Me and a few gallivants stumbled through East Atlanta on Friday with the purpose of seeing Adam Franklin at Janet’s Echo Lounge. For those who don’t know, Adam Franklin was the singer, guitar-player and songwriter for one of the greatest rock bands of all time: Swervedriver.
For those who are still scratching their heads, let me just say this: buy “Raise,” Swervedriver’s first album. Go to the CD store and get a copy now. You probably skipped it back when it came out because Swervedriver, a British export, was lumped in with the “shoegazer” bands like Lush and Slowdive. The production is a bit iffy and includes a few too many effects on the drums and such, but that can be forgiven for British producers who don’t know better. But the fact of the matter is that Swervedriver was rocking out with their cocks out while retaining that psychedelic, blissed out feel: all the swagger of Thin Lizzy with all of the head fucks of Sonic Youth in one brilliant, drug-addled package. Oh, and songs about UFOs. Lots and lots of songs about UFOs.
Two things that will floor you about Raise if you are at all a fan of musicianship are the fact that Adam Franklin is a genius guitarist and the drummer (who only played with Swervedriver on the first record before disappearing and emerging in San Francisco to work construction) turns in what I would say is unquestionably the finest performance put to record in the 90s. He plays with unceasing originality; you’ve never heard beats quite so unique. But he also plays, to paraphrase Anthony Kiedis, like he has a set of gorilla testicles.
Swervedriver is the only British band short of the Rolling Stones that knows how to make driving records. By that, I mean albums to listen to at high volume, in your car, on the road, at high speed.
Swervedriver also suffered from a bum deal at the hands of record labels. After delivering their finest effort, the never-released (until much later) Ejector Seat Reservation, the band was told that it would have to wait a year for its release. Frustrated, they split with their American label. Their British label dropped them soon after the album’s release, and so the album received next to nothing in terms of promotion. Sure, commercial success was never super-likely for Swervedriver, but I was a fan and didn’t even know that the album came out at all.
But back to the Adam Franklin show. It was so-so for about the first seventy percent. I’d say it was cool, but not blow-you-away cool like Swervedriver was. Every song was at the same mid-tempo psychedelic exploration speed, that is to say, slow. He played a couple Swervedriver tunes in radically-reworked, slowed-down versions, but mostly stuck to his solo material (released as Toshack Highway).
But something happened towards the end. We drank more beer. He picked up the tempo for a song or two, and then it just clicked. I was standing there, watching the way he manipulated his guitar, and I was struck by the realization that he is able to play these complicated, almost finger-picked electric guitar pieces by himself. What you here on the record is him. It’s not a shitload of overdubs and tricks. It’s just genius.
Then, the coupe de grace, he busted out several amazing Swervedriver songs, including a totally solo electric guitar version of “Duel,” one of the most amazing songs in the Swervedriver ouvre, from its album Mezcal Head. We crushed toward the stage and felt 24 again. We sang along and wished it would never end and, when it did, we got to hang out with him. He’s a nice guy, even though everyone was assaulting him with questions about his former bandmates in Swervedriver.
This is BIG STUFF to me and, especially, my friend Jef. We count Swervedriver among out Top Five Lists of All Time Domination. This is Desert Island Disk stuff. These albums are part of us. I remember as if it were yesterday returning from Florida after a hazed-out, epic weekend with Jef lip-synching the guitar parts to Raise from the back seat.
Some told, it was a decent night that lasted well into the small hours.
And Trav tried to pee on somebody, I think.
12 responses so far ↓
1 trav // Nov 10, 2003 at 11:41 am
Yeah, I uh, need to check up with you guys about friday.
2 Tikihead // Nov 10, 2003 at 8:07 pm
The drummer, was that the guy that went out to “get a sandwich” and never returned?
3 Scotty the Body // Nov 11, 2003 at 3:02 pm
I think the Chef said it best: we spun out of control.
4 Tikihead // Nov 11, 2003 at 8:26 pm
Dude, where’s my pants?
5 trav // Nov 11, 2003 at 8:54 pm
Man, I need to get with you guys and, errr, catch up
6 scotty the body // Nov 11, 2003 at 11:12 pm
sandwich drummer was the manimal in question.
trav, chefrey and i will refresh your memory for you someday soon.
7 trav // Nov 13, 2003 at 8:06 am
I think I’m better off remaining blissfully ignorant of my folly
8 Jef the Chef // Nov 13, 2003 at 9:50 am
trav- i seem to have a hazy image of you walking out of the echo lounge onto Flat Shoals Ave with no pants on. it was kind of scary.
props to Ben Jastat for hanging with us beer for beer into the night. i think we scared everyone else in that bar.
9 scotty the body // Nov 13, 2003 at 10:52 am
umm.. jef, your memory is very hazy indeed because that never happened!!!
so it’s scary in more ways than one.
10 Jef the Chef // Nov 14, 2003 at 11:01 am
sometimes I scare myself. really…... I do.
11 Scotty The Body // Nov 19, 2003 at 3:45 pm
by Kevin Mitchell
Echo probably holds two or three hundred and it was packed for most of Adam’s set. I was thrilled that he was staring his tour in a club that my band (since broken up) played in October, 2001, but it was kind of sad in a “We’re not worthy” sort of way also. I spoke with Adam before he went on and he very happily autographed my copy of 99th Dream (“Better late than never. – Adam”) that Jez had also autographed in March, 1998 at the Cotton Club. Adam also complimented me on my black “Water Pistol” T-shirt, which I think was from the Duel single in about 1993. I told him the usual stuff that he’s heard a hundred times before (been a huge fan since I first heard Sci-Flyer… Have a good show… etc.) but he was still very cordial and appreciative.
Adam’s band is best described as a power-pop 3-piece: Mr. Franklin sang and played guitar (looked like a Fender Jag-You-Are, but maybe a Jazzmaster), of course. I didn’t rush the stage to copy the list of pedals used and in which order (I’m not that much of a guitar geek), but I definitely heard the familiar delays, phasers, drivers, and a Vox wah. Locksley “Lee” Taylor from Sianshperic played bass primarily and keyboards on a couple songs. I didn’t catch the drummer’s name (if it was ever thrown); dude was about 140 pounds, but blasted the crap out of the skins – a hard hitter.
Adam told me that the oldest song in the set list was Mars and that tonight’s show was very heavy on the past few years of Toshack Highway material. Since he is billed as “Adam Franklin of Swervedriver” on this tour, I sensed that the crowd gathering may not hear the older Swerve songs that those of us in Georgia haven’t heard live in over 5 years. More on that later…
After sets by Drugmoney (Asheville, North Carolina mountain/swamp rock) and The Roy Owens, Jr. (good Atlanta pop-rock with a ridiculously fun hyperactive bass player), Adam’s band went on at 1:00 AM.
The very good news is that Adam’s voice sounds better than ever. I love some of the early B-sides, but there’s absolutely no comparison possible between the vocals on, say, Volcano Trash versus the Toshack version of The Sounds and The Times. More good news is that Adam is still the guitar-slinging bastard that we’ve known since 1990. I was surprised to see up close how technical he is and how much he uses his thumb to wrap around and change bass notes on barre chords.
The band opened with Song of Solomon which was new to me, but a lot of melodic medium-light fun. Adam’s voice sounded incredible on I’ve Lost the Feeling and The Other Jesus and things started to get lively. I wished that I had not asked Adam about the set list because Mars would have been a huge surprise. I’ve always loved Sunset (which either developed from or became “Mars”), but Adam has added vocal lines between and beyond the normal triplets (“Take me there” etc.) that made this song the highlight of the first half. To paraphrase a potential Southern saying: It rocked like a ten-pound rock in a five-pound rock bag.
Another early highlight was The Sounds and The Times with just vocals and guitar (capo on 7th fret). Adam’s vocal warmth (and I love the line about “Choking on Poppy Smoke and Sparks”) with the somewhat atypical bright, cheery arpeggios made for a perfect combination. This was simply Adam at his triple-threat (vocalist, lyricist, guitarist) best.
Now I’m going to bring up the tension: Question: Does Adam Franklin “owe” us certain so-called classic Swervedriver songs?
Several yahoos in the crowd made it known that they felt that their $10.00 for three bands cover charge meant that they could write their own set list. There were several loud, profane requests (demands) that the band play Rave Down, Son of Mustang Ford, Last Train to Satansville, etc. Some people became more and more upset with each passing Toshack (The Streets that Spin Off), new (Morning Rain), or Swerve B-side (Maelstrom) song, even though they sounded great. At one point, Adam publicly addressed the yahoos, “You’re not going to hear Rave Down tonight. If you think you’re going to hear it, you should get ready to leave now.” Someone videotaped the whole show – I may be paraphrasing just a little, but that was the gist of it.
Answer: Some people may disagree, but I don’t think that Adam “owes” his fans a complete live version of Raise. He’s clearly very proud of some of the recent material and wanted to focus on some new things (in the end, he did throw the dogs a bone in the encores). I do feel that the band owes us their utmost effort for a good show; this was provided with plenty to spare. I wished that the crowd would have been a little more appreciative of the songs that were played; it was a thrilling show. Maybe it’s par for the course since Swervedriver songs were always underappreciated anyway. Should everyone in the crowd have heard their favorite early-90s Swerve song? Maybe or maybe not… a debate for the ages.
The main set ended with The Hitcher and Cars Converge on Paris which were both brilliant, spacey, hypnotic and soothing. A surprising number of people sang along with “The Kremlin Flies Forever / In the Face of Expectation.”
I know that Swervedriver sometimes didn’t play encores, but this crowd would not let Adam call it a night, yet. It was after 2:00 AM, but Echo was still pretty full and loud. Adam came out and did Duel solo. Even without the rhythm section, Duel was a hard rock gem with full crowd backup vocal support. Lee and the unnamed drummer (sorry about that) came back out for Why Say Yeah and Electric 77 for (what I thought was) the finale.
2:30 AM – About half the crowd was still there stomping and chanting until Adam and the drummer came out for a second encore. It was one of my favorites – Sci-Flyer – and it sounded amazing, even though someone was so loud singing the great “Below the Apes / Above the Angels” chorus, that I could barely hear Adam.
The band exited again, but a core group of about 50 still lingered and begged for more. I could feel the sun rising in a few hours, so I jumped up on stage and grabbed the drummer’s set list (Adam’s and Lee’s were already swiped) and called it a night. Someone let me know if they played any more after that.
Set List – November 7, 2003
What was written (and the full name of the song, if applicable)
1. Solomon (Song of Solomon)
2. I’ve Lost the Feeling
3. OJ (The Other Jesus)
4. Canvey Island
5. Mars
6. The Sounds and The Times
7. Morning Rain
8. Streets (The Streets That Spin Off)
9. Devil
10. Maelstrom
11. At Sea
12. The Hitcher
13. Roll Away the Stone
14. Paris (Cars Converge on Paris)
15. Duel
16. Why Say Yeah
17. E77 (Electric 77)
18. {nothing} (Sci-Flyer)
12 Scotty The Body // Nov 19, 2003 at 3:46 pm
Dude’s memory is hazy. The place was never packed.
Also, at the end of the set, there were maybe 20 people left.
There WERE yahoos yelling for Swervedriver songs, but it wasn’t just that… they wanted just a touch of THE HEAT to be brought forward…
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