LI Sound: Swear and Shake's 'Johnnie' be good
Center Moriches-based band Swear and the Shake will play Spike Hill at 184 Bedford Ave. in Brooklyn on Jan. 15, 2011. Credit: Jessica Lehrman
Adam McHeffey first realized he wanted a band when he wrote the song "Johnnie" from a female perspective.
"I was experimenting with writing from different points of view," the singer-songwriter from Center Moriches explained. "And I liked the song, but when I played it live, it just didn't work. It needed a girl to sing it."
He approached Kari Spieler, a singer-songwriter who was also studying at SUNY Purchase, to try out the song, and the pair immediately clicked. Soon, the band Swear and Shake was born, with two pals from Center Moriches - bassist Shaun Savage and drummer Tom Elefante - completing the quartet.
Last month, the band released its eponymous debut EP - including the lovely "Johnnie" and the rocking "The Promise" - and will soon start work on a full-length album.
"We're really happy with the way the songs turned out," McHeffey says of the EP. "We wanted a real, straightforward sound, a way to show what the words were about. We're really proud of it."
The resulting sound puts Swear and Shake in the middle of the surging indie-folk scene, led by Mumford & Sons and Bon Iver. "We want to create songs for people to follow like a story, while still being musically compelling," McHeffey says. "The craft is really important to me."
That kind of care shows. Even though the band has been together less than a year, it's already played some pretty big shows, including the Mountain Jam Festival, with Ray LaMontagne, Alison Krauss and the Avett Brothers.
"I really like the camaraderie of a band, too," McHeffey says. "We all work on the arranging and the orchestrating. It's working out pretty well."
Swear and Shake plays Spike Hill, 184 Bedford Ave., Brooklyn, 718-218-9737, Saturday.
Contact The Long Island Sound at glenn.gamboa@newsday.com or @ndmusic on Twitter.
