The Swellers

The Swellers’ Ups And Downsizing was one of 2009’s biggest surprises. The record was not only received well by their fans, but was also lauded by critics. For us at Review Rinse Repeat, it even appeared on a few of our top end of the year lists. With well-crafted tunes, support from Hayley from Paramore and backing from indie powerhouse Fueled By Ramen, The Swellers are destined for great things. In the first of three interviews on the Carson stop of Warped Tour, we were able to discuss various topics such as Ups And Downsizing, playing on Warped, some exciting tour plans in the future, their next album and beer pong.

Jerry@RRR: First things first. Could you please introduce yourself and your position in the band?

Jonathan Diener: I’m Jonathan. I play drums and do back up vocals.

Ryan Collins: I’m Ryan and I play guitar.

Anto Boros: And I’m Anto and I play bass and sing in The Swellers, but not the lead singer.

Jonathan Diener: Not the lead singer. He’s not here.

Jerry@RRR: How are you guys feeling today?

Jonathan Diener: Really good. Got up really early, put a lot of sun lotion…well sun block because I got that. [shows sunburn] So I’m kind of burned up. It’s a really nerve-wracking day  at first, but I think once today is over that’s when we get in the swing of things of Warped Tour because it’s a totally systematic thing. You have to load in. You have to set up your tent. You have to do all this stuff. Now that we’re getting the hang of it, we’re getting to relax a little bit. Get some food after this; it’ll be a good day.

Jerry@RRR: Are you excited to wait in the really long line? [The catering line stretches from the start of the press area to the end of it.]

Jonathan Diener: No. No.

Ryan Collins: I want it now!

Jonathan Diener: Yesterday, we went through rehearsal day and I waited two hours in line. That’s where I got that sunburn. That was like to get our passes and stuff. I did it just to be nice, but I didn’t know it was going to be that long of a line. I’m not a fan. It’s like a theme park with nothing cool at the end.

Jerry@RRR: Are you guys excited to be on Warped Tour?

Jonathan Diener: Oh yes.

Jerry@RRR: What’s your favorite part about it?

Anto Boros: Meeting all of your friends and seeing them all over again. It feels like we haven’t seen everybody in awhile. We got here last night and I woke at eleven in the morning and just stepped out of the bus and already just saw everybody we haven’t seen in awhile. And then once you see them, it feels like you haven’t left tour with them. So it’s been cool.

Ryan Collins: And being on a bus, we’ve never been on a bus before.

Jerry@RRR: Who are you guys hanging out with?

Anto Boros: The Casualties, Four Year Strong, Set Your Goals, Anarbor.

Jonathan Diener: We’ve toured with Anarbor in England and those dudes are the best. They actually have their bus behind us. I was like, “Man. When are we gonna see them?” and then they walked down, “Dude! We’re right behind you! Yes! The whole of Warped Tour!” Pretty much, everyday, you’ll be walking and someone will be like, “What’s up man?” and give you a high five every five seconds. It’s pretty cool.

Jerry@RRR: So pretty much, it’s a three month long summer camp?

Jonathan Diener: Yeah, exactly.

Jerry@RRR: Last year, you released Ups And Downsizing. What influenced the album?

Jonathan Diener: I think musically we were trying to do something different for once. There’s a lot of bands that we grew up with that had the punk rock influence. Bands like The Get Up Kids, Piebald, stuff like that. We’ve always loved those bands and we kind of wanted to intertwine all their influences. For the first time, we weren’t like, “We have to make a punk record!” We were like, “You know what. We just like catchy songs.” So that’s what we did. We didn’t even think about what kind of song we were going to write. We just went, “Here is our whole record as a whole.” So that was it, musically. And then, as far as other influences, just personal stuff like people being crappy friends; we had some band members leave; you know a lot of things happening. The main theme, at least with the album name Ups And Downsizing, like…first in Michigan, in Flint, that’s where the whole auto industry was based, and then they started shutting stuff down and moved to Detroit. Then, Flint just became like a ghost town. It’s kind of weird because Michigan as a whole started turning into that, where it was like everyone’s losing jobs, especially in the Flint area. Everyone works at GM and everyone gets laid off. So at school, half of your friends’ parents won’t have jobs anymore. My dad always worked at a steel business, so I’m like, “I’m fine. Whatever.” One day, he came home and was like, “I just got laid off.” He pretty much had a week to decide if he was going to go to North Carolina or not, and he would have to gamble to see if he could even get another job in Michigan. And now the rest of the world is in a recession, [the record] actually fits perfectly with what’s going on. So, that’s definitely the lyrical side of it. So it’s kind of like an angry thing with music we like. That together makes passionate music.

Jerry@RRR: How do you feel Ups And Downsizing has been received, specifically by fans and critics?

Jonathan Diener: I was really surprised actually, especially with critics. We were getting four and half out of five and nine of tens. Just crazy stuff going on and a lot of bands are saying it’s their favorite record. That blows our mind because now we have a big enough label to actually push us. So, more people are hearing it. We are getting bigger tours so…

Ryan Collins: Especially overseas. We got a lot of good responses over there like in England.

Jerry@RRR: You guys signed to Fueled By Ramen. How did the signing come about?

Jonathan Diener: We actually sent them demos randomly one day and they really liked them. So, we started talking for a while and then, Hayley from Paramore got wind of it so she started telling the label about us. Then, it was kind of like us like, “C’mon guys” and her like, “C’mon guys” and then all these mutual friends and businesspeople. Finally, it just all came together. We got the Paramore tour right when our record came out. It just worked out perfectly.

Jerry@RRR: How would you describe your relationship with Hayley from Paramore?

Jonathan Diener: We’re all married. [All laugh] She’s like a dude you know? She’s a really cool person and she’s helped us out a ton. Just talking about us on Twitter—as dumb as that sounds—helped us out so much. All these people that would never even know who we are by now and even overseas—like Ryan was saying—kids were coming to our shows that just read about us from interviews and stuff like that. So, she’s a huge help.

Jerry@RRR: It was reported you are working on a new album. In what direction is it going?

Jonathan Diener: I don’t know it’s kind of all over right now. I definitely want to go back to more punk rock grooves and stuff. This is the record where we are going to try some weird stuff—weird not meaning like really slow but just a lot of tempo changes for the first time and more complicated drum parts. It’s in the early stages right now. We’ll see where it goes.

Jerry@RRR: Tentatively, when can we expect a new record?

Jonathan Diener: We don’t know. Sometime next year.

Jerry@RRR: What are your plans for after Warped?

Jonathan Diener: We have a few tours lined up. We haven’t announced them yet so we can’t really talk about it. There’s one tour we’re for sure on in August that’s touring the whole US and we’re actually going to Florida and Texas, which we haven’t to in awhile. Then, a bunch of maybe tours after that.

Jerry@RRR: Today, there was a report that Fireworks is playing a show with you, Man Overboard and Transit. Is this the tour you are talking about?

Jonathan Diener: Yup. So that’s the tour. I figure it doesn’t matter if we say it now.

Jerry@RRR: It was one date but people kind of get the idea.

Jonathan Diener: I saw that on AbsolutePunk yesterday and I’m, “Whoops.”

Jerry@RRR: Recently, we had an interview with Matt from Set Your Goals. He said a Gig Life Part Two was in the making. Can you echo this statement?

Jonathan Diener: Oh, that’d be awesome.

Anto Boros: We talked about it. Like towards the end of Gig Life, we were talking about doing it. Whether or not we’re able to is a different thing, but we will.

Jerry@RRR: Share with us a fun tour story!

Jonathan Diener: We shoved vegetables up our tour manager’s ass in Europe.

Ryan Collins: So far, Anto and I are the beer pong champions of Warped Tour.

Anto Boros: Five and oh.

Ryan Collins: Thank you very much.

Anto Boros: Someone threw a smoke bomb under Set Your Goals’ trailer. It engulfed the entire parking lot. Everybody just ran over from the tour bus and everyone had to keep going like, “It’s just a smoke bomb!” It was really funny.

Jonathan Diener: One time, I ate a person.

Jerry@RRR: Any more stories like dancing to Jennifer Lopez?

Anto Boros: Oh, “Waiting For Tonight”?

Jonathan Diener: Most of our stuff are on our tour videos. I always have my camera with me so I actually look up and I’m like, “Oh. That’s funny!” So, it works out.

Jerry@RRR: Thanks again for taking the time to the interview. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Jonathan Diener: Check out our album Ups And Downsizing, come see us on tour, go to theswellers.com for funny videos and updates.

Ryan Collins: And if anyone wants to take on me and Anto, Bus 68. Come and get it!

Ups And Downsizing is out now, via Fueled By Ramen. If you need convincing, look no further than our review! Catch the band on Wapred tour this summer!