Exclusive Interview: Will Swan of Sianvar and Kurt Travis of A Lot Like Birds @ Knitting Factory 1.22.14

Interview with Will Swan of Dance Gavin Dance, Sianvar & Blue Swan Records and Kurt Travis of A Lot Like Birds from Wed. January 22, 2014 NYC Show at the Knitting Factory with: A Lot Like Birds, Sianvar, Stolas & The Venetia Fair. Check out some photos below too!

SBN: Can you introduce yourself for the record?

Will Swan: My name’s Will, I play guitar in Dance Gavin Dance and Sianvar. I have a label called Blue Swan Records.

SBN: You’ve been on tour for maybe the last month or so, and how has that been going? Cause I know you’ve been hitting a lot of snow and issues on the road and all things of that sort.

WS: It’s been fun, uh, the first few years of Dance Gavin Dance having a band, we did winter tours every year. And after the third year we told our management like “we’re never doing this again” – we almost died! (laughs) y’know? So we pretty much called that quits. But for Sianvar because we’re all so busy and in different bands like – A Lot Like Birds, DGD, Hail the Sons, Stolas – it was hard to find – and we’re y’know we’re not like a real band, we’re a side project – so it was like we’d only really tour if everyone wasn’t busy at all – so we’re like alright winter, not a time that that any of our bands would really want to tour all that much but y’know… so we threw this tour together and I was actually super stoked that A Lot Like Birds came on this tour, cause I wasn’t expecting that – that uped the profile of the tour by like ten times – this tour has been fucking awesome, as far as winter tours go it’s probably the most fun I’ve ever had on a winter tour, so it’s been really cool – shows’ve been awesome. This is one of my favorite packages as far as just being able to watch every band, that I’ve ever been on as a musician. It’s been really cool.

SBN: I noticed that you just released your first self-titled EP back on January 5^th. How has the response been for that?

WS: It’s been great! Uh, we didn’t have any expectations, I mean it was mainly just a project for fun, I just wanted to do something a little bit different and I’ve been on like a side project binge where I just get a bunch of friends of mine and am like “let’s do something” y’know. So this my first one to really come to full fruition. I also have another one with Zack Garrion, Matt Guazey, Lynelle Robinson that’s also going to try and record this year too. I just wanted to spread my wings and put some different styles of music out there so people can see my versatility as a guitar player, so this project has been fun, this tour has been awesome.

SBN: Cool, so as you mentioned you also have your own record label Blue Swan Records. What are some of the difficulties, of managing your label on the road? Mike of SwitchBitch Records has the same situation, of having to manage a label while also being in a band and being on tour?

WS: It’s a lot of fun, there’s definitely some chaos involved but after touring for the last year eight years or so, I’m pretty used to the chaos. So working within that environment isn’t that big of a challenge honestly, whether I’m at home or on the road, I still have a laptop I’m still able to check anything I need to do – I’m still accessible to my bands and they don’t have any problems. On this tour, everybody on the label is on the tour so its a lot easier than if everyone wasn’t.

SBN: Going off that, what are some of your favorite aspects of touring and well as some of the worst aspects of touring?

WS: Playing the shows is my favorite – I love being on stage, I love performing and that’s definitely always been my favorite part of touring. As far worst aspect goes – it’s probably just been the weather on this tour. Especially driving in the snow, cause you feel like you’re gonna die. And I don’t like feeling like I”m gonna die, I’ve got a lot of life left in me! And I’m older than 27, if I died at 27, maybe that’s okay, I’d join the 27 club become a legend, all good. 28 – nothing good happens if you die at 28.

SBN: For your personal favorites as well as band favorites – what are some of your favorite songs to play on tour?

WS: On Sianvar – everything, just cause its all way too difficult for me, and I’m just like “oh man, I hope people don’t realize I’m barely able to play these songs right now” so I really dig the Sianvar stuff a lot right now. And for DGD I really want to play the song its called “dubbing boy” cause the vocalist wrote it about me and my ex-girlfriend breaking up during the recording of Acceptance Speech and they didn’t tell me until after it was done – I was like “what the fuck” and I was kind of pissed at first – not gonna lie, I was like “how can you just air out my shit on a song?” but then after a little while like now the song means a lot to me and I’d love to play it live.

SBN: So you share so many members between the bands – is that exhausting for everyone, or how does everyone as a whole balance that?

WS: I don’t know what its like to play two shows at once. I mean Joe and Butter and Sergio are every night doing two sets. Which seems really fun to me but at the end of the night doesn’t seem fun to them, so… I’m not sure

SBN: And does that cause any problems between the bands or is everyone just such close friends?

WS: I don’t think so, Mikey said he was gonna watch Joe and if he fucked up more during our set than the Birds set that he was gonna probably beat his ass. But I think uh Joe’s been doing a pretty solid job for both bands, so everything’s been working out pretty well.

[Kurt Travis, vocalist of A Lot Like Birds joins our interview table]

SBN: Different pace – if you could share the stage any band past or present who would it be? (name a few if you like).

WS: I think it’d be an honor to share the stage with a band Kurt Travis introduced me to called the Mahavishnu Orchestra…

Kurt Travis: Yess!

WS: ….during the Birds of Prey era of their lineup. And that’d be so sick, just cause I’ve really gotten into bands that – are just everyone in the band is contributing at the highest level, like everybody is so amazing at their instrument that you can’t really pick one guy? And that band would’ve be my number one for bands like that where everything you’re hearing is amazing. And uh Mahavishnu is like right now, is like especially the album Birds of Prey – because bands back in the day like that used to switch up their lineup all the time but that particular album lineup would’ve been fucking amazing to play a show with – I would literally just be watching with my mouth wide open the whole set like- oh my god

KT: Yeah – and if I may- John McLaughlin of Mahavishnu, Billy Cobham of Mahavishnu, used to get to together with Jaco Pastorius fucking legends of jazz fusion and they used to create these bands all the time and they literally had no names for them – it used to be like so who’s playing tonight? Uh, John McLaughlin, Jaco Pastorius and Billy Cobham, and um it’d be sold out, they’d do a whole tour and that was it! That was the only ting they did a- nd they loved it, they loved feeding off energy they didn’t normally play with. And I think that’s what we’re trying to do with Dance Gavin Dance, A Lot Like Birds, Sianvar, Stolas, y’know shit – we’re trying to create this base of music, to just keep making it bigger and bigger and bigger.

WS: Yeah.. .just like a new scene of people like that you are really good, our friends who can play together

KT: – Hail the Sun as well, sorry –

WS: yeah that’s definitely the goal, definitely with how stale the genre has gotten. When I got into it, it was so cool there was like at the Drive In Thursday, so many bands doing new cool stuff – now don’t want to mention any names but shit’s gotten terribly. So yeah, sorry my label and I just wanna put bands out there and tour with bands that are actually awesome and trying to do something to progress the genre rather than trying to just cash in on whats already been done

KT: there are certain prioritizes in music and I feel like those priorities are construed, you know what I mean? a lot of bands that are successful now are worried about y’know what their weight is, how their hair looks, how that sort of shit is – and that definitely is not to be taken lightly, that does make a difference, but you have to have a good product before any of that shit. Y’know its what we’re trying to make people aware of.

SBN: Bouncing off that – based on how you see the music scene rihgt now, and your experience with your record label Will and both of your band experiences – what would you give as your best advice to young musicians out there for people in high school, people in college?

WS: I always get asked that question and for a couple of years i’d be like “I don’t know man, don’t suck” but after a little while of thinking about it, it’s just “focus on the music, period” everything else – image, being signed, touring all that shit is secondary, first off just be a musician, care about what you do and how you go about doing it and make something that you’re proud of before you go and try to sell it. Because so many bands it seems like now they get their hair cut, get their moves down and their music’s shit

KT: – substance!

WS: Yeah, theres no substance

KT: – the product, the product is not there

WS: – yeah, focus on the product , the music you make and everything else will come, if you’re good enough people will notice and people like me will see that and try to help you try to push that, so yeah don’t worry about anything else but the music.

SBN: For your record label as well as Sianvar, anything else coming up, anything you can share with your fans?

WS: Yeah we got a band called Adola that will be recording with Josh Betton in February and I’m psyched to put that record out, also Stolas is going in with Chris Crumpet in July and doing their follow up album which I’ll be releasing and I’m really stoked to see what they come up with for it. Also this year we’ll be doing a secret band record which is me and John Masamegas we’ll be putting that out on Blue Swan. I’ve also got a project with Matt Gusy the singer Low Recognition, Lynelle Robinson the drummer of letlive and Zack Eron who use to be in DGD and we’re gonna be trying to put that out this year as well, that got written like two years ago and we’ve just been trying to coordinate schedules since to release it. So it’s gonna be a busy year, there’s a lot of stuff coming out that I’m really proud of and really ready to put out so hopefully y’know stuff is gonna keep on snowballing and going really well and people stop listening to all that breakdown shit at is popular right now

KT: Yep, hopefully kids realize the integrity that we’re trying to instill.

SBN: What is the most random movie fact that you know?

WS: About the filming of a movie and then my answer would be in Antichrist that Lars von Trier movie that Willem Dafoe’s dick was so big that when Lars von Trier saw it he was like “I can’t put this dick in this shot, cause its just gonna detract from the film, people aren’t going to take it seriously” so they had to get a smaller stunt dick for those shots so it wouldn’t be so distracting, I just think that’s so hilarious that Willem Dafoe’s is so hung–

KT: -Willem Dafoe is hung dude!

WS: – so hung that they can’t put that in a movie. Y’know, I think that’s really funny.

SBN: What is your favorite book?

KT: So, I’d have to say The Similarion by J.R.R. Tolkien. I love the fact that the book in itself, he started it before he wrote Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit and then he didn’t finish the book until on his deathbed, he didn’t even get to edit it, his son had to edit his own book cause he literally finished the last page and died like moments later and um, I think it’s amazing because the way he created Middle Earth, it was a song by the gods –yeah by the gods they’re called Valar – and the one God the huge – y’know the God that ruled all the other Gods, his name was Ilúvatar, and Ilúvatar started this song and the song created the Earth, literally like – the angels – and the God basically – Illuviatar and Valar created they the Earth through a song…

WS: Who is Tilion in Similarion?

KT: Oh!

WS: Cause Tilion’s parents were super hippies and they didn’t —

KT: Tilion is a Naoin, which is like Gandalf or Sauron or something like that..

WS: …a white wizard?

KT: It’s basically they’re not human, they’re not an elf, they’re not a God but they have powers. They were just, they were literally delegated, powerful….

WS: Ah yeah that’s my next thing that I’ve been like dying to read is The Similarion.

SBN: Okay thanks so much for the interview, pretty sweet! Anything else you’d like to add on, things we didn’t cover?

WS: Just keep an eye out for good music and y’know don’t settle for all the shit that keeps on getting peddled to everybody cause it’s not good.

Interview by Hanna Yando & Maria Gironas of SwitchBitch Noise

Photos by Hanna Yando, view the full set on Facebook: