SWORF – someone who farts in the bath and sucks up the the resulting bubble out of the water – (courtesy of the Urban Dictionary)
More on that later….
Despite having only been going as a band since 2012, Sworf have already carved themselves a sizable niche in the local music industry. They are respected as one of the most approachable and easy going bands on the local circuit and are a band unafraid of hard work.
Vocalist Col (Papa to his fans) puts this down to a good work ethic and the time honored tradition of simply being in it for the right reasons.
“We originally formed as a cover band for a bit of fun and I think it was two jams in an idea for an original song which later became ‘Contemplating’ was forged and from there we sort of just tossed out the covers idea and started writing,” he mused.
Moving to Cairns from musical mecca Melbourne, Col came here with big expectations, but a bit unsure of what a smaller musical landscape would hold.
“I’ve been playing in bands since I was 15,” he explained, “originally
as a drummer but when we couldn’t find a singer I jumped behind the mic and it all unraveled from there. All of my earlier bands were very similar in musical style to Sworf because that’s where my passion lies with music. I am a rock, hard rock and metal lover and that’s exactly what we do!”
“When I first came to Cairns it was really different for me because it’s almost like a country town at times. You can forget where you are and if you do three gigs a week you’re suddenly over – exposed and no – one wants to know about you any more,” he laughed.
“It’s different, but everyone is really accepting of each other in the music scene here, especially over the different genres. We all party together and play together and it’s good because you get a different crew coming to see each band play and then they get to see the other bands as well which might not be what they really like, but all of a sudden everyone is getting listened to which is awesome. I love that idea and feel. Up here it’s not about competing with other bands so much as working with them which is great because we as a band never want to have that feeling of us against them.”
With a six track E.P and two singles already released, Sworf are continuing on their hard rock journey this month with the launch of their latest single, a cover of Billy Idol’s ‘White Wedding’.
It is an interesting choice for an original band to put so much effort into recording someone else’s song, but to hear Col tell the story it seems like the logical step.
“The whole idea for ‘White Wedding’ came from our drummer Tim who loved the song so we decided to Sworf it up and give it our own treatment and when we started playing it live people just loved it,” he enthused. We found the crowd was really getting into it with moshing and singing it back to us and they always got really involved whenever we played it which was heaps of fun. We are currently looking at writing our next release which will be out next year but in the meantime we didn’t want people to forget about us so we decided to do the song and film clip.”
The film clip was filmed locally with Craig Middleton directing, and featured a call to arms via facebook for extras on set.
“Yeah we had a few come down for it,” Col gushed, “and we used them for the final scene of the film clip. The clip is based around this guy called Simon who has a wedding dress fetish and he tracks down bands and invites them to play at a fake wedding. When the band rocks up he tries to get them to wear the dresses and they’re not into it and this time it’s Sworf’s turn. We refuse and Simon chases us down and when he finally catches us we succumb to the pressure and play the show in the dresses and everyone parties on and Simon is happy!”
The launch, on May 23 at the Union Jack Hotel, will also feature Chronic Haze, Hungry Lungs, Jobstopper and Salacious, with the music kicking off at 6 p.m. Entry will only set you back $10 and includes a new, remastered version of every Sworf song released to date. Before Sworf’s set at 10 p.m, the band will play their film clip on the big screens at The Jack, and Col promises it will be a night of musical fun and mayhem.
“This launch is more about sticking with our brother bands and repaying the favor,” he said “because we do feel like we owe them for helping us out in the past. Music in Cairns at the moment is really starting to get going again with gigs at places like the Railway Hotel, The Jack and Mofo and we feel really blessed to be a part of it so this night is like our small contribution to the scene.”
So back to that dictionary meaning……
“It goes kinda like this, honestly,” Col laughed. “When we were thinking of names we’d gotten it down to three that were okay but the only one we all agreed on was Swarf with an ‘a’. When we looked it up online we saw two bands already had that name so someone suggested we change the ‘a’ to an ‘o’ so we did and a couple of weeks later someone, I think it was Tim (drummer) who said ‘have you guys seen what the urban dictionary definition of Sworf is?’ When we had a look we didn’t know whether to keep it or not but then we decided to stick with it coz it kinda suited us! It’s our proudest moment to date really because we think it’s something most people have done in their life but are too ashamed to admit it…..”
Kris Peters
Sworf White Wedding CD single launch on Facebook