Swervedriver are a weird one. I'm not sure if their manager--if they even had one--was fried or delusional, but on what planet did he/she think Adam Franklin's dreads and a name dangerously close to Skrewdriver were going to be smooth? I'm not the only person that's questioned this right?
Stuck between alt-rock and shoegaze, Swervedriver were always kind of stuck in a little void and pegged as a UK Dinosaur Jr by some, but loved by a nice sliver of humans. Back to their manager, whoever this person was really had half a brain, because their best song--this is not up for debate--was a fucking B-Side. That's correct folks, Adam and the Drivers wrote "The Hitcher," and some genius decided it should just be buried on an EP. That's a real thing that happened.
Fucking Alan Moulder (My Bloody Valentine, Ride, NIN, mixer of Siamese Dream etc.) produced this track and someone heard it and was like, "Yeah, this one is OK. I'd leave it off the LP and maybe use it for a single that won't chart. Sound cool man? Also... while we're on the phone, did anyone mention that you look like homeboy from Counting Crows, but you aren't fucking Jennifer Aniston? I'll get back to you about the tour with Catherine Wheel, but don't hold your breath."
So Swervedriver have reunited and are bringing us new tunes, but are they really going to write a better song than "The Hitcher'? I only ask that because they already wrote this song and didn't think it was worth putting on an LP, so on what planet will they write a song, record it, and decide that it's at least as good/shitty as this one to release. Guess what? It's not going to happen. Unfortunately, someone in their camp--probably the bonehead that named the band--would rather put OK songs on their LPs, instead of one of the most underrated songs of the '90s as evidenced in the video above. That's depressing.
Don't yell at me just yet, Swervedriver have some great songs and albums, but man... don't you just want a full album of songs remotely like "The Hitcher." They successfully use the word "pylons" in a song and it's not obnoxious or awkward. How many songs lyrics can mention pylons? No one really likes the band Pylon right? They suck.
It's probably about $30.00 to see Swervedriver in 2013--that's a big hike from the $8.00 I paid in 93/94--but they're still good and will play this jam, so that's a reasonable investment. If you punch that into the inflation calculator that's only $12.93 now, but don't feel cheated. Musicians don't really make the loot they used to and you know the money isn't going to dread upkeep anymore, so just throw down and enjoy hitching a ride with Swervedriver instead of seeing a shitty movie or eating bad pizza.
