Mothers hide your daughters, it's Swilley's last ride.

If I was still living in Texas, you would find me at the Aardvark on (2905) W. Berry Friday night, May 2nd. After a seven year run starting in an algebra class, thru venues all across Texas, and even a West Coast tour under their belt, Swilley of Fort Worth are getting ready to play their last show. Since I won't get a chance to get down there in person, I caught up with guitarist/vocalist Caleb McQueary via Myspace/Phone to talk to him about the wild ride they've had up to this point.


Musically Delicious-When did you originally get together as a group?
Caleb McQueary-I met [bassist/vocalist] Conrad [(Jake) Gage] in High School in Mr. Swilleys algebra class. That's how we got the name. I had never been in a band before, [and] Conrad played in some not serious bands. This was all back in 2000. We met [drummer] Cory [Hoad] two years later. Our drummer at the time, his mom kicked him out of the band. So...Cory was in a band called High Strung. Their bassist went to college, so our bands joined to [form] one super band. However, after about two years of trying to make that work the other guitarist, Austin, and singer, Chase, both didn't have it in their hearts to do the band thing. So they left Swilley and [it's] been just us for four years now.
MD-How was your tour? I heard you had a lot of fun.

CM-The tour was fuckin' awesome. You wouldn't believe how good pop punk sales on the west coast. We really didn't bring anyone to the clubs, but everyone (ninety percent of everyone, at least) that was in the club bought our CD and merch.

MD-What is your direction now, as individuals? Still going to play music?
CM-Cory got a mail room job that pays a lot, so that's it for him. Conrad moved to Larado for a job. Peace out. I'm trying to form another band at the moment. I [also] play drums and bass real well, so I've been in the studio recording my own solo project stuff. It's real good. I'll try to send it [to you]. I will not give up on music. Neither will Conrad. He just had to take this job. Hey, it's salary and benefits.

MD-Where can I get a copy of your album(s)?
CM-iTunes thinks we suck, I guess, 'cause it's been real hard for us to get our music on there. You can by and download on our Myspace, or just email us and I'll send a copy. That goes for everyone.

*That's very cool of you to do. Some of the industry's biggest artists have started doing that as well. What's your take on that, and the current state of the industry in general?*

MD-What type of music inspires you the most? And are there any specific musicians you look up to, whether for music, or how they work, or whatever.
CM-Everyone in the band has a different influence. Conrad and I started this band 'cause we loved Blink 182. From there it went to harder punk influences like NofX and Lagwagon. Maybe not harder, but definitely faster. More progression instead of four chord songs. Cory likes Queens of the Stone Age, and other stuff. He doesn't like punk, really. We forced it upon him. However, he is fast on the drums. We trained him well.

As for individual musicians...I like the production on an album. Like the overall bass tones, or effects someone uses on a certain part. Lagwagon had a bunch of movie clips on one of their albums [and] I thought it was cool, so I put it on our album.

MD-Any crazy tour/gig stories?

(*unedited*)
CM-Oh yes, the best...

tis a night in seattle and all through the town,
bands were playing, making lots of sound.
thats enough of that....
anywho, we got drunk before we played, had a great show. got even more drunk when the other bands played. then the last band took us out on the town and we got totally shit faced,we took a taxi back to our hotel. conrad passed out in the taxi. we had to carry him upstairs and put him to bed. there were 2 full beds and a fold out couch. we gave him the couch. cory and i woke up at 10am to go downstairs a check on the van and trailer. as i walked pass conrads bed i noticed that the matress was the dirty-est piece of shit matress id ever seen. i looked like there was shit in it. (literally) so we go downstairs, alls good, and back up to the room we go. in the elevator i say to cory "that would be fucked up if jake shit himself" he says "there's no way". i said "that would be funny if we walked in the door and the matress was made and he was in the shower" Sure enough, the matress was made and Conrad just got out of the shower. i looked at him and said "Did you shit yourself!?!?!" He said "not exactly" and pointed to the desk chair.

He got so wasted the night before that he woke up in the middle of the night, thought the chair was a toilet, and shit right in it. wiped his ass with his hand then threw it on the fuckin wall. there was shit all over the place.

not done yet..

he went down stairs to change his pants. we had to check out in like 30 minutes. he was passed out the night before that when we carried him to the room, he didnt know what room number we were in. so he never made it back to clean up his own shit. so I had to, cause it was on my credit card. but i still love him. i want to kill him yes. but i still love him. thats friendship.

MD-What where some of your favorite places to play?
CM-Seattle was beautiful. Las Vegas was awesome. We sold, like, three hundred bucks worth of merch that night. Chico, CA on Halloween was too cool. It's like Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Chico loves some Halloween. Reno was amazing. All the places we played were awesome. The fans are great. After every show, someone gave us some weed. For free. So we got to smoke a bunch of Cali buds, which is cool to us since we're all huge potheads. Not Cory, tho.

Alabaster

This band hails from Seattle. Together four years now, they just added singer Moira Salewski and are running stronger than ever. They played at Studio Seven this past Monday (March 24th) with Zolof the Rock n Roll Destroyer, The Morning Of, Kenotia, and Jet Lag Gemini. I'd tell you it was an awesome show but my punk ass stayed home sick. From what I heard it was amazing, so gratz to all those who made it out. Their next show is an all ages at Roy's Place in Lynnwood, Washington on April 19th-7:30pm. All the details are on their Myspace

I was going to write their original history, but I think Kate (lead guitar/ screams) did a way better job than I ever could. So until they tell me to take this off, here you go-

(taken from the myspace.com/alabaster blog)
Saturday, August 28, 2004

Visions from the Past

Alabaster Journal Entry 8/28/04-

Well I thought maybe I’d take a few minutes out of my busy shredding schedule to give you low down on the (are you ready for this) “The history of Alabaster”!So lets see it all began on dreary day back in some month that isn’t right now, I believe about a year and a half ago. Note: Before we go on this extended meaningless journey you must understand there have been many kegs devoured, bottles dropped from moving cars, “how fast can you fall down These stairs” tournaments, lawn jobs, blow jobs, loss of jobs, the darkness of DUI’s and Unemployment, Rim jobs, sexy silky panties on way too stupid of girls, skinny boys with too tight of pants on, hot girls, fat girls with fatter toes, and last but not least any drama that plagues a band and just makes them want to drink more, like the Cubs loosing game 6… Now with that all said… Let’s proceed…Kate was on this ridicules sabbatical in Los Angles to find love and the meaning of life but instead found Bull shit on a silver platter. Chris knew Kate had left a year prior and had his heart sent on heading out there so, he proceeded to try and track down her L.A. phone number by sleeping with prostitutes and buying cheap vodka. He wound up at her chicago door step one day to find her surprisingly home. So Kate decided that she should show Chris dingy ol' L.A. and prove to him he’s only missing two things in his life: the ocean, and the CAVE which is this remote sanctuary in Malibu that all people must visit before they die. So they hopped a plane for a drug educed, alcohol filled, landslide weekend of a mess in Los Angles. Chris had the pleasure of hearing Kate rock out on the guitar this fateful weekend and mentioned in a heavily slurred tone “heyzz, I playzz thez drumsz”. So from there they started rocking with all this really bad music that, at the time, they thought, “So totally rocked”. Only to find out when stumbling across Joe Bosslet that the possibilities of advancement were just arriving… See, at the time Kate and Joe worked together for this ridicules airline named Atlantic Coast Airlines, which handed them phenomenal flight benefits but was basically slave labor. From time to time Kate and Joe would wake up in Hawaii, San Diego, Denver, St. Paul Minnesota, Tampa, Rome or even Amsterdam to realize they had bought a 3-legged prostitute and 12 hits of ecstasy. Either way, one night they happened to be on an extremely alcohol educed, good food filled-adventure in Seattle with Kate’s good ol’ asshole of a friend, Joel Jester… (He really is an asshole just ask him how you look in those jeans, He'll tell ya alright!) When Kate had the pleasure of listening to Joe rip some cords on an acoustic guitar, she begged, then eventually drugged him, and got him to come to band practice. To help the plateau-ing band that was just getting good, but well, was also really starting to suck too. So for the next month Joe, Kate, and Chris would rock furiously on continuous new songs that would be the foundation of their first CD, “My Intentions”.The arrival of Shaina happened almost as beautiful as a car wreck. She had a horrible break up with her x and was looking to get out and forget the whole mess. So, Kate (as any good friend would do) took her out and tried to get her drunk and seduce her. Only to find out that, that wasn’t her idea of “getting out”. In light of her minor misunderstanding of a mistake Kate then proceeded to bring her to band practice and let her relax on Chris’s futon while the band got drunk and tried to practice. Shaina ended up having some great idea’s for the band, not to mention was extreamly hot, and very talted in the sack, so we signed her up. Sure enough As things would go she has become an unbelievable asset with a nice ass. So, that’s how it started. The Truth in its entirety but if you want to hear about the messy stuff just let us know and we’ll get the: “what happened after the beginning was over” story out on the net for your viewing pleasure.

Love,

Alabaster


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But this is only the origin. I'll have more on what's transpired since then later, and hopefully an interview or some.