What can I say? I'm a sucker for a two-piece.

    When you are looking for music that is going to cut right to the chase and just simply be about bringing you the simple pleasures of sitting with a good whiskey and soda, a couple of friends at your side and your ears ready to be rocked, a good two member band is always a sure bet.

    The Swallows are a prime example of simplicity at its core. In the days of big groups boasting five or more members, Em and Jon are a breath of fresh air, melding a mix of sounds together and driving the music forward without any confusion.
    Don't get me wrong, you can have as many members in a band as you like, but with a guitar/lead singer and a drummer, there is just a beauty that comes fourth that you will find no where else.

    In concert these two are in their element. The drummer, Jon, reminds me of tribal sounds. Even cadence, powerful, to the point, a look on his face like he is trying to will the sounds into the skins of the drum set, "I'm going to give you a rap, you're going to make a sound that keeps this thing movin'"

    Em, the lead singer/guitar player is belting away at their opening song, a cover of Patty Smith's song Distant Fingers. She is fully absorbed, fingering away at the guitar making it sing along with her and gazing out at the crowd with a look that can only be described as child like wonder.
    The whole show goes on like this. A no bullshit rendition of music that keeps your attention and fills the room with an energy not usually found in the smaller venues. These two live for the performance and it comes across in their commitment of their music which ranges in sound at every turn.

    After the show, myself full of whiskey and gin, my photographer Don talks the band into sitting down with us for a little interview. This is where I really fall in love with these guys.

    I have to admit that a bands personality plays a huge roll in my general opinion of the music. You can be a phenomenal artist, but if you're an asshole, you can't hide it. These two are just the types that I would want to sit down and enjoy a good drink with, and lucky me, I got to.
    Everything settles in and we get down to talking. I ask the usual questions. Where are you from? They respond that Em is from California and Jon is from Jersey. How did you meet? They met seven days after they moved here five years ago and have been playing together ever since. What's your favorite performance that you ever put on?

    This is when things get interesting.

    Some time ago, the two were invited to play at a benefit being held at someone's home to raise money for orphan children. At this point, the two would take any show that came their way and agreed to come perform. During this time, Em's girlfriend was out of town traveling, and feeling like getting a little high, she smoked some pot. (Something that she had not been able to do for quite a while.)
    They ended up arriving at the show about five hours early as who ever was organizing their ride had over estimated how long it would take to get there. (Personally, I think this may be a first in the rock world, none of these guys ever show up early to anything.) So, of course, Em decided that it would be a good idea to start drinking. Pile this all together and things started becoming very entertaining.

    While Em was having a chemical adventure with booze and marijuana, Jon was suffering a severe deep ear infection. There was actually blood coming from his ear. I don't know about you, but this would have been the point where I would have hung things up, but to perfectly round things out he also had a wicked case of the shits.

    So the scene consists of this. A drunk/high singer/guitar player and a drummer who is raiding the bathroom stealing q-tips, trying to clean the blood from his ear and having to make repeated stops to the bathroom. They are due to come down to the basement of the house and perform for everyone, and being the troopers that they are they go ahead and head down to play.
    Unfortunately, the band that was playing before them had just finished and everyone had decided to head back upstairs to find the keg. Despite not having a crowd to play for, the pair decided to go on. Who wants to deny orphan children, right?

    Jon can't hear the high hat, Em is channeling the interview where she had heard Kurt Cobain explain that it didn't matter how you sounded as long as you had passion and was screaming and carrying on while singing a cover of Olivia Newton John's Physical and all of this was only being witnessed by John's boyfriend and a random guy that just happened to stay down in the basement when they started performing.

    This is when John, seeing Em obviously not aware of exactly what was going on, and him in dire straights with blood and all coming out of his ear, decided that it was time to hang things up…orphan children be damned.

    Being too embarrassed to face the crowd upstairs, the pair simply unloaded all of their gear out of the back window of the basement and snook off.

    This was quite simply the best story I had ever heard when describing "the worst show ever".

    These two are the greatest. Good music all around. A must see in the local scene. Make sure to catch them Aug. 31st at the East End for their new remix cd debut. It's free, so you have no excuse to not come.

    It's a rare thing for me to meet two people that I would like to hang out with more, love their music and would recommend everyone I know to go see them. Make sure to keep your eyes on these two.

-Jake-