Red Swan (2)

Red Swan formed in Lansing Michigan in the Fall of 2002. The initial premise was to emulate swamp rock greats such as The Birthday Party or The U-Men. But as with most things, it became a band unto itself. The music focused itself on rural darkness of the North. Red Swan's first 7" Michigan Blood Games (recorded by Steve Albini at Electrical Audio Studios) and the followup full length After the Barn Goes (recorded by Bill Skibbe at Key Club Studios) found critical success in publications such as Punk Planet, Detroit's Metro Times, and The Village Voice. From the Village Voice review: "[Red Swan's] ot a real knack for building downturned fuzz riffs into a dragging-corpse-through-dense-forest-wearing-muddy-boots- with-holes- in-soles rhythm that actually moves. Guitar plasma's all over the top, or spoken staccato resembling some Sonic Youth car-crash oldie." (Chuck Eddie Village Voice March 10-16 2004). After the Barn Goes was also awarded a place in their annual Pazz & Jop best of 2004. 2005 found a lineup change as original guitarist Jon Christensen returned to school for post grad work. Andrew Lucas, a long time friend of the band more than filled the role for Red Swan's second full length, Cold Winter's Dawn. Cold Winter introduced a darker, denser sound. Cale Sauter of The Lansing City Pulse wrote of it, "the song-writing actually stumbles upon some musical beauty. It's one of the richest and fullest recordings from a Lansing act in any genre. Tossing aside some of the dissonance in favor of psychedelia, Red Swan delves into something wholly original that seems to mate the most adventurous rock of the late 60's with some of the doomiest metal sounds of the 00's." All the while Red Swan has maintained a steady touring schedule playing throughout the United States and Canada with bands such as US Maple, Easy Action, Dalek, and countless others. With the demise of their label, Red Swan is currently looking for a new home. Until then, they are working on material for their next release, due out sometime in 2007. It's tenatively titled "Fearsome Creatures from the Lumber Woods" based off of a turn of the century beastiopedia of the same title.