Space Travel, Rock and Roll...

I ignored Swervedriver up until after I was out of high school. Yes, I am ashamed and yes they are now one of my favorite bands to ever exist. I, like many people I imagine, was thrown off by the many kinds of wrong labels that pinned Swervedriver as some other band. The most obscene was that Swervedriver was a "hard rock" or even possibly a metal band? Even from that point on I just thought of them as that band that had that one song on the Road Rash game. Until finally listening to Mezcal Head just three or four years ago, I realized I had the most skewed and wrong perception of this bands sound. It was amazing. If it hadn't been for the constant name dropping when shoegaze was mentioned, then I wouldn't of even thought of listening to them. Cause yet again, they are that band that had that one song on Road Rash, right?

With all that said, I love Swervedriver and you probably should too, at least if you like good old fashioned alternative rock/shoegaze. The album Mezcal Head ranks somewhere up there in my top 10 albums of all time. I think I listened to it constantly in my car to and from work for about 2 or 3 months. It never left. However, despite that album being as great as it is and the amazing songs it contains, it still doesn't include two of my favorite Swervedriver songs on it. Actually when it comes down to it, none of the albums do and even with a 2 disc retrospective of the bands output, these two songs still are missing. Not that it matters, cause it kind of makes them all the more special knowing that they are somehow hid beneath all the other gems.

The first song is "Flawed", which can only be found on the Sandblasted promo 12" or the CD single. It is not available on the 7" version. Hearing this song driving along on a cool spring day is almost perfect, as that is the memory I have while listening to it actually. I absolutely can't get enough of the guitar effect used off and on throughout the song that just churns out the ear splitting feedback. Such a great song and unfortunate that it's destined to remain some exclusive track on a CD single.

Swervedriver - Flawed [MP3]

The second song is "Year of the Girl", which if the US version of Mezcal Head had included this song, it would be hands down the greatest album ever to me. However, as usual, the Japanese are the lucky ones that got it as an LP track and not just some obscure track that you have to track down on the Duel CDS/12", like the rest of us. Despite that, this song just gets better as it goes on. Near the end of the song where it is solely in instrumental mode, the guitars seem to just keep getting louder and pounding until the it eventually comes to a halt. Such a good song, that I just can't understand why sometimes these types of songs are left in the dust while other rarities are saved from total obscurity.

Swervedriver - Year of the Girl [MP3]

Do yourself a favor and download both of these songs and then go buy Mezcal Head used off Amazon or wherever else you possibly can...

Buy Swervedriver - Mezcal Head