A 'SWELL' PROJECT

The times roll, but they can also rock. With the eclectic sounds and ever-evolving musicians which make up the Bloomington music scene, another band has emerged. In half compliance with the status quo of collegiate bands -- rock 'n' rollers with energizing intentions of producing their own sound -- The Swell diverge substantially when it comes to the process of conception. Support and guidance from some crafty local veterans provided their ultimate formation. \nThe Swell got its start in the fall of 2003 at the Bluebird, hosting over 800 people as it opened for Blue Moon Revue, a band which has proven significant and influential in forming The Swell.\n"Man, there was this energy," says John West, Swell frontman and senior, of their first performance. "We came out swinging. I felt something that I never felt before at all, and I discovered that side of the performance and getting lost in it physically. It was like losing my fucking virginity, man."\nEnter college -- the perfect time to form a band. West, also known as "Johnzo West" in his self-described "drum-kit kicking, wired- out-of-my-brains, pounding whiskey days," was forced to leave the menacing "kit" at home while bored up in the dorms as a freshman. West turned to his roommate's guitar to release the relentless echoes of music which ran through his mind.\n"I'm a drummer by trade, from age nine, and wanted to play rock drums," he says. "(Without them at school) I started to write a lot of songs and I realized that I didn't want other people singing them. I needed to sing them. I had something to say and I wanted to say it a certain way."\nThe solo-acoustic endeavors he undertook following his sophomore year were never an absolute aspiration of his future. Rather, they were fashioned in do-or-die desperation to meet, make and create the right environment to start a band.\n"I did not necessarily enjoy (solo gigs)," West says. "I did not have a lot of confidence because of not having a band backing me up. It was not that much fun at all. It was totally out of necessity."\nIn retrospect, he divulges that those performances were crucial to his process: getting up and singing in front of people, talking to the crowd, composing himself as a performer and the most important element of all -- meeting the right folks.\nThe punch was taking second place to Blue Moon Revue in a battle of the bands -- the payoff was being taken under their wing. The following year, West was immediately thrown into the forefront of a Blue Moon Revue project called The Prophets. \nUnable to fit West into their own outfit in future endeavors; Blue Moon Revue wanted to ensure him group stability -- a band to play with. Enter Travis Ellison and Nick Wyatt.\nEllison, a seasoned drummer on holiday, with a love-affair of the tabla (a north-Indian percussion instrument involving intricate hand movements and syllabic rhythms), first witnessed West performing a solo acoustic set opening for his band Sangeet Mala. Sangeet Mala's percussionist suggested West to open.\n"Seeing him play his original song 'Soaking The Soul,' I knew that was the start of it. This music needs to get out … it needs to be played," Ellison says.\nForgoing his plans to move to San Francisco to study the tabla, Ellison called up West, took a blind dive into the band and got a place to live back in Bloomington. (Ellison graduated from Indiana University in 2001.) \n"I said to him that I heard he needed a drummer and you want to start a band, and I said I needed a band and that I'm a drummer," Ellison says.\nBeyond the bounds of the trained drummer, Ellison's tabla playing directly effects his drumming, his thoughts about rhythm and his time breakdown. This mathematical and rhythmic approach and expulsions through his tabla proficiencies added the uncommon and revolutionary element to the group's dynamic.\nBy May 2003, again at the graces of Blue Moon Revue, West was introduced to and performed with bassist Nick Wyatt, a senior performance major in the School of Music. At their first show together, Wyatt donned a tuba in his performance with the scarcely-known Johnzo West and The Prophets.\nAs summer loomed, West recalls, "I left the ball in Nick's court to call at the end of summer (when he returned to Bloomington) and sure enough he dialed me up and we started playing."\nDuring West's senior year the pieces fell into place.\nThe Swell performed its first basement gig in the fall of 2003, held at none other than Blue Moon Revue's pad. Succeeding this initiation ritual, The Swell opened the following weekend for their hosts at the aforementioned Bluebird show. Spirits were high, as well as consumed.\n"From the first chord, man, I was like, 'Whoa! Look out dude, we got a rocket between our fucking legs and we're going to blast through this roof tonight,'" West says.\nThe year has continued in similar fashion; playing numerous shows in the underground college-rock realm, as well as gracing the stage at numerous venues around Bloomington.\nUnexpectedly, a fifth year has been added to West's work-in-progress, spawned from collective asprirations of putting their soul down in the studio.\nThis month The Swell embarked on their 16-track debut album, with an expected April release. Telecommunications professor Russ Castillo offered them unparalled insight to the recording process. Castillo operated a producer's workshop in Los Angeles for ten years and worked on albums such as Pink Floyd's The Wall and with such musicians as The Doors. Castillo, who has also been producing various artists in Bloomington at his Castle Creek Studios for the past five years, is witness to some of the finest musicians around.\n"In the past five years since I've been working with local talent, they're not only the best band that I've worked with in Bloomington, but the best rock 'n' roll band in Bloomington," Castillo says. \nNot willing to take anything that just happens in the studio, Castilllo's professional eye and ear to the recording process has formed the necessary bond among the artists and producer, and they spent their spring break working together in hopes of producing a great recording. \nThis fifth year also holds in store another chapter to the tale; more live shows throughout the next calendar year -- such as an April 3 perfromance at Delta Upsilon's annual Jeep Kiss-Off as well as a show that same night at the Bluebird.\nWith the dissipation of college bands a common phenomenon, one would surely inquire to the longevity of this collective group of talented musicians.\n"It's like getting involved in a relationship with a girl," West says. "If you know there is a ceiling on it, why fuck around hammering on, going through the motions? If you think you love somebody and you think there is potential for it to last, then stick with it, do it and have faith in it"