Which musicians will be accompanying you on this Swell tour 2026?

Tim Adams, who was the original bass player that David and I began making music with before we became Swell. He plays on “Love You All,” on the first record and “Word Gifts” and “War Comes Down” on Whenever You’re Ready.

Philippe Gunst is a very talented Belgian guitar player that we just felt would fit the vibe of Swell on electric.

And then of course, John Dettman-Lytle, one of the early members of Swell on vocals and acoustic guitar, and then there’s me on you know… drums.

During your last visit in 2024, you marked the thirtieth anniversary of the album 41 (released in 1994). This time—without giving away any potential surprises—will you be focusing on specific tracks or albums? Such as Too Many Days Without Thinking, released in 1997?

This tour will be our second record Well…? heavy. We are re-releasing Well…? and it will be out soon. We hope to have some copies for sale on the tour. We will have other albums on sale.

This tour will be a little more heavy because we’re playing more songs from Well…? and rocks more than our other albums. It’s my favorite Swell record.

What is the band’s mindset heading into this European tour?

The mindset is always the same. To represent the history of Swell to all our fans I might say; very loyal fans, and have fun doing it.

It’s always emotional now this being the third time we’ve toured since David’s passing. There’s some kind of connection with him through the music that comes out on stage that often makes me personally kind of sad.

Let’s talk drums, Sean! Which drummers made you want to get behind the kit? And which ones have influenced your playing?

Stuart Copeland from the Police, John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, Art Blakey, the famous jazz drummer, Pete Defreitas from Echo and the Bunnymen, Sly Dunbar from Black Uhuru all resonate with me and were huge influences on me as I was developing a style.

If you listen closely, on the album Well…? I was doing a lot of Pete Defreitas fills. I was lucky enough to meet him once in Ireland after a gig. He was the nicest guy. He passed away shortly after I met him from a motorcycle accident I do believe.

Rhythmically, you’re one of those drummers who has always sought out a different percussion approach for each song. How did the process work within the band—with David and Monte—when you were creating the tracks?

I’ve always been interested in playing the not so obvious. I think working with David and Monte made that approach even easier for me because the music is slightly quirky offkilter and its own flavor.

Often we would lay down rough tracks to David’s ideas and then David would rewrite his parts around the drums that were now present on tape. We mostly wrote songs on tape.

I was fine with that because it allowed me to be meticulous and take my time and develop beats and fills and accents that have an impact and I could analyze them on tape much easier than playing live with all the noise.

And that extraordinary drum sound of yours on Swell’s albums—41, in particular? Any revelations, or is it still a secret?

I remember when we first started recording the first record Swell self-titled… I didn’t want the standard overproduced tons of reverb compression, etc., on the drums.

Not to mention, we had a huge room to record the drums in our studio in San Francisco. It was an old warehouse with the address of 41 Turk St.

Anyways, I wanted to bring the sound of the room into the drums and into the songs. We hung distant mics, never too close, and after a day of experimenting, we usually came up with the sound that we wanted, and then it was important, not to move the mics after that.

What is your artistic approach to painting compared to music?

Same as the drumming—I don’t want to paint the obvious. I’m really interested in mood.

Colors have always been a big important factor in my paintings but lately I’ve been relying less on color and more on subtlety. I’m very interested in letting the viewer interpret the paintings opposed to me spelling out everything exactly how I think they should see it.

Any news on your side project, The World Is Haunted?

The World Is Haunted Music is, of course my solo project with two albums out. I will have those for sale on the tour.

Yes I’m always writing songs but at the moment life has been very busy for me on a personal level. I’ve been living in England part-time and that takes a bit of commitment so I’ve had less time to record.

I have enough songs for an album which will be released in 2027.

And what are you listening to in 2026?

I’m always listening to classical. I love the sort of baroque more laid-back quiet style; less dramatic. I love jazz from the 50s and early 60s, I love old Delta blues from the 20s and 30s, and I’m always looking for bands that no one knows about on YouTube.

I don’t listen to popular stuff really. I used to like Fontaines DC but now I think they take themselves too seriously and I’ve lost interest.

Some of the bands I like and you’ve never heard of are Ruby Haunt, Frank Enk—also from San Francisco that sounds a lot like Serge Gainsbourg on vocals, meets dark Indy.

I like the Alah-Las, old New Order—nothing after Power Corruption and Lies, Margaritas Podridas, a Mexican band that puts Sonic Youth to shame. Headland, a band that does surf film music, and I like Damon Albarn’s solo stuff.

Oh, and reggae and dub from the golden era of reggae: 1973–1981.

I’ve also rediscovered the song “Life in Tokyo,” the extended mix, by Japan. It really influenced my drumming, coincidentally, on the song “Kind of Stoned” by Swell.

Is this European tour being billed as the last one…?

It’s not really build as such but it feels like it. It’s a ton of work and I just think our audience is harder and harder to notify that we’re actually playing. So I don’t think half of them get to make it to the shows.

I think the age bracket; they’re not on social media as much so they don’t know that we’re here.

We will see about the enthusiasm. If it’s really good turnout, then maybe we come back. I hope to see you!