The Big Swell - ProfilesArchive

About Me

The Big Swell is a Songwriter, Musician and Expat Brit making a new home in Madison. A vinyl junkie and music nut with weird ideas about what his own songs should sound like and an ear for some things slightly beyond the normal.Since 2001 The Big Swells been operating under that nomenclature but previous was part of Lobster Boy/Terror of the Zygons, Strange Fish (Mk I & MkII) Snot the Baby Eel (Briefly) & It/whatever we were called that week since the age of about 17.Weapon of Choice: Gibson EB3 Custom from 1976. Has been known to coax strange sounds from synth type devices, Ukuleles, electrical guitars, Canjozillas and Tea Chests, Drums (Some people call them Traps) and anything by Casio.(Favourite Beverage: Tea(Favourite Sandwich: Cheese & Pickle(Teeth: Yes(Once met Bernard Cribbins whilst Leonard Rossiter exploded (Honest, a true story)Will play gigs for Cuppa Tea and good conversation. Supplies own Jaffa Cakes.
Check out my latest finds and fend off the collector scum at Rate Your Music

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 3/17/2006
Band Website: soundclick.com/thebigswell
Band Members: The Big Swell!! Oh, thats me isn't it? (Sometimes The Soft Toy Dept. comes over for tea and things get weird)
Influences: There's too many artists for me to list. But Here Goes.. Alex Harvey, Can, The Fall, Budgie,Vic Chesnutt,The Dead C,The Handsome Family, Black Sabbath, Motorhead, The Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music, Patti smith, Monster Magnet, The Stooges, The Velvet underground, The Residents & Snakefinger, Edgar Broughton Band, the album "Split" by the Groundhogs, P.I.L (Well the first three records) Magazine,William McGonagall, Captain Beefheart, Dead Kennedys, Faust, Amon Dull II, Neu!, Soft Machine & Robert Wyatt, Silver Apples, The Tubes, Epic Soundtracks,Ultravox!, Ian Dury & Blockheads, East Of Eden, David Bowie, Loudon Wainwright III, Hank Williams , Slayer, Neil Young, PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, Bad Seeds & The Birthday party, The Who, "If Six was Nine" by Jimi Hendrix, John Fahey, Sonic Youth, Third Ear Band, Felix Pappalardi's bass sound in Mountain, Taraf de Haidouks, Charlie Parker, Ennio Morricone, Goblin, The Undertones, Ash Ra Temple(First Album), Tom Waits, Television, Heartbreakers, MC5 kicking out the fucking Jams motherfucker! Arthur Browns Kingdom Come, Moondog, Siouxsie & The Banshee's "The Scream" All of the Pebbles punk compilations and a couple of the Nuggets ones, Hearing Billy Childish for the first time, Ravi Shankar, Einsturzende Neubauten, Phillip Glass, Steve Reich and John Cage. Pauline Oliveros, Mojo Nixon, John Zorn, The Ramones, Alice Cooper on "Killer", Stranglers, Venom, Monty Python &, finally, Alan Ward - who was more of an influence on me than he probably knows. Cheers Al!!
Sounds Like: Giant

Record Label: Swell Sound Records/Twat It! Productions
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

DONT PANIC!

BBC TRANSCIPT TO BE USED IN WAKE OF NUCLEAR ATTACK This is the Wartime Broadcasting Service. This country has been attacked with nuclear weapons. Communications have been severely disrupted, and the ...
Posted by The Big Swell on Fri, 03 Oct 2008 01:15:00 PST

Number Four. The Harry Smith Anthology

This ones a bit of a cheat cos its really six albums but, without a doubt i can say that i would gladly forgo any more selections after this one. The Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music first...
Posted by The Big Swell on Mon, 11 Aug 2008 09:57:00 PST

Absolutely essential desert island disc 3

Certainly there has been so much written about this record that its hard for me to say anything that hasn't been said before, so what I will say is if you don't get it then chances are you never will....
Posted by The Big Swell on Sat, 09 Aug 2008 06:15:00 PST

Positively invaluable Records: Part Two

This ones on the list because it was the first album by a pretty obscure band that i came across. Can made other records, proper studio records, that outweigh this one, but its on the list because you...
Posted by The Big Swell on Mon, 04 Aug 2008 04:35:00 PST

Driving tedium.. ho hum

I recently passed my driving test here in the U.S. - so, before I was due to take the test I went out with my some time Instructor- Leo - a nice old chap who was saying to me that the driving exam is ...
Posted by The Big Swell on Wed, 31 Oct 2007 02:17:00 PST

for what its worth

Here's to the little people, heres to the singers singing songs in bars every night not because they want to but because its their only way of doing things, of putting bread on the table, heres to the...
Posted by The Big Swell on Mon, 27 Aug 2007 02:12:00 PST

What exactly is it then?

Interesting. Bicycles are not transportation.. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/transportation/july-dec07/inf rastructure_08-15.html more later....
Posted by The Big Swell on Mon, 20 Aug 2007 01:03:00 PST

How recorded music can ruin our lives.

If you look at it this way, if you imagine what will happen in a few years - our lives and our enjoyment may well be ruined. Backtrack a decade or two, to the cusp of the digital age. CD's were the ne...
Posted by The Big Swell on Tue, 14 Aug 2007 06:25:00 PST

Romare Bearden

..> .. InstanceBeginEditable name="bodytext" --> INTRODUCTION The complex and colorful art of Romare Bearden (1911-1988) is autobiographical and metaphorical. Rooted in the history of western, Afri...
Posted by The Big Swell on Sat, 04 Aug 2007 06:27:00 PST

free your mind and the rest will follow

Ornette Coleman lays it on the line.. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6927534.stm
Posted by The Big Swell on Fri, 03 Aug 2007 01:41:00 PST