Swervedriver played the Biltmore Cabaret last night, and this was a show I was determined not to miss – the UK band’s debut Raise is one of my favourites from the era (that is, the beginning of time until now).
I saw a lot of familiar faces at the East Van bar, including a lot of others who fondly remember ’90s shoegaze rock. The band is touring for I Wasn’t Born to Lose You, its first new album in 17 (!) years. Interestingly, while researching the band for a review, I realized that only the first two of its four ’90s albums have ever been released in North America, which has left an unfortunate gap in my knowledge of their tunes. I was hoping that by some magic force, vinyl reissues of at least some of their albums would be available at the merch table, but instead there were just copies of the new record plus some (admittedly pretty nice) T-shirts.
All in all it was a pretty good show, I got to hear some old favourites – “Son of Mustang Ford,” “Rave Down,” “Never Lose That Feeling,” “Duel”- and (bonus for us aging hipsters) it ended before midnight. Afterwards, frontman Adam Franklin and the rest of the band mingled with stragglers. For a few minutes, we stood near where Franklin was talking to fans, not knowing what to say to him – “Will Raise be reissued on vinyl?”, my contribution, seemed like the dorkiest thing ever – so we left without saying anything.
Adam, if you’re reading this – will Raise be reissued on vinyl anytime soon?
You can read my review at hmv.com/ca.