41

Late March 1994 (The 22nd), thirty years ago, the Ricans of Swell exhibit their third opus, the magnificent 41.

SWOLLEN

In 1991, I was designing THRASHER magazine at the time I was in SWELL. SWOLLEN Issue 1 was the first zine I ever made on the computer. I quit THRASHER to go on the first tour. Enjoy this piece of SWELL history.

This was a rare and special event for fans of Swell, a San Francisco cult band who haunted the peripheries of ’90s underground rock and gradually drifted away. It was part of a reunion tour, yes, but the inspiration for it was anything but typical. The members regrouped for a four-date West Coast trip to pay tribute to their late leader, David Freel, who passed away last year at age 64.

For Swell — the post-punk pioneers who will play a special reunion show at the Independent on Dec. 5 in memoriam of late singer David Freel — their band origins can be traced back to a small, remote village in Spain, thousands of miles away from their homebase of San Francisco.

Welcome to ’90s Overlooked Underheard! An in-depth look at fifty underrated albums from the 1990s… Indie, Alternative, Shoegaze, Grunge, Punk, Lo-fi, Post-Rock, Math-Rock, Hardcore, Industrial, Americana, Ambient, Avant Noise, Hip Hop and more.

SWELL’s original members playing songs from those good ole bad ole days in San Francisco, in memory and tribute. Only U.S. Shows – First in many moons.

OXBOW

Swell’s Guitarist Niko Wenner and vocalist Eugene S. Robinson of experimental rock band OXBOW discuss their new album Love’s Holiday.

SWOLLEN Issue 6

SWOLLEN Issue 6, the 2023 David Freel Tribute Tour Edition is now available as a complimentary download. The first Zine production executed by JDL since the first edition of SWOLLEN.

David and I used to joke about where we were going to have our ashes scattered. He wanted to be made into a bullet or dropped off somewhere in France : )