Victoria band making big waves, but not letting their heads swell

B.C. band Current Swell on everything from surfing to Brazil

Chilling out at home: B.C.’s Current Swell. Shane Deringer

Current Swell vocalist/guitarist Dave Lang vividly remembers the shock that came with moving from Alberta to B.C. at 18.

“You’re nailed with this (lifestyle) ... every day we were going out on missions, we were surfing, we were consumed with the B.C. way of life.”

The band’s first album, 2005’s So I Say heavily reflects the fun that goes along with being young in B.C. 

The band’s lineup has stayed pretty constant since its formation a year prior to that release. Lang is joined by Scott Stanton on lead guitar, lap slide and vocals, Chris Peterson on drums/vocals while their old pal Ghosty replaced the original bassist a while back.

Originally an excuse for friends to get together and jam, the band soon progressed into a well-structured entity that has played with the likes of The Beach Boys and Xavier Rudd.

On stage I’ve been having so much fun. We’re having these moments where we’ll just call songs on the fly. We’re becoming really comfortable as a band.

Dave Lang, Current Swell

“It all happened around us before we realized it, and then all of sudden people said we needed a name because we were going to open for them,” Lang says. “It was a funny way to start.”

Within the organic roots sound that is featured in the band’s third release Protect Your Own, there is a distinct blues vibe that personifies enjoyment, something Lang says is essential to their live music.

“On stage I’ve been having so much fun. We’re having these moments where we’ll just call songs on the fly. We’re becoming really comfortable as a band.”

The relationship between live music and recorded music is a very interesting one for Current Swell. Most bands have trouble adapting their recorded material for the stage, but Current Swell is reversed in a sense.

“I think we’re a live band,” Lang says. “That’s where people respond to us. We’re trying to re-create some of these experiences on record.”

Current Swell will certainly be trying to create more of these experiences when they set out on another Canadian tour to support the release of their fourth and newest LP Long Time Ago.

As fun as Canadian touring is for the band, they plan on expanding their horizons with the use of the Internet.

“On Facebook the other day, we asked some Brazilian fans which cities we should play in if we come down and tour,” he says. “Unexpectedly, we ended up getting seven replies. We’ll probably be heading there in March.”

Published in Volume 66, Number 11 of The Uniter (November 9, 2011)

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