In the current state of shoegaze revival, the Swirlies reminds us where it all began. For over 30 years, the Boston quartet has been a place where introspection becomes sonic with splintering, half-melted melodies and distorted (and you guessed it) swirling guitars. From "Pancake" to "Two Girls Kissing," the Swirlies still remain distinct with their wistful density trapped in a halo of hazy and forlorn dissonance.

From their 1996 album, They Spent Their Wild Youthful Days in the Glittering World of the Salons, watch unearthed footage of “San Cristobal De Las Casas.”

The band shares, “This is ‘San Cristobal De Las Casas’  from our show at Brownies (NYC) on May 27, 1995.  It was performed by the Damon-Christina-Andy-Anthony iteration of the band.  We were a year into the recording of our They Spent their Wild Youthful Days in the Glittering World of the Salons LP, which we had begun recording in the summer of 1994 at various NYC area studios.  At the time of the Brownies show, we were in the NYC area quite a bit, completing final overdubs and then later mixing (and re-mixing, and re-mixing, and re-mixing...) the album at Looking Glass Studios with our engineer Rich Costey. This show was likely scheduled around one of our Boston to NYC trips and included a ‘yard sale’ of sorts (we brought many books, trinkets, and other items that we were getting rid of and would leave them at the front of the stage for people to take as we played.)  We finally released ‘Salons’ in April 1996. It's hard to believe it was almost 30 years ago.” 

This November, the Swirlies headline the inaugural And Always Forever alongside Schwefelgelb, Marie Davidson, Loveliescrushing, Astrobrite, Croation Amor, and more at the Echo/Echoplex on Saturday, November 9th. The first of its kind, AAF is a love letter to the Los Angeles music scene, wherein dense, turbulent, and exposed soundscapes of shoegaze will marry into the pummeling percussion and pervasive force of today’s experimental techno. You can find tickets here. 

See here, the Swirlies describe their forever. 

What do you hope listeners take home with them after And Always Forever, and what are you looking forward to? 

We're looking forward to having a stable, well-tempered, physically secured Yamaha CS-50 emulator on stage (our set up fell off the stage back in 2017 when we last played LA, which led to some serious mid-set head scratching), as well as seeing our old friend and occasional Swirlie, not mention original Puffin and fantastic artist, Ron Rege, who lives just down the street from the club. The roster has shaped up to be an adventurous night of noise, and we're excited to see how all the sounds will nestle together, and hope others are too. Oh, and we hope listeners "take home" our merch so we can pay for our trip and don’t have to ship it all home.

What can you say about music and its longevity?

We lost our good friend and bandmate Rob Laakso last year.  He was such a special person and was a complete master at what he did– he just made everything sound “right," which is why we called him Doc, not to mention his good humor, flying fingers, and wicked riffs. The music he made with us and other people (and especially his own music as Raw Bell) was close to the core of his self. When we listen to his music and play his parts, part of him is back with us.

What do you hope lasts forever? 

Nothing can or should last forever, but we certainly hope that ostriches are around for a long, long time!

--

AAF is their last stop on their Central Pacific tour starting in October. You can find tickets for the below dates here.

10/31/2024 Denton, TX at Rubber Gloves with Trauma Ray, New Fumes

11/1/2024 Austin, TX at Parish | Levitation with Trauma Ray, Witches Exist

11/2/2024 Chicago, IL at Sleeping Village with Astrobrite

11/4/2024 Portland, OR at Mission Theater with Launder

11/5/2024 Seattle, WA at Vera Project with Launder

11/7/2024 Sacramento, CA at Starlet Room with Launder

11/8/2024 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall | Slide Away Presents with Lovesliescrushing, Launder, Young Prisms

11/9/2024 Los Angeles, CA at the Echoplex for And Always Forever