The seventh album from Swell is now available. 'Whenever You're Ready' really is a triumphant return to form. After a lengthy hiatus, it also heralds the return of founding band member, Sean Kirkpatrick, to the fold. Sean rejoins on drums and links up with ever-present David Freel to reposition Swell back to it's original duo status. There has been one problem to all this though. That problem is the small matter of the 300 miles that now separate the two (David lives in San Francisco and Sean resides further down the coast in Santa Barbara). They readily admit that this has been a major cause of friction between them but as David succinctly puts it, “that's not necessarily a bad thing. Just look at George and Ringo or Mr. Kissinger and Mr. Nixon.” He’s right. It hasn’t stopped them from recording a very great Swell record, maybe their best.

With Sean’s return, it also means that Swell has its original artist back in residence and his paintings once more adorn their sleeves. For ‘Whenever...’, Sean has turned to that very theme for inspiration and can be found depicting scenes from the long journey along Highway 101 - a beautiful drive that rambles back and forth between the ocean, dry rolling hills, old missions, vineyards and some forgotten little towns. Recorded in five different locations (including Sean’s garage), Swell have done an amazing job of capturing the feel of sun drenched California. So much so, they’re as good as kicking the sand in your face. You could go as far as calling ‘Whenever...” their California concept album but we prefer to think of it as another Swell gem that helps to reconfirm what we've always known about this band. That is that they're still up there with the very best of their kind

Great news - some tour dates have just been announced - details on the tours page

Preceeding the album, Whenever You're Ready', is a limited edition double 7” single that features two of the albums highlights, ‘California, Arizona’ and ‘Word Gifts’, out on 11th August. Picking these two for the single must have been difficult as there is so much to choose from, ‘Next To Nothing’, ‘Convince Us’ and ‘So Easy, So Cool’, in particular. ‘California, Arizona’, the album closer, is epic and is influenced by the distances that seperate you from those that you have met on your way. ‘Word Gifts’, meanwhile, simply teaches us to go and seize the day; something Sean and David obviously headed themselves whilst recording the album. Whenever You're Ready' is released on 1st September.

Here's a message from Sean and David:

"Way back when, when that first SWELL album was made, there was only David and Sean playing the instruments and arranging the songs.

Life is weird, and SWELL is weird, and on the new album, our 7th, we come full circle - there will only be David and Sean again - just like those old, old, bad old days - yes, somehow we have managed to re-collide after several/ many years of doing our own thing(s).

Emails, phone calls, tape exchanges, drives up & down highway 101, 2 dry winters, a spring, and one summer have past since we began making this record. But as the second spring approaches so does the new Swell album: "Whenever You're Ready"."

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Swell release their sixth studio album 'Everybody Wants To Know' on Monday the 4th of June 2001. 'Everybody Wants To Know' features 12 David Freel penned songs, including some songs from their recent EP 'Feed' - "Once Feed is in your CD player, you will find it hard to remove" - Sunday Times.

Touted by many as "the precursors of Grandaddy and other post-slacker American bands", Swell show their worth once again with 'Everybody Wants To Know'. Pared back to it's core member David Freel (guitars, keyboards, vocals and other crap - to quote the sleeve notes) accompanied by Rey Washam on drums, the album shows that Swell haven't lost their touch for creating beautiful, laid back and confident music.

All songs on 'Everybody Wants To Know' were written by David Freel and produced by D. Freel and M. Signorelli. The album was recorded in various cities across the US.

The band are currently in Europe,where they have been specially invited to play at the Bourges festival in France.

'Everybody Wants To Know' is available on CD (BBQM 220CD) and limited edition vinyl (BBQ 220LP - which features a bonus track).

'Feed', the new seven track EP from Swell, was released on Monday the 20th of November 2000.

In confident and prolific mode, the EP precedes their new full length album which is near completion and due for release in Spring 2001. The band, who have been absent from these shores for a while, have recorded a wealth of new material, from which the seven songs on 'Feed' have been chosen - they hope that the maxi-EP will make up for lost time! 'Feed' contains all of the distinctive and archetypal Swell traits - irresistible hooks, grooves, rhythms, and melodies of underground Americana.

Originally a 3 piece from San Francisco, Swell are forefathers of bands such as Grandaddy, Lambchop....(and Gomez!). 'Feed' is the first new material since 1998's 'For All The Beautiful People' and shows that Swell's laid-back harmonics are as sublime as ever.

All songs on 'Feed' were written by Swell, produced by D. Freel and M. Signorelli and recorded in Sacramento, Miami.