Interview by Mia Schoolman
Why did you start Swim and what inspired you?
We first started it in 2010 and it was with some of my friends from middle school. No one is in it anymore. Our main inspirations were Led Zeppelin and the Beatles, but as we continued through the band we really branched out our music taste. We weren’t popular and actually didn’t know how to play instruments, you could even call us “misfits”, and we decided one day that music would be our thing and that will be how people will become interested in us. It took us 6 months to learn one Coldplay song and I was the drummer.
How was it like to start in middle school?
We kept it quiet in middle school and didn’t tell anyone till senior year. It definitely made us feel too cool and we didn’t sound great at all. However, we ended up selling over 100 CDs that we burned ourselves. Since middle school, I've been the only original band member. With the current team we have all found our own roles, for me personally I do the majority of the songwriting, coming up with the idea, chord progressions, lyrics, and structure of the song. Pat Morelli (Bass) will also pitch in ideas and he along with Brian D’Angio (Drums) and Nick Riviezzo (Guitar) will write their own parts.
What was your goal with creating Swim?
Since 2014, our goals have not changed. We want to get signed to a label, go on tour and become a big thing. We’ve definitely accomplished a lot of them. We played at South by Southwest Music Festival where Post Malone got discovered and it was a surreal experience to share that stage with incredible artists. We actually got that opportunity by winning a battle of the bands contest in Long Island. Another accomplishment was definitely recording a music video with Brennan Pierson, an independent film creator from Los Angeles, in Times Square. Another surreal experience for sure, people were coming up to us and taking pictures with us because they thought we were a way bigger deal then we were.
What is it like having your personal feelings exposed through songwriting to the Public?
I write about a ton of personal experiences, all the songs on the album are about a personal experience I'm working through and I am definitely using it as a way to get my feelings out there. Sad stuff ends up being the motivation behind a lot of songs, that's the stuff you wanna dwell on the most, when I keep stuff bottled up it is hard. However, songwriting is where I release it and as long as it’s in that way I’m okay with opening up.