http://swarmingbranch.tumblr.com/

Photo

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 16:47:54 -0400

Pre-Order Classic Glass

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 18:05:00 -0400

www.tonkrecords.com

Get Classic Glass on 150-gram recycled vinyl w/ free download coupon.

Special pre-order price of $11 + s/h!

Upcoming Shows

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 18:02:49 -0400

* = solo
*** = w/ Swarming Branch

3.21.13 *** - 10PM, $5 - @ Ace Of Cups
Columbus, OH w/ Petit Mal, Reverse the Curse, and Sable Spurs

3.24.13 * - 7PM, donations - @ It Looks Like It’s Open
Columbus, OH w/ Lobo Marino, Edwin Perry, Bowl of Dust

3.27.13 * - 8PM, $15 - @ The Basement
Columbus, OH supporting Martha Wainwright

4.12.13 * - 10PM, $5 - @ Kobo Live
Columbus, OH w/ Nick D’ And The Believers, The Weight of Whales

5.10.13 *** - 10PM, FREE - @ Carabar
Columbus, OH Record Release show w/ TBA

Hello everyone. At long last, we will release Classic Glass on vinyl/digital (and maybe CD later) on...

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 10:15:00 -0500

Hello everyone.

At long last, we will release Classic Glass on vinyl/digital (and maybe CD later) on May 14th. This will be the first release from Tonk Records, our very own label.

A brief, west-coast-centric tour will begin the same week.

Water Cooler Talk

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 18:46:29 -0400

Chris Deville for the Columbus Alive

9 Months in the Womb with Classic Glass

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:13:00 -0500

Collage by Annie Graham (anniegraham.tumblr.com)

On April 25, 2011, I went to Columbus Discount Recordings with Dane Terry and Gentleman All-Star Sean Leary to begin tracking Classic Glass, the second Swarming Branch LP. The band had only reunited two weeks prior, and we expected the excitement of playing unfamiliar material to instill the session with an unbridled joy that is an impossibility under the strain of attachment that grows from road-testing a song for too long before recording it.

The lyrics were scant, at best, but that didn’t seem to be a problem at the time. Our goal was to make a record that people shared with friends, in person, through social dance.

We figured that if one takes this drum sound, a midrange-heavy bass guitar, and this piano sound and implements the Motown “exciting compressor” technique on the vocals, she cannot go wrong, especially especially if she’s working with an engineer like Adam Smith.

Five days later, we left the studio with two tape reels full of great instrumental tracks, the bass, drum, and piano live takes having been augmented by electric guitar, french horn, and a buffet of organ.

But I had only recorded the vocals on two songs: “Holy Joeys, Cognoscenti, Tar Babies in Love” and “The Pounce,” both of which had been written long before the session. I vowed to spend ample time writing the remaining lyrics during my may 5th-13th trip to Seattle and Portland. But the trip came and went, and aside from crafting two verses of hyperbolic claims concerning the inventory of my temperament, intellect, and my garage…

{I’ve got a bead on the line, that runs from my heart to Virginia
but make no mistake, I’ve got some knots tied inside of me, too. 
And I have sudden surprises on a plan that was strong to begin with, 
and I have two good eyes but I still can’t see what you mean.  

I’ve got my mind in a hive and my crystals are lined up so sweetly; 
I have unbearable jive, sewn up inside of my sleeves. 
I have a mountain behind me and my footsteps fall proudly beneath me;  and I have so many good words but I still can’t say what I mean.}

…I remained stumped.

My May 16th session date, intended for finishing all remaining vocals, ended up functioning only as a test to see how comfortably our studio takes could sit alongside home recordings on the same album. Luckily, they seemed to sit quite nicely. Around this time, Sean and I decided to cut a long-form boogie song, “When the Bats Come Alive,” from the album. We would need more material to flesh out an LP. Then I realized that an acoustic number I had been working on was borrowing too heavily from Dave Davies perfect anthem “Strangers” from Lola Vs. Powerman…, so that got the axe, too.

And then the money started running out. I vowed that I wouldn’t get a job until I finished the record. Like an unborn baby who has somehow managed to see many American films and cannot contain his anticipation for life on the outside, I blindly kicked. From the outside, I assume it looked as if nothing was happening.

July came, and Gentleman All-Star announced he would return to North Carolina to reclaim his post as a sandwich boss. We recorded the drums to two new songs, “I Warn You” and “The New Age Succubus, Susie Jean,” the day before he left. All the other kids moved out of the house on Hunter which I had called home for almost four years. I moved in just before Flagships came out on September 21, 2007. New Jack was recorded there. Dums Will Survive was recorded there. Good Word, too. The third floor arrangement made me feel hidden, out of sight. The curtains gave me the power to turn day to night. This was the place, regardless of how many of my howls reached the street, where I felt most comfortable letting loose. But I was left with little choice but to throw out the junk from the legendary, generous basement and move on.

Despite countless hours of experimentation with delicate and fancy accoutrement, little stuck to the wall during August save a handful of organ recorded during a brief visit from Dane Terry. I felt unable to sing freely in my new apartment, and this stifled the fountain of jibberish which so often predicates my best vocal melodies and lyrics.

For the first time in my life, I began to desire a sound that flies dangerously close the the concept of the “industry standard.” I also became impatient with the low output of my Cascade Fat Head ribbon microphone.

During a brief stint in October, moonlighting as a chestnut picker, an associate loaned me a basic tube mic pre-amp. Then, in November, I received a generous invitation from Heather Wise and Ian Carpenter to record in the first floor of their carriage house. Having a place to work reinvigorated the project. Yesterday, I picked up the bulk of my equipment from their carriage house. There are a few hours of work left, but it’s cold and I figure I can finish the album in comfort before anyone gets too annoyed from the other side of the wall.

Somehow, through months of flailing experimentation spent voyaging to the apogee of its own orbit, followed by its eventual re-conception as a rather minimal affair, Classic Glass has shed the simple politics of a maypole dance and become an exacting adult. It has forced me to sing in ways I had never imagined back on April 25, 2011.

And stupidly, stubbornly, I have honored the vow to put off my return to a conventional work environment for 7 tedious months.

Classic Glass is scheduled to be mixed down to stereo on Monday, February 6th, 2012. Industry professionals should feel free to request mp3s at any time after that date by contacting andrewpancake@gmail.com. The album will be available to the public this summer.

SIDE A:
That Constant Country Thirst
The Sistine Twist
Pony, Ain’t it Good to Be Alive
This Water Does Not Reach the River
I Warn You

SIDE B:
Holy Joeys, Cognoscenti, Tar Babies in Love
The Pounce
The New Age Succuba, Susie Jean
Final Boss
Party Phantasy

Special thanks to my sister, Annie Graham, for the collage that graces the cover of the record, a section of which can be seen in the above picture.

…and to the players:

Lindsay Ciulla - French horn
Julian Dassai - lead guitar
Sven Kahns - lead guitar
Mike Kohn - lead guitar
Gentleman All-Star Sean Leary - drum set
Dane Terry - piano and organ

Upcoming Shows

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 17:16:00 -0500

12.15.11 - 10PM, $5 - Andrew Graham & Marie Corbo @ Kafe Kerouac
Columbus, OH

3.30.12 - Andrew Graham & Swarming Branch @
Pabst Blue Ribbon Presents: THE 1970’S! 10 BANDS – 10 YEARS – 30 SONGS
Columbus, OH

“Red Light Green Light is A Game For Schoolchildren and I...

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 10:45:52 -0400

“Red Light Green Light is A Game For Schoolchildren and I Can’t Believe We’re Playing it Still”

Video by Michael Kohn

Gentleman All-Star Sean Leary: Can I play with you...

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 18:20:00 -0400

Gentleman All-Star Sean Leary: Can I play with you tonight?

Andrew Graham: Yeah, why? What are you going to play?

GASL: I told the bartender I was playing so I could get another beer on your tab

AG: What are you going to play? You didn’t bring your drums.

GASL: I’ll just clap and play on my thighs

~Later~

Soundman: Oh, do you need another mic for the other vocalist?

AG: He’s just a…….dancer.

Soundman: Do you need a board?

AG: Umm……Yeah! That’d be great

soundman fetches a board, places it under GASL’s feet,

and points a mic toward the floor

AG, to audience: Picture that I’m galloping through the desert. And Sean’s a horse.

Online Store Updates

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 16:54:17 -0400

Howdy.

When you click on “Audio” you will now see the entire RTFO Bandwagon back catalog as well as new Swarming Branch stuff. Every track from 2007-2011 can be streamed, many can be downloaded for $1/song, and everything can be ordered on LP or CD or cassette. Happy Listening!

“GREAT APE” A new track from our very own Dane Terry. From...

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 10:23:12 -0400

“GREAT APE”

A new track from our very own Dane Terry. From the forthcoming album Dane Terry and The Cold Orchestra

Shorts N’ Boots. Saturn Bar, New Orleans - Aug. 2010

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:39:13 -0400

Shorts N’ Boots. Saturn Bar, New Orleans - Aug. 2010

The next songwriter who...

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 22:03:01 -0400

…rhymes “crzy” and “lzy”

KNUCKLE SANDWICH

TWT #6:

Thu, 05 May 2011 13:03:52 -0400

There were four other cowboys on the plane today. Time to take us off the endangered species list?

Andrew Graham’s SALAD WORLD T-Shirts - $15 Paypal to...

Tue, 03 May 2011 11:09:55 -0400

Andrew Graham’s SALAD WORLD T-Shirts - $15 Paypal to graham.414@osu.edu

The first step to opening my all-salad restaurant. Perhaps we’ll take the liberty of calling any heterogeneous mixture a “salad” in the interest of diversifying the buffet. For example, soups could be “soothing salads.” Hard Salad. Strong Salad. Slippery Salad. Round room. Empty center. 360 degree salad bar. Pay at the door - we don’t have waiters, we just have a doorman. Buy the goddam T-shirt already.

How The East Was Won. ...

Tue, 03 May 2011 10:28:22 -0400

How The East Was Won. Photo by “George Brazil”

Photo by Bill Heidrich

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 01:10:12 -0400

Photo by Bill Heidrich

TWT #5:

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 17:04:00 -0400

…realized all my top bros rest
for the appropriate number of beats when singing
a cappella

TWT #4:

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 16:32:26 -0400

Just got done having a threesome with Debbie Downer and Negative Nancy.

Just in time to go to the opening ceremony of my Olympics.

From Swedish TV.

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 19:14:12 -0400

From Swedish TV.