. A bold move, but one that has come to define the band’s music-first mindset and catch-all musical approach.
Music fans across North America first caught wind of the group through “Young and Able,” which became a word-of-mouth YouTube success in 2010. Not long after, the group broke big with 2012's Long Time Ago, its first worldwide release. These recordings inspired fans from across the globe to create hundreds of tribute videos of the hits - some of which weren't in English - and opened new doors for the group.
The success of the album led to a run of dates across Europe, Australia, Canada and the U.S. These and other key festival dates (Byron Bay Bluesfest, Peats Ridge, Rock The Shores, Ottawa Blues Festival, Rifflandia Festival and more) would help to introduce the band’s textured, deep-groove roots music (some of which is punctuated by Stanton's lap steel guitar work) to a larger international audience of both fans and music industry supporters.
