Music Q&A:
Swim Deep

The Birmingham band have been catapulted to the front of the B-town scene and frontman Austin Williams gets ready to bring their indie pop to a wider market with their debut album in spring. They play Brudenell Social Club, Leeds,16 Feb; Soup Kitchen, Manchester, 17 Feb; Plug, Sheffield, 19 Feb; and Duchess, York,20 Feb.

You’ve just recorded your debut album in Belgium…
We left to go to Brussels in November and we came back home in December. There are a few songs in our current set that are going to be on the album, but we also wrote a bunch of new material too. I think that was the plan before we left.
 
Songs like King City and Beach Justice are quite sparse instrumentally with a relaxed pace. Do you prefer having that space and chilled-out energy?
I don’t think it’s a main focus for the songs to be sparse instrumentally. They just seem to end up that way. We like the songs to be energetic, of course – we like having a good time on stage whilst performing. If we don’t look like we’re having fun on stage then the crowd won’t be having fun.

You performed the Fresh Prince Of Bel Air rap live. Would you say you have a fond romanticism for the 1990s? 
We all love the 1990s – it’s the era which we we’re born in. The King City/Fresh Prince rap hybrid was just a joke, to be honest. I figured it out so I learnt the rap, we got trashed and performed it live.

If anyone famous was to do a cover version of your songs, who would you want it to be?
I would love to see Spinal Tap perform a Swim Deep song. So I’m going to go with them.

 
Much has been made of the fact that you and Peace are heralding a new scene in your hometown. Do you think Brummie music fans have been just waiting for the right bands to come along?
I’m not sure if they were waiting. There’s been a lot of good bands from here for many years. But it’s always nice to have bands that are doing well and that are from your home town. There’s just a special bond between the band and the crowd when you play a show in your hometown. It’s like it’s just one huge party and every one’s invited. It’s amazing.

Lianne Steinberg