We love The Swellers. We think Ups & Downsizing, their 2009 disc for Fueled By Ramen, was one of the best records released last year; we still listen to it every day while we punch each other in the nuts and make poo poo jokes at the office. And lead Swelldog Nick Diener was kind enough to let us interview him earlier this year, in probably the coolest thing that’s happened to us since we got into this blogging game. So we are contractually obligated to share any and all Swellers-related tidbits with you. Here’s a good one: it’s a video of the dudes rocking their massive, butt-bangingly crazy single “Fire Away” live on the recent Motion City Soundtrack Dino Initiative tour. I think you’re gonna like it – and when I say “think, ” I mean “know.” (Also: “like” means “lose your shit and dance around like you just scored tickets to the N*Sync reunion tour.”) Check it:

There’s also a quick interview with the guys about being more like truck drivers than musicians with all the touring they do.

The Swellers:

• MySpace
• Official Site
• Last FM
• iTunes

It’s no secret that we love the Swellers here at the Assault offices – their latest record, 2009′s Ups & Downsizing, provided us with plenty of inspiration during long coffee-fueled nights of writing reviews and hammering out tutorials. So it was a real honor when lead Sweller Nick Diener graciously consented to answering a few questions for us via e-mail while taking a much-deserved break from the road.

AssaultBLOG: What’s the typical journey for a Swellers song from conception to actualization?

Nick Diener: Jonathan and I are the songwriters. We’ll have a riff, a chorus, sometimes a whole song’s music just happening in our heads. We bring it to each other, and if we like it, we keep it. If we sorta like it, we trash it. That’s probably why it takes us like a year to write 6 songs. We rarely have “extra” songs to play around with. Sometimes it’ll take 9 months to get a song right, sometimes it’ll take 9 minutes. Either way, usually lyrics come last, to make sure they’re exactly presented how we want them.

Being on an indie label, do you have to meet certain expectations, or do you get free reign? For instance, is there any pressure to deliver a song that “sounds” like a single?

FBR [Fueled By Ramen] has been great and believes in us 100%. We recorded our album and paid for it ourselves before we even got signed. I’m sure they’d like us to do well and get huge and have a big radio jam some day, but they know we’re a punk band and not to tell us what to do!

How important do you consider traditional measures of success, such as sales and radio play?

Sales are very important because the numbers are what get good things for bands. The higher the numbers you have, the better the tours, the more money to make touring easier, etc. Sales are down like 99% from what they used to be, though. If you’ve sold 100,000 records, it means probably 2 million have already downloaded it for free. Only weirdos listen to the radio, but hey, it helps.

How do you keep the equation of “career” and “calling” properly balanced? How has the work-to-fun ratio changed as the band has become more popular?

Good question. I think it just kind of happened. As more people started coming to shows and we got on bigger tours, there was more money going around. We went from breaking even, to making enough to “get by” and keep touring. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. I can live, just from playing in this band. But I don’t live very extravagantly. I try not to buy expensive things. Just food! It’s a lot more fun, now, actually, than it used to be, because we don’t have to worry about so many things, like will we eat today? Will we have enough gas money to get home? It’s a lot more relaxed. We’re working even harder though now too!

Being on the road so much, are you able to balance your personal life with band business? Is it hard to normalize when you finally get home?

Very hard to normalize when I get home. I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do when I’m home. I’m made to play songs and tour. It’s good to see friends, girlfriends, family, and everyone else for awhile though.

What lessons have you learned from being on the road with heavy-hitters like Paramore and Less Than Jake? And is that level of popularity scary or inspiring?

The Paramore and Less Than Jake tours were both two of the biggest tours we’ve done, but they were also very different tours. Paramore plays to mostly “concert-goers” and Less Than Jake plays to “punk rock fans”. Very different people, very different staff and crews on the tour, but both did great things for our band and we loved hanging out with everybody on both. Definitely makes us want to keep working up to that point.

At your shows you talk about playing in real bands with real instruments. Any idea why kids nowadays are more likely to pick up a video game controller than a guitar? What got you started playing music?

Video games are easier than real life, in every aspect. A video game costs less than a real guitar, too. My bro and I started playing music together when we were 9 and 10, so it’s all i’ve known for 13 years. Never went with the trends of what was popular.. just played rock music from day one. Still am, just in front of more people than just my parents. I picked up a guitar so I could play Nirvana songs.

It’s no secret that you and your brother are straight-edge vegans. What made you decide to be straight edge and vegan?

I don’t like the idea of not being able to drive. I don’t like the idea of spending money on drinks that taste like shit. I don’t like the idea of my breath smelling like white trash. I don’t like the idea of contributing to animals being killed for selfish reasons. Hence, the vegan straight edge. Makes me feel good.

You’ve opened for Paramore, Less Than Jake, and pretty soon you’ll be opening for Motion City Soundtrack, is there one band that you haven’t opened up for that you’d like to?

Weezer, Green Day, Jimmy Eat world, Foo Fighters, NOFX, Get Up Kids. I’d like to be with those guys.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given by another band or person in the music industry?

It was from Bill Stevenson when we toured with Only Crime. He was in Black Flag and the Descendants. He said that no matter how many kids are in the crowd that night, even if it’s two, they still could have done ANYTHING they wanted that night, and they came to see your band. So give them a hell of a show.

When you guys start headlining, who are the bands you’d like to have opening up?

A band called Heartsounds from California. Living With Lions, A Wilhelm Scream, Broadway Calls, Cheap Girls from Michigan, just to name a few!

Besides getting boners to stop from having to pee while driving, what are some other crazy/weird/funny things that have happened to you and the guys while on the road?

I just think its crazy, weird, and funny that anyone would like us or our music enough to put a poster of us on their wall. We’re just weirdo kids who play rock songs. Makes me really happy, though. There are too many random and weird moments to really pick just one.. but I think it’s nuts how much we actually drive. Brutal.

I know you guys just came out with a new CD, but are you planning on coming out with anything else in the near future?

Not really the near future, but hopefully early to mid 2011 will be our next record release. Can’t wait. Already writing it.

What’s the end game for The Swellers? At what point can you say, “yup, we’ve done it all now.”

I think the second we stop growing is the second I’ll start thinking of wrapping things up. Don’t wanna beat a dead horse.

(Additional reporting by Third World Timmy.)

It’s fairly rare that I make it out to Chicago to mingle with the civilized world, but when Tim told me the Swellers were playing at Metro I knew I had to suck it up and deal. Their recent release Ups & Downsizing has become one of my favorite albums to blast while driving to work – it’s catchy, fast, and loud. Perhaps more importantly, the songs are smart and substantial enough to justify me sitting in traffic for ninety minutes and spending another thirty looking for a decent parking space. I’m happy to report that my journey was not in vain, for the Swellers did verily bring the thunder.

It was a short opening set (Less Than Jake were headlining, and NYC punk lifers the Casualties also played), punchy, tight, and packed with the group’s best songs. Lead Sweller Nick Diener played it loose and gregarious and basically performed all the duties associated with opening – give the crowd a little taste of rock, get them amped up for the main attraction, and say goodnight before your welcome is worn out. For us, though, the Swellers were the main attraction, and obviously we would’ve liked them to play more. But they did squeeze out my three favorite tracks: “Welcome Back Riders,” “2009,” and “Dirt” (which closed the set on an awesomely intense note).

Overall, I consider the night a success. We saw a great band play some great songs, and I also drank a lot of beers supplied by Mr. Timmy. The only sour note of the whole evening was the Warped Tour promotional video played before the bands started – it was about thirty minutes of notable punk superstars like Rise Against, NOFX, and (um) Ice-T performing and being interviewed about the Warped Tour. Other than that, though, the AssaultBLOG team had a great time and really “took” Chicago (similar to the way Jason took Manhattan in the late ’80s).

This video of AssaultBLOG favorites (and all around pop-punk heartthrobs) the Swellers recently surfaced on YouTube; it’s a live performance of “Dirt,” and it obviously pwns. Give it a listen if you’re not already in love with these dudes, and also pick up their excellent new(ish) record Ups & Downsizing. And, if you’re in the Chicago area, catch ‘em opening for Less Than Jake at the Metro tomorrow (11/23/09). Third World Timmy and myself will be there will bells on – just listen for the jangling sound somewhere near the front of the crowd.