Right Brain/Left Brain: The Swellers

THIS MONTH: THE SWELLERS’ “FIRE AWAY”

(myspace.com/theswellers)

WITH NICK DIENER (GUITAR/VOCALS)

FEET FIRST

Most of the stuff for “Fire Away” was parts that we had that we needed to figure out how to put together. It was one that kind of came together over a couple of months, while some songs happen within a week. We wrote the intro and chorus riff, but we didn’t have a verse. I came up with this part I thought was going to be a sick bridge, but that actually ended up being the verse… I started playing it right after the intro riff, just practicing what the bridge would sound like. We stopped, and I was like, “Dude, let’s make this the verse.” That’s totally not in Swellers fashion to have a verse in such a weird time-the song is in 6/8 time; so it was definitely something new to us. We just stopped right there, and said, “This is awesome; let’s keep it.”

I WANNA BE IN THE MOB

For the bridge, we had this part that was a version of the verse that wasn’t that cool; we just threw it in there. We were on tour with Less Than Jake when we decided to write the new bridge. I had a basement demo of “Fire Away,” and we showed it to Vinnie [Fiorello] from [Less Than Jake]. He was like, “This song is really, really cool. That bridge, though, I think you can do something better.” We thought it was so cool. Vinnie was like, “I can’t wait to hear some new stuff,” and we were like, “Awesome! Come into our van!” So there he was in our van listening to our demos, even though they were super bad at the time. A couple of weeks after that, in May 2008, I wrote the new bridge. That’s when we recorded the real demo of it with Mark [Michalik, producer/engineer], in June of ’08.

TUNNEL VISION

We recorded the demo for “Fire Away” with [Michalik], and we were like, “This is just a demo,” but he looked at us and kinda said, “This demo version, you can’t get any better than this, for this song.” So we basically re-recorded the drums, and we took one of the guitar tracks from the demo, as well as some of the vocals from the demo, and put them on the full-length. So that stuff was recorded six months before the actual record was done, but we were just so stoked on how it came out.

THE IRON

For three songs on the new record–”2009,” “Fire Away” and “The Iron”–we dropped down to C-sharp, which is something we hadn’t done before. We just wanted to get super heavy and see what we can get away with. The guitar solo in the song used to be a keyboard solo, because I used to have this synthesizer in my basement. I was like, “Man, I really want this to sound like Pinkerton from Weezer,” so I used a keyboard. I showed some of my friends, and they were like, “Dude, that’s awesome, but why is it a keyboard solo?” So I eventually changed it to a guitar solo, and if you listen closely you’ll hear me doing some “whoas” in the background, along with the guitar solo-you can see it a little in the video, too-and that was just a total homage to Weezer.

OVER AND OUT

At one point I had the verse, and while I was playing it, [the vocal line] just happened. I started singing along to it, even though I didn’t have any lyrics or anything. In the verse, the entire vocal melody just happened. With the chorus, same thing–we had the lines and added the harmony to beef it up. The only thing I remember changing was the line “You’ve got that sinking feeling.” Right after “You’ve got” there’s a slight pause where there never used to be one on the old demo. We ended up changing it, and I’m glad we did, because it sounds a lot better now.

WITH JONATHAN DIENER (DRUMS/LYRICS)

WHAT’S AT STAKE

I think I wrote nearly ever lyric in the song. All this stuff was happening with our band, and all these members were changing. A year-and-a-half or two years ago, our old guitarist [Garrett Burgett] gave us his two-month notice, when we had four tours in a row. Then our bassist [Lance Nelson] didn’t want to be in the band anymore, because of that guitar player. That was when Ryan [Collins], our current guitar player, jumped in to cover on bass, and later switched to guitar when we got a bass player [Anto Boros]. It was this whole chaotic time, and so songs like “Fire Away” and “The Iron” are about these things. When times are hard, you can’t be a fairweather friend, you have to stick through it, because in the long run–and when the long run is signing to Fueled By Ramen and getting a Paramore tour–it’s worth it.

CONSCIENCE, MEET COMMON SENSE

I tend to write lyrics better based on crappy things that have happened to me, because when I’m angry, that’s the best therapy. I wrote “Fire Away” about when you make friends, and they just bail on you, and you’re like, “Okay… What’s this for?” In their minds, they’re doing the better thing in the long run, but then it kinda bites them in the ass after awhile, and they try and run back. The whole concept of “Fire Away” is a metaphor for a bad friend. In the song, they’re on a ship, and then something happens and the ship’s sinking. Everyone’s saying, “We’re going down with our ship; we’re going to stick this out; we’re going to try to fix everything and do this together,” but then one guy says, “This sucks, and I’m bailing.” He jumps off, tries to swim away, and ends up on an island, and he’s like, “This will be better in the long run. I’m fine.” But after awhile he’s like, “Okay, I’m just stuck here.”

SLEEPER

It’s weird how I work with lyrics. I don’t get drunk or anything, so my equivalent of drunken creativity is I just stay up as late as I can. [Laughs.] When we were writing the last record, we would stay up until 5 or 6 every morning, and just get into this weird zone where things we might not normally think of just happen. I’d be sitting at my computer, ready to pass out, listening to the music over and over again, and then I’d write a line, and be like, “That’s cool.” I’m at a computer most of the time when I’m home, because all I do is write down lyric ideas. I think I had 30 pages of ideas for the new album, and it was all one-liners and stuff like that, that were applicable to things, but I never felt like I had the rest of the song. Then after a while, I was like, “All these things are about the same thing. I can just make a song about it.” [Laughs.] That’s kind of how “Fire Away” came out. That’s the way I deal with things, I guess-some people go to therapy; I write metaphors and away-message-worthy lines. [Laughs.]

DO YOU FEEL BETTER YET?

As bad as this sounds, usually even in the worst situations, I’m not that upset, because I know it makes a great song. [Laughs.] That’s a very weird perspective, but at the same time, there’s a benefit to everything. You can document a shitty time, but have it be a great song. I’ll do the shittiness of that time, just to have that great song.

——————–

LINER NOTES

SONG: “Fire Away” ALBUM: Ups And Downsizing WRITTEN: February-June 2008 in Flint, MI. RECORDED: Sentient Studios, Chicago (guitars/vocals), 37 Studios, Rochester, MI (drums) and Artesian Sounds, Chicago (bass/additional vocals). PRODUCED BY: The Swellers and Mark Michalik ENGINEERED BY: Mark Michalik