Aine Brewer from The Metal Saloon, recently interviewed Steve Horner from Swanee River. The band have released 3 E.P.'s to date (Back to the Handlebars, Baby Better Lady, Kick Off yer Cloggs) and have just released their debut album 'Smoking Jacket'.
1. Swanee River was formed in 2005, can you briefly explain how and where the band started, and who founded the band?
The band was founded by me in Derry City Northern Ireland. I had only moved to derry from belfast in 2003 and was playing acoustic blues gigs about 3-4 times a week though the itch was on to get a full band. I started scoping for players and it happened very quickly! We came 5th out of 300 bands in an all Ireland battle of the bands on our 3rd gig!
2. I hear you originate from Ireland; I have family in Galway and Co. Tipperary. Where about in Ireland were you all born and bred?
We were all born and bred in Co. L/derry with the exception of myself I was born in the big smoke, good old Belfast town!
3. What is the meaning behind the name ‘Swanee River’ has it got anything to do with the Black Water River, ‘Suwanee River’ in Georgia, U.S.A?
Kind of...I was listening to alot of Ray Charles at the time I was searching for a name for the band. The song 'Swanee River Rock' by Ray Charles (which is a jazzed up version of the old folk song) came on the CD player and I decided to run with it. I later found out that the song was written by a Derry man originally titled 'Old Folks Home', so it seemed to suit pretty well!
4. What bands have you grown up listening to, that have influence your style?
Definately for me as a singer im inspired by ACDC Free, Led Zeppelin, Steve Marriott, all the black soul artists from the Staxx label etc. I grew up listening to The Stones, The Who and and The Beatles. It was funny at the time in my early teens, everyone was into current bands and I was 40 years behind! I always loved any song that was steeped in the blues...
The other guys are into some heavier music like Helmet and Tool etc
5. Coming from Ireland are you fans of the deceased legends; Rory Gallagher, Phil Lynnot and Gary moore?
Definately, especially Rory Gallagher. He was truely one of the greats. Thin Lizzy is never off our band play list when on tour, such a great catalog of songs! I was in to Gary Moore as a kid when I first started learning guitar, I wanted to play as fast as him, though I quickly got into the delta blues and learned that phrasing is the most important thing when playing or singing. In saying that Gary is an excellent blues player
5a. How do you feel they have inspired you as musicians?
The fact they are Irish and such legends is always an inspiration, something to look up to. Most of my music collection consists of the 60's/70's British Rock movement however its nice to have some of your heroes from your native land. Van Morrison is another!
6. You have had quite a lot of attention in the Local and National press, appeared on the BBC Radio and TV and toured with some well-established bands, for instance The Answer, UFO and Taste. How does it feel to have accomplished these things?
We've just taken it in our stride and keep our feet on the ground. Its nice to be doing well though you never know whats round the corner. We have a strong work ethic and all this is only part of our long term goals (World Domination!) haha, we are always hungry for more!
6.a. What are your favourite other accomplishments to date?
Finishing our debut album and it receiving such good feedback...its definately a highlight of last year.
7. What was it like touring with UFO?
We only played the 1 gig with those guys in Belfast!
7a. How did you get on with those guys?
We actually didn't get to meet them, though their merchandise girl was very nice, haha.
7b. What was your most memorable gig and why?
Belfast May 2009. We won over the sold out crowd with the first song and soon had them bouncing to the rest! That was a point for us when we realised that if you put a large number of people infront of us, we will win them over very quickly. Its happened with every major support we have done and is a great feeling to win over so many people in one fell swoop!
8. You recently joined Rocksector Records, who have recently won the title of ‘Best Label Of The Year’ at the Pure Rawk Awards. Rocksector Records have won this title three years out of the last 4. How does it feel to be part of something like this?
It feels great! We were looking at what Rocksector was doing for their bands and they appeared to have the same work ethic as us. It was a major factor in us approaching them. They work very hard for all their bands and I dont think we'll ever feel that we are being ignored over some of the more established bands on their roster, something that happens a lot with the bigger so called labels. It's an exciting time!
9. I see you've played a festival in India, What was that event & how did it come about?
It was Sychronicity, Kanpur. Indias largest college rock festival. We headlined to 16,000 people and it was amazing! Theres a short documentary about it up on our youtube page. They emailed us to ask us to headline. We chanced our arms and asked for all expenses to be paid by the festival and a pretty hefty fee (for us)...even though we would have done it for free, we couldnt believe when they said it was no problem and we wern't that hard to pay! We should have asked for more haha. The experience was payment alone though, it was the first taste of actually making it. The crowd was chanting words from some of our old songs...an unbelievable experience.
9a. What upcoming gigs/tours/plans do you have?
We have a few things in the pipeline, UK tour is in planning at the minute and the dates should be coming through pretty soon. They will be on www.swaneeriver.net very soon!
