Track-By-Track: The Swellers - Running Out of Places To Go

This past Tuesday, The Swellers self-released their newest EP, Running Out of Places To Go.  Sanctuary Review was lucky enough to team up with Nick and Jono Diener to bring you a deeper look into what the five new tracks are about.  After the break, you will be able to find what the two had to say about Running Out of Places To Go.  Once you're done reading what these songs are all about, be sure to check out our review of the fantastic EP.

1. Hands

The whole lyrical vibe of this EP is set with this song. Usually I write the music and melodies first and the lyrics come WAY later, but in this case, the lyrics were written as soon as the song was arranged. It got us very excited to have a whole song ready to go so quickly. We demoed the track, and immediately knew it'd be the first track. It starts off a bit quiet, and I start off singing in a lower register which is pretty different than how most Swellers albums begin. The song is about us being tired of waiting for things to happen for us, and how it's time to take matters into our own hands. -Nick


2. Let Me In

This EP is therapy for me. I was going through such a terrible time, which seems to happen every few years and gets reflected on our records. I was recently out of a 4 year relationship, the record label situation was happening and our overall band morale was in a strange place. Individually, I was trying to figure out my living situation and the transitional phase into single life. It started out pretty miserable and going through cycles of wanting to date someone again, or force myself into situations I wasn't comfortable with... then one day I just had this great realization of everything being in my control. I got to live life my way for once and once the awkward financial and belongings part was sorted out, I was finally on my own ready to take on the world. I think a lot of people can relate to the feeling whether they're fresh out of a relationship, exploring feelings of finding someone else, or just finding solace in themselves. It's something that took a long time to figure out, but it changed my life for the better. I'm a much more positive person after it all. -Jono

3. Bad For Me

I think these are the first lyrics that were finished for the new songs. We had some demos from before but for some reason the music to this one really stuck out. I was having a bad day (which is typical in the period of writing these songs) and just sat down at my computer and free-verse vented. If you couldn't tell, the title is a play-on words from our last record Good For Me and how nothing worked out for it. To us it seemed like a dead record from the start and didn't get the push it deserved. When we realized we wanted to be in control of our music again and felt out of place, we knew we had to do something. This also applies to any situation of wanting to change things for the better. There's usually dual meanings that worked out perfectly together, especially in this song. You should always be in control to an extent and don't waste your talent, care or hard work if isn't reciprocated. -Jono

4. Making Waves

Our band has always been in this strange in-between of genres. We were never punk enough, never tough enough, never poppy enough, we were just... us. In a world full of high school cliques, whether it's the music world or not, we were usually sitting at our own metaphorical table at lunch. Not only that, but hearing the strange reactions to our last record, or criticisms of the choices we made over the years, it was all really getting to us and we were tired of it. We do this because we love doing it, we take risks and do unusual things when most bands never would. The best part is hearing opinions or advice from other people who have never played a show in their life, let alone toured for years. We take pride in what we do. We do things our own way. We're making waves. - Jono

5. Running Out Of Places To Go

This may be the first song that I've ever written the lyrics to first. As soon as I had a couple of stanzas jotted dot, I picked up a guitar and the chords that came out were the ones that stayed in the song. It came together so organically. Like the first track, we just knew this one was going to be the last track on the record. The song pretty much likens being in a small punk rock band to wanting to shoot yourself in the head. A pretty intense metaphor, for a song that bashes bands that write stupid metaphors in their songs. We've been everywhere and done everything we've ever wanted to do as a band, but we're still the underdogs, and we still want more. The song takes a slight turn for the better at the end, as we realize we have so many good friends and people who believe in our band. Sometimes we forget that it's not just us four. The Swellers have a pretty awesome family spread out all over the world. -Nick


Sanctuary Review would like to extend a huge thank you to The Swellers for letting us have some more insight into their new songs.  Be sure to check out Running Out of Places To Go, which is available for purchase and streaming over on their Bandcamp page.