It’s been said that inspiration can strike at the strangest of times and at the most remarkable of places.
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.
After a series of false starts, drummer Sean Kirkpatrick had relocated to the northern Iberian coast to surf and teach English, somewhat convinced that his musicianship days were behind him. That’s when he received a visit from his one-time musical partner, Freel, and the two were convinced to give their nascent musical project a fresh start.
“When David and I first got together and started jamming, there was this immediate musical chemistry, but nothing really came of it,” Kirkpatrick said. “Then he came out to Spain, and we saw the Pixies playing in this small little village. They were absolutely amazing, and we both knew right then that we had to do something.”
Kirkpatrick eventually moved back to San Francisco and recruited bassist Monte Vallier to join Swell, creating a brooding collective that combined the glowing atmospherics of the Cocteau Twins with the churning noise of bands such as Dinosaur Jr. and Killing Joke. At its center was the deft acoustic-guitar playing and harrowing lyrical wordplay of vocalist Freel.
From 1990-97, the core group of Freel, Vallier, Kirkpatrick and guitarist John Dettman-Lytle produced four acclaimed albums — their self-titled debut, 1991’s “… well?,” 1994’s “(41 is 20)” and 1997’s “Way Too Many Days Without Thinking.”
While they shared aesthetic similarities with underground acts such as the Flaming Lips, Archers of Loaf and the Afghan Whigs, Swell’s use of negative space and the amorphous, boundless nature of its songs set it apart from the chugging indie-rock and grunge movements of the day.
For years, the band enjoyed a secondary level of fame — Radiohead singer Thom Yorke has frequently cited Swell as one of his favorite groups of all time — but it never quite ascended to the level of peers such as the Pixies and Sonic Youth.
After their promising start, the band members slowly grew apart. Vallier and Kirkpatrick eventually left the band, leaving Swell as essentially a Freel solo project in its twilight days.
Because of the acrimonious nature of the breakup, Vallier and Kirkpatrick rarely communicated with Freel, and neither of them had seen the singer in years when they learned of his death. Freel died in April 2022 in Oregon City.
“He had gone through a lot of changes,” said Vallier, who lives in Seattle now and still oversees Ruminator Audio, a studio in San Francisco’s Mission district. “It seemed like he was finally in a good place. When he passed, his fiancée called me and said he was planning on getting a hold of me, which meant a lot.”
Upon getting the blessing from Freel’s fiancée, Vallier and Kirkpatrick thought the best way to honor their old friend was to play the music of Swell live again. After considering their options, they recruited former band members Niko Wenner to play guitar and Dettman-Lytle to play acoustic guitar and sing.
In April, the group embarked on a successful tour of Europe, opting to explore the old country first, since their popularity on that continent always trumped their renown in the states.
“I shed so many tears, just rehearsing and playing live,” Kirkpatrick said. “It sounds cheesy, but it’s true. We had such a great turnout throughout the tour and there’s nothing like being with Monte and Niko and John again. They are all such great friends of mine. It was just an honor.”
The success of that tour has inspired the band to keep going — Kirkpatrick said there are already plans afoot to play live in 2024 and re-release classic recordings. For now, the focus is on the four shows that will make up this West Coast tour, including the hometown gig in San Francisco.
“It’s been a while since we all lived there, but I think we’re going to know just about everybody in the audience,” Vallier said. “There’s going to be family there, old roommates—just so many people from the old days. It’s going to be really emotional looking into the audience and recognizing everyone.”