The Mic caught up with Austin, Higgy, Zach and Cav from Swim Deep on their last trip to Nottingham. We’ve been revisting their best words in anticipation of Dot to Dot.
What’s the strangest experience you’ve had so far?
There’s a video that our photographer took, where he goes round the corner and I’m face down, lying on the ground. No memory of that. We also signed a pack of crisps yesterday. Golden Wonder ones, cheese and onion. I also threw two apples out during a show, and one of them hit someone on the head. I was just trying to keep people healthy.
I saw Peace throw full cans of beer into the crowd last week…
I threw my hat into the crowd last night. Everyone was chanting “throw your hat” at the end of the set, then I came off stage and realised it was my favourite hat. The girl came up to me after the show, she had it on and everything. But I couldn’t bring myself to take it off her.
You’ve had a big year – what’s been your favourite moment?
Getting a new coat from Primark, 23 quid. But seriously, probably our Reading gig. Maybe everyone was just extra drunk or something, but we could just tell when we got on stage – it was the best show ever. Signing a record deal was great, but it wasn’t the most exciting thing – it just means getting a platform where we can make an album.
What about Maida Vale?
Yeah that was cool, we got Miti (Adhikari, legendary BBC sound engineer) to do our session, it was just before he left. Before he pressed play, he was like “Let’s make history” – he does that with every band but it makes you feel so special.
How was touring with Lucy Rose?
It was great. Before we’d seen her at Great Escape, she was upstairs doing vocals warm ups and I was really, really drunk, shouting at her “Lucy, Lucy, you’re gonna smash it tonight!” and she was just like (does incredibly high-pitched vocal warm up impression). Charlie (Hugall) was saying they recorded some of her album downstairs in a bomb shelter that her granddad built.
Who came up with the idea for the ‘Honey’ video? (Basically a hot girl and tonnes of paint)
Well it was either that or strapping a camera to a dog…We decided that we needed a real fun video, it’s a fun song. So we we’re gonna have the girl as ‘Honey’, she still is I guess. The lyrics say it all to be fair, we don’t need to give any messages through the video, so we just wanted a video where people will watch and smile or laugh, or whatever. And the girl, she’s like a mega babe as well. We all pulled her…(a two-minute discussion follows about who the girl fancies most).
Are you still in touch with Peace and the rest of the bands from Birmingham?
Yeah it’s cool cos the scene is still there, Peace and us are off elsewhere, partying and spreading the message, and now Jaws are coming up. Jaws are kind of like the leaders in Birmingham at the moment, which is real nice. There’s Heavy Waves and Wide Eyed, all good bands, so it’s all good.
There’s hope that the same will happen with Nottingham at the moment…
Yeah there’s Jake Bugg, Dog is Dead. We’re listening to Jake Bugg’s album at the minute in the van actually, it’s beautiful. It’s insane he wrote some of those songs at sixteen.
What else is on rotation in the van?
Tame Impala – Lonerism. I’m also listening to a lot of Lemonheads, their greatest hits album.
Seeing as this is for The Mic, who is your favourite Mike?
We’ve got a guy on tour with us called Mike, and our manager’s called Mike – Mike Flat-cap and Mikey D. We also love Michael Jordan.
Final question – can you give me your one-word response to the news that Rod Stewart used to take cocaine anally?
Hero.
Swim Deep play Rock City Main Hall at 5pm
Dot to Dot Festival Nottingham – 26/05/13. Tickets available here: http://www.alt-tickets.co.uk/alttickets/home_dot_to_dot_festival_2013.html.
By Jonnie Barnett
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