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Our second all ages rock show. Rock out. Despite some Swifterized technical screw ups during 'Long Way' by The Hewdog and myself things went pretty good. People got up. People moved around. We rocked out. Good shit. Actually, I felt right at home there as most of the people there were my height for once. Thanks for coming, thanks for staying and thanks to The GCO for the kick-ass robot, even the Canteen Guy didn't want the porn. Later skaters...we'll be back. -Jeff-

After a bit of an extended break when and where things were looking bleak on a number of fronts...we got a much needed kick in the ass when the Shyne Factory boys asked us to open for them again. In terms of how the rock show went and all that crap...not too damn bad at all. Of course you could always goo see for yourself rather than read about it here...just a thought. Usually when you open for the opening band and go on kinda early...well you know how it goes...not his time. Two dudes who rock, Brian and Jamie, got up and grooved to the tunes and made the show about 8 billion times more fun. No fuck ups and more fans than usual...bonus. Meg, Cathy and Jon were there. More people than Tony the Tiger know they are...you guessed it....Grrrreaat!!! Dead Red kicked some major ass and Shyne Factory sounded tighter than ever. To quote The Maestro "this jam was amplified". GO SEE THESE BANDS.Hurry. -Jeff-

The most interesting part of this show was actually surviving the drive down. It was really icy and COLD COLD COLD. Brrrr. Driving sucks. After seeing good shows and hearing good things, it was cool to have Edgy open for us. Very good stuff. After playing a kick ass set for us, the sound guy and bar staff, they got to close out the evening on a good note by bailing us out when our set ended early. Thanks to the people who braved the weather. Hopefully the frost bite was worth it. -same guy as always-

Billed as the largest charity rock show to hit Halifax, this cool event at the Electropolis certainly lived up to the hype. This shyte review doesn't do the show or event justice. Great sound, great turnout, great people (Brent Jewers is the man!!), great times. For a way better run-down of how thigs went go to the official web site. Go SPCA. Thanks to everyone who came and everyone involved. -Jeff-

The Swifter and Human rock machine strikes again. This stop on the university tour this year proved to be a good one. After having oh, like 15 people at out last 2 shows, this was a welcome change. Lots of people showed up (who may or may not have been there for the cheap beer....but of course beer and good music makes for a rocking good time. I can only say Human is wicked so many times..go see for yourself...or buy thier CD at HMV. -Jeff-

Road trip Numero 2 : Here's quick run through from start to finish....two bastard bandmates that slept the whole 5 hour ride up, flying oranges, slow-ass Neons, a CD player with 9 lives, 138 bathroom breaks, 4 hour sound check, agressive homeless guys "Gimme your change all 8 of ya", a free supper for yours truly from a mystery Aunt, a sound guy that skipped the show and only showed up to make sure we weren't stealing his stuff, Backstreet butchery, 6 people total for both bands (Amanda Hines and friends rock), James Geddes mad-man drinking (insert sarcasm here) and subsequent snooze fest, 1000°F hotel room (thanks Mat), "HAAAAAAAAL"...., flying pastries and bananas (Roche I owe you!!!), snow storm. Damn fun. -Jeff-

Ahhhh...road trips...best thing ever. Human and manager/whipping-boy extrodinaire Chris Smith were nice enough to invite us along. Being short, I had to ride in the back of the damn truck but that was the only low point. We did sound check, got checked into the hotel and 5 showers later by Smitty we were ready to rock the joint. The show went really well for both of us. Babas has got a cool vibe with a really cool owner who's name I can't remember. Thanks dude. A special thanks to the NS fans who made the trip and to Lavinia for showing up (even though you were 5 minutes too late). Here's some other highlights...Listen, if you never seen Mat Budreski pass out sitting up ("mmpf..I'm awake")...you're missing the funniest thing ever!! Here's a question...so what would happen in the NHL if the puck was white. I know Roche Voisine knows the answer. After entertaining us with his Road Warrior stories from tours gone by (with a former band that shall remain nameless)....hello 2 light beer, good bye Geddes. Zipperlips strikes!!. Hal definitely set a new world record for most green tea drank in a 2 day period. Good times all around. -Jeff-

We sucked.

OK...so I'm just writing this review now and it's March 12th. If I eased up on certain recreational activites, maybe my memory would be better, but the fact remains I can't remeber much about this show. I do remember who we played with (Shyne Factory and Kaico Green) and that the show rocked but little else. You can read about it at www.aroundhalifax.com. Please check out the acticle there so Jon Bruhm can bail me out. -Jeff-

So after a month off since our last show, we shook off the rust to open for Timber, a catchy pop rock band from Newfoundland who thankfully sound nothing like Great Big Sea. It was definitely a fun time and we want to say thanks to everyone who showed up to see the opening band (or the "crap band" as some skank put it..ha ha). The theme of the night was definitely "where did all those people come from"? All of the Timber fans who were hanging out with the oh-so smokin' Cougars at Cheers 'escaped' Swiftermania and packed the dance floor as soon as we got off the stage. Oh well. Such is life as an opening band. Scott Landry and his two-step continues to hold onto the spot of best Swifter fan ever. If you want to read an unbiased version from a REAL writer of how the show went for both bands, check out THIS..yes, this right here. Hopefully most people in attendance shared this view. I should note....the "godlike" bass playing is more inside joke...less actual fact!! Later skaters. See you next month!! -Jeff-

Every so often people have, shall we say, bad nights, or 'off' nights if you will. For example, Bill Buckner letting the ball dribble through his legs during the ('86?...er close enough) World Series, or Steve Smith banking the puck off of the skate of goalie Grant Fuhr into his own net in the Stanley Cup playoffs (Go Oilers). Well, such was the case with Swifter at the T-Room on Thursday. Beaten down by a long hard week of recording, we weren't exactly in top form, but we didn't like 100% suck. I mean, if the Comic Store guy from The Simpsons had of been there he wouldn't have said "Worst show ever", but we have played better, that's all. Although he might have said "Worst drumming ever!" (Mat's words, not mine). You're always your own worst critic and I have heard some good comments, so maybe it wasn't all that bad. It was still a rockin' good time as usual. It's all good. Swifter is already back in top form....guaranteed!! -Jeff-

This was the semi finals of the Keiths Rock of the Atlantic Showdown thingy. We played against Rock Ranger; a band that is part of the House of Rock from Sydney. I'll be blunt. We didn't exactly win, but we didn't totally lose either. And no, I'm not playing on the mantra of the loser..."it's not whether you win or lose, it's how you blah blah blah" either. We still kicked ass and rocked the place once again. Exposure baby, exposure! Don't get me wrong, Rock Ranger was good, but the musical stylings of Swifter might not be ready for Q104 just yet. Whatever. No big deal. The night featured many highlights; including Adrian, singer, guitar player and budding Chippendales dancer, stripping down to his tie-dyed boxer briefs for 'Honeymoon', our last song. Maybe the judges couldn't handle that! Who knows?!? I jumped and didn't almost fall for once, but I did yank my patchcord out of my amp during 'Long Way' while I was trying some of my 'Dr.Cool' dance moves. Welcome to Amateurville. Anyway, a rockin' good time was had by all. The more we play, the better we get and more people catch Swiftermania, which is never a bad thing. As always, many thanks to everyone who came to rock out!!!Later skaters. -Jeff-

This was the final installment of the Rock Weekend. So here's how it went. I like bass. I like lots of bass through the monitors, but not when that's all I can hear. It's also nice when you're instrument doesn't cut out while you're playing. I think the other guys feel the same way. Not that I'm really complaining or whining, it was still fun; a nice big stage, cool people that came up front, and of course the "screaming chicks". They know who they are. The short white guy jumping thoery was once again proved by me (see below). Thanks to all who came and a big shout out to Flush who headlined with us and are really cool guys. Go see them at The Attic on Sept 7th. -Jeff-

This was Round 2 of the Swifter Weekend of Rock. So, you're probably thinking...what the hell or why there?? Well, we got the chance to play this opening gig for Signal Hill as part of us winning our first round of the Keiths contest. Parking was nuts, and I'm not the best driver, so things were shifty for a while. We had to tone things down a bit so as to not scare people away, but it was all cool and kinda fun actually. It was a different audience than what we normally play to but it was good to expose some older people to Swiftermania. People seemed to dig it and I think only one older lady covered her ears! Nothing really of note. We came. We played. We rocked. The story continues. Many thanks goes out to Keiths and Signal Hill. -Jeff-

It pays to make friends in the local music scene; you never know where or when something will come up. Mat and I have chatted with Chris Smith, manager for Human a number of times and when he mentioned that they had a show at The Marquee, we jumped at the chance to open for them. This was the start of the Weekend of Rock for Swifter and was the debut of the kick-ass Swifter banner that Nick and Nicole gave us. They rock!!! It was awesome to play the same stage as most of the cool bands who come to Halifax. The show went really well and was uncommonly busy for a Thursday, which will hopefully bode well for both bands in the future. We both have different sounds, but it ended up working out well; just different enough to gel if that makes any sense. The Human guys have a huge, powerful sound and a cool webpage. Check them out. Hopefully we can return the favour soon. Rock out! -Jeff-

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This was our quarter final round in the Keith's Rock of the Atlantic Showdown . Things couldn't have gone better. Sweet sound. Sweet vibes. Sweet drunken fans yelling their asses off. Pure sweetness all around. This was our first show in a long time, but it didn't seem to matter. Swiftermania picked up right where it left off after a bit of a break. Not too many things went wrong. A shirtless Adrian was ripping it up in fine form as was Mat. Awesome. The only thing bordering on moronic was when I almost wiped out on one of my jumps (again). Short white men can jump but apparently can't land . It's happened before and will undoubtedly happen again. No worries though. It's on to the semis!! Thanks to everyone who showed up to help us rock the house. Again, sweet!! -Jeff-

So we learned that it’s damn hard to play outside when it’s cold!! It numbs the fingers and brain of long haired bass players (who shall of course remain nameless) so that they make rookie mistakes in the songs and setting up their gear. It also somehow shortens the patchcords of a certain singer/guitarist so that they “fall out" of his amp during a rock star pose at center stage. Only drummers seem unaffected. Strange. This was the largest crowd we’ve ever played in front of and we had a great time. The kids of the Annapolis Valley love to rock out. This was the first time they had been exposed to Swiftermania. Everyone was grooving and jumping around during our whole set which made it extra fun for us. Some dude who was 'hopped up on goofballs' à la Ned Flanders came up to chat with Adrian during ‘Honeymoon’, which was well, different!! Rock on. Later skaters. -Jeff-

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Aw yeah!!! After a few long months of planning and hard work, the 10 bands that make up the rockin’ compilation CD Halifax Plugged In-II were ready to kick some ass at The New Palace. Let me say that the whole night was awesome. From the meet and greet, to the TV interviews, to the sound, to the actual show, everything was just awesome. It was great to finally be able to put faces to emails for the guys in the other bands. I couldn’t get over how tight and professional every band sounded. This was a big deal for everyone involved and a wicked way to kick-start the Halifax indie music scene. Every band got to showcase one song for the ‘industry types’ that were present. Being the only Rockish Power-Pop band on the bill, the large crowd got to hear a little something different in the form of an upbeat burner we like to call ‘Bubblegum Girl’. Despite the fact that Mat forgot to sing during it (ha.....dumbass) and small mistakes were made here and there by me....things went really well. After partying it up for a while and listening to the other bands do their thing, we got to play a longer set to showcase some of our other energetic material. The whole night was awesome and an experience we wont forget. A shout out and big thanks to everyone involved. Good luck to all of the bands. Support local indie music....Buy a CD!!! -Jeff-

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That was damn early and we get cranky with no sleep. Still, it was fun. ZZZZZZ. -Jeff-

This was the first of hopefully many shows at Halifax’s best all ages club. We got to play that night due in part to some good timing and telephone skills of one Mat Budreski and some backing from our buddies in Smack Dab (who are on Hailfax Plugged In-II with us). It was cool to play to a younger audience who wouldn’t even dream of asking us to play Hip covers. Even if everyone there was friends of the other bands (Cherry Bomb and What Comes After Short) it was all good. Special thanks goes out to Smack Dab who rocked the house as part of their CD release party. I bought one...it’s awesome!! Those guys rock, even with Cliftons screwed up leg. Thanks to everyone who jumped around during ‘Rockstar’ and ‘Come Send Me’. Awesome. That makes us happy. Keep it up. -Jeff-

We brought the roof down....literally!
The first set started off by the roof actually falling on my head. Let me explain. One of the tiles in the roof must have been loose so when we started kicking out the first song ("Burning") the tile fell on my head, ride and mic. about a minute into the song. At this point I figured that because I totally stopped that the other guys would stop as well…I was very much mistaken…the other two kept going like true professionals with only a small glance back to see what the problem was, they figured that I had just dropped a stick or something. As quick as the ceiling fell, there was Scotty Landry, a friend of the band’s, pulling the roof off me and helping me set my gear back up and as if nothing happened I jumped back into the song and finished it with the rest. The next few songs of the first set were a bit shaky due to the fact that the crowd was still arriving and that my head was a bit off time because of the knock. We finished the first set strong with a huge explosion that is created by our hardest song “Honeymoon”…I like this song cause I get to smash the drums as hard as I want. The second set was very high energy and included a great Jeff Bower version of “I want it that way” by the Backstreet Boys, one of Jeff’s favorite bands, which was received very warmly. The high energy was fuelled by the handful of people who were doing it up on the dance floor and a special thanks goes out to them. The set was finished off with our one of a kind 50’s style rock song appropriately named “The 50’s song.” Thanks to all who showed up…you have no idea how much we appreciate it. And don’t forget that every guitar wants to be licked…preferably Adrian Hewitt style…and in his well thought out words..…ROCK OUT!!! -Mat-

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Yeah, so this was like our third show in less than a month. Despite some minor sound problems, things went really well. The audience was filled with lots of people we didn’t know, which is always a positive. Again, rave reviews were given for our energetic 2 hours or so set that showcased our wide range of music. It was a rather laid back atmosphere at first (nothing new), but people got into it more as the night wore on, which was good to see. The perfect combination of good music and cheap drinks was in full effect. The more fun you have, the more fun we have. It’s all good. If you were there the first time, thanks for coming……..we play there March 22, 2001, so come check us out!! -Jeff-

We were the opening act for a funky jam band called the Dhali Llamas from Saskatchewan as part of a music thing at Acadia University called “Boogie Knights”. We played a high energy set in front of a large and loud, yet casually subdued, crowd. The sound was great, the set went well, and we had a wicked time playing and then chatting with people and the Llamas after the show. A few people asked us for our autograph (which was both weird and cool at the same time) and we got a good review in “The Athenaeum” (the campus paper). A shout out to everyone who came out early to see the opening band; especially those of you making all the noise!! We’ll be back soon. -Jeff-

This was our first live 'paying' show. Anticipation ran really high and there was excitement in the air!!! Maybe I’m being a little melodramatic, but we were psyched. This was brought out even more by the hundreds of people (well actually around 30 or so) that came to see us rock the house. We played two sets, with Adrian and Mat breaking it down ‘acoustic style’ at the halfway point. Rave reviews were flowing and everyone had a wicked time (even the few shocked people who were there strictly for Scotch Night). Hey, everyone has to start somewhere, and The Grad House was as good a place as any. -Jeff-