Swimming Tapes share new track ‘Cameos’, announce London headline show

Fresh from appearing at our Hello 2017 residency earlier this month, Swimming Tapes have offered up a brand new track and announced their first ever headline show.

The London-based quintet, who are releasing their ‘Souvenirs’ EP this Friday (27th January), have shared the final track to be taken from it and we’ve got the premiere of it. You can hear ‘Cameos’ now below.

They’ve also confirmed plans for their first headline stint at London’s Waiting Room - they’ll be playing there on Thursday 13th April and tickets are on sale now.

We also took the opportunity to have a bit of a catch up with the band themselves. Guitarist/vocalist Louis Price explains why ‘Cameos’ is a bit different to some of their previous offerings, and just how they’ll looking forward to their first show.

First things first, you’ve got a brand new track out today - can you tell us a little bit about it? What did you want to explore with it?
We do indeed. I guess ‘Cameos’ is a little different to our previous songs. It started with a riff that our guitarist Jason wrote that was quite distinctive, and we liked the fact it didn’t necessarily sound like any of our other stuff. It also has a quite a different groove to what’s come before it, in terms of the rhythm of the song. The fun part is blending in other parts and the lyrical side of the song to make it sound like Swimming Tapes thing. Lyrically, it’s about being apart from someone you used to see every day. It has that melancholy, but with a hint of sunshine.

It’s taken from your debut EP - how does it fit in with the rest of the tracks on there? What did you wanna explore with your first output?
It fits kinda nicely I think. Generally, with four of us growing up by the coast, that has seeped into the writing both lyrically and musically. We like blurring the lines with our words, using fond, hazy memories of Summers past and care free times. We didn’t actually spend that long thinking about which four songs would be our debut EP, they were the first four we had in a recordable state apart from one or two others. Overall as an introduction to us as a band they work really well.

In terms of what we wanted to explore, we’ve always said we wanted to keep things very simple. Drums, bass, a few guitars, voices. No mad production. No wall of mirrors. We spend quite a lot of time trimming the fat in terms of the parts and the structure, so that nothing really stays unless we feel its essential to the song.

You’ve also announced plans for your first headline show. How’re you looking forward to that? What should fans be expecting?
We are so excited about that show! We’ve played a few things last on the bill – such as your Hello 2017 show – but yes, this is our first proper headline show, so we are really looking forward to it. In terms of what to expect we want it to be a party. Hopefully people buy tickets so we aren’t partying on our own. In terms of songs, we’ll be playing much of this first EP and a batch of songs that will be our next EP, and some stuff you may not even hear until next year. Its gonna be a fun night!

Talking of live shows, you played at our Hello 2017 show a few weeks back now. How was that as an experience? It was rather packed out…
That was mad. Our first show of 2017 and such a pleasure to play with three other amazing acts. We were worried people would leave after Girl Ray – they are so ace - but it didn’t happen and the room was packed. Playing live is always so fun as you have that instant reaction to songs people haven’t heard yet, and a familiar reaction to the ones they have. The crowd were awesome at that show. Personally I think that was my favourite gig yet.

What else have you got coming up in the not-so distant future? Are you hoping to get back out to some festivals?
At the end of January we are recording our next EP, which we are very excited about. You’ll be hearing some of that shortly before our headline show in April. After that, we’ve got some fun things planned over festival season. But we have to keep our traps shut about that right now. 2017 will be a really fun year, with lots of music and lots of shows.

Hear ‘Cameos’ below. Their ‘Souvenirs’ EP gets released via Hand In Hive this Friday.