The Swellers’ Drummer Pens Editorial About The Life And Death Of The Band

July 31st, 2014

Ryan Kappy

The Swellers are a band that everyone in the overall punk scene should follow in terms of how to start a band, build your brand and market yourselves to the social masses of fans to really create something special from just starting out in a basement. The Flint, MI quartet did just that in their reign as a band, according to this journal entry that was posted on Noisey from drummer Jonathan Diener.

Diener took to the interwebs to write a lengthy post in dealing with the ups and downs of being in The Swellers in the twelve years they were a band. He details playing small local shows to possibly signing with Dexter Holland’s (The Offspring) Nitro Records to finally getting a deal with Fueled By Ramen and having a somewhat successful run with the release of Ups And Downsizing and Good For Me with the hit single “The Best I Ever Had.” He then reminisces on leaving FBR to self-releasing their EP Running Out Of Places To Go and dealing with hardships of losing managers and being in absolute debt while releasing their last record, The Light Under Closed Doors, through No Sleep Records.

Here is what Diener had to say to close out his time with The Swellers:

Maybe posthumously we’ll become a big deal or just fade away. In retrospect, it doesn’t matter if you’ve heard of us or not. No one ever said you had to be a household name to be successful. Regardless of whether we were a small, mid-level, or big band, we did things our way and I’ll always be proud of that.

We’d recommend taking the time to read the article as it’s a great read and a lesson to be learned for bands that are up and coming and who are not trying to be a “band’s band.”

Be sure to catch The Swellers on their final tour that they are currently booking in order to say goodbye. The Swellers will truly be missed!