Tripleswift

It’s Thursday night, and there are exactly nine days before Tripleswift leaves to play a week of shows in LA. The mood in the band room is tense—they’re trying to record some new material and get CDs pressed before they leave, and their hectic schedules have meant that they haven’t actually practiced in almost two months. Frustrated, one of the members snaps that if they can’t play a tight set no one will ever listen to their demo. But the new demo CD is also important—possibly as important as playing a solid set. Read more on Last.fm …read full bio

It’s Thursday night, and there are exactly nine days before Tripleswift leaves to play a week of shows in LA. The mood in the band room is tense—they’re trying to record some new material and get CDs pressed before they leave, and their hectic schedules have meant that they haven’t actually practiced in almost two months. Frustrated, one of the members snaps that if they can’t play a tight set no one will ever listen to their demo. But the new demo CD is also important—possibly as important as playing a solid set. In the two years since their most recent album, Everything Ends This Way, was recorded Tripleswift’s sound has changed dramatically, losing much of the pop tendencies and frenetic pace associated with their name. Their new material has matured; it’s a little more polished and also a little more risky. While it might be less appealing to the teen girls who used to flock to their all ages shows, Tripleswift’s edgier new sound is paying off with other audiences. This is music for grownups. It hasn’t lost the signature guitar tone, described in one review as “an effect not unlike the dentist’s drill after a session of unfettered nitrous ingestion,”* but the new material has more grip to it (one might say more teeth) than Tripleswift’s past releases did. Songs like “Heroin” and “Jesus Cannot Save You Now” have a kind of tightly coiled energy that resonates with a sense of disillusionment and barely repressed anger at the world. Even the dream-like ballad “Maybe Tonight” has a quiet despair of its own—a sense of powerlessness against a life and a world which will never change. Like the band members, Tripleswift’s music is growing up, and it’s only getting better with age. Tripleswift has been together in some form for seven years. Paul (guitar and lead vox) and Eddie (drums) have been playing together since high school; Brendan (bass) and Brian (lead guitar and backup vox) joined the band in 2000. In some ways they’re an unusual mix of guys—the age range from the youngest member to the oldest is fifteen years (I won’t give away any names here) and Paul’s tattoos contrast surprisingly with Eddie’s Italian soccer jerseys. Still, the first thing anyone notices when they see Tripleswift on stage is the fact that they obviously really like each other. In a scene where it’s considered hip to studiously ignore the other people on stage with you, it’s refreshing to find a band so clearly enjoying each other’s company. Even tonight, with tensions high, the guys spend the time between takes teasing each other about everything from Paul’s ever-changing hair color to Brian’s sex life. One minute they’re imitating ‘80s rocker Jim Gillette and the next Brian’s playing a polka on his accordion. It is this enthusiasm for each other and for their music which makes Tripleswift’s on-stage energy so infectious and addictive, and as they continue to grow and to define themselves as a band, it is this that really makes them something to watch. (* Jay Horton, The Rocket) Lisa Marshall ©2004 Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

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…shrink me down again