Swivel and the Rise to the Top

                                 “Mmm….That’s Swivelicious!”

Swivel is a mix of Rock, Electronica and Acoustic Guitar w/ a groovy vibe that swings from a string of smoke streams. A great band from the Los Angeles area this duo, made up of singer/songwriters Thai and Eddie, are a serious talent to be reckoned with. I met up with these guys at the Cat and the Fiddle on the Sunset Strip and had the pleasure of talking with them about everything from acting to how much they both love Madonna and their most precious prize possession to date: Their new demo, “Razor Blades’ a prelude to their full fledged album coming out in Fall 2007.

Thai and Eddie met in High School. At the time of their meeting – Thai was an avid chess player and belonged to the Literary Arts Magazine – playing piano on the side.

“I was a nerd and Eddie was the popular one. He was already an aspiring actor working on the Cosby show and Ghostwriter – and had a ton of friends.” On the day of their meeting, Eddie was singing in a songwriting competition and Thai saw him from afar. “He was just damn good. Couldn’t believe it. He was a triple threat, singer/songwriter/actor.” As time progressed and they became friends, Eddie taught Thai how to sing and they began to exchange ideas back and forth to each other – soon they were writing songs and forming the foundations of the later-Swivel. After High School Eddie decided to pursue an acting career and enrolled in NYU’s prestigious Film School. Not even a year into college he landed the a co-starring role with Mathew Mcconaugey in the movie “Lone Star.” While Eddie was busy becoming a star, Thai had his own aspirations deciding to follow a career in physics. “I loved music, but I was going to do Physics – the sad thing is you’re automatically not cool if you’re a Physics major so I decided instead to follow my dream and enlisted in Berkeley’s School of Music in MA.” In Boston Thai found his true calling, meeting other like-minded musicians who had the same passion for music as he did. “I was finally cool.” (Laughs) “Boston Musicians are a lot more laid back and in Somerville we’d just go hang out at bars and there was this real creative energy about the place.” While each friend was pursuing different aspirations, Eddie and Thai still found time to send each other songs and build their songwriting repertoire. After College Thai decided to move to NYC while Eddie settled upon becoming a Film Actor in LA. It was a time of revelation for each of them. As Thai mentions, “When I moved to NYC, I had to take some time to find myself. I’m not like everybody else.” Eddie:“That’s true, when he visited me in NY during college he actually lost his virginity on my bed!” (Both Laugh)

After moving to Los Angeles, Eddie kept in contact with his best friend – and started to develop his own friendships around town – bringing him closer to the Music scene. “The truth is I wanted to be an Actor, but I did a lot of soul searching and found that Music was really what I wanted to do, it’s in my blood. Just like me, my father loved music and used to play it all the time.”

This time apart forced the duo to start thinking about the possibility of playing music together.  As Eddie states, “We’d always sent each other demos back and forth listening to each other’s work, but now we were like – ‘You should play on this song with me’ – and that was really the beginning of Swivel.”

            At first Thai was reluctant about moving to Los Angeles, comfortable teaching guitar at the Royal Academy of Music – but Eddie’s badgering finally won through. “He kept telling me we’re going to be Rock Stars. We’re going to be Huge! I guess after awhile I started to believe it myself.” Finally after years apart, Thai and Eddie were in the same room writing songs together, mixing dance beats with acoustic grooves and gaining a whole new fan base with their popular rendition of Madonna’s hit “Sorry.“

“We incorporated a lot of our sound from Madonna’s CD, Confessions on a Dance Floor.” Other influences from this dynamic duo include – Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Queen, Prince, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Hole, Britney Spears, Radio Head and even the singer amalgam, Bjork.

Both Singer/songwriters are confident in their abilities together and on their own, but neither wants to go solo. As Eddie says, “We compliment each other well, and since Thai is great at recording it makes things a lot easier.” In terms of how they write songs, Eddie confesses, “To be honest I came up with a lot of my melodies washing dishes at Starbucks.” Thai prefers a nice walk with the walk-man and smoking a lot of pot along the way. Both are avid about finding sources of inspiration  -- paintings/movies/books – anything with a personal story behind it. When I asked what their trick is to staying constantly ahead of their time as songwriters, they were all to ready to throw out some diamonds in the rough. “Keeping your ear to the street is important, find out what is popular and grab onto it. Constantly reinvent yourself, never stay the same and make stuff that still matters – comment on the world as it is.”

On what makes a band successful vs. one that falls behind, they had a couple of great ideas in their arsenal. “Viral Marketing – Reading Current Online marketing books is huge. We try to keep up to date on what’s going on in the Internet World. Blogging is big now and video is starting to go viral. We’re always looking at new opportunities to get our music out there. That’s why it’s great we get to be in this online magazine. Speaking of which, don’t look at Music Magazines as Entertainment—but a how-to manual. Try to choose a Free Market over a Monopoly – Act quickly and keep you’re My Space up to date.”

Just these few phrases alone sum up what Swivel is all about: A powerhouse of Energy, Drive, Songs and Intellectual prowess that is preparing to take the world by storm.  With their soaring melodies and tight beats/grooves from their new Demo “Razorblades” these guys deliver a package that is unique, refreshing and altogether Swivelicious. J

To hear more from this up and coming band check them out @

www.myspace.com/introducingswivel

and of course their very own Ijamr Page:
www.ijamr.com/swivel

My personal Swivel Favorites: “Robotic Sex” “Razorblades”  “Sorry”

Written by Deron Wade