Hailing from their hometown of Ocean City, Maryland, they honed their craft at beer-drenched bars and college parties. The Swell Fellas took lessons from their early days of covering heavy classics and improvising extensive jams, and formed a dark, refreshing sound that will have you riding a wave of intense meditation into soaring musical crescendos. Fresh off of the release of their debut full-length, The Big Grand Entrance in January, three-song EP The Great Play of Extension in April, single Death Race in August 2020, and now heading back into the studio in October for LP number two. There's no signs of slowing down.
This power trio is made up of a pair of brothers, Conner and Chris Poole (guitar and drums respectively) with their longtime friend, Mark Rohrer, a rock guitarist who they begged to buy bass gear. Growing out of their homemade backyard studio in MD, the band is pushed forward by Rohrer’s brand of melodic bass playing, wailing lead guitar with dynamic instrumental effects, and an underscore of wonderfully technical drumming. And so, these three old friends have distilled their personal chemistry into something greater than the sum of its parts. With larger than life lyrics inspired by the ebbs and flows of their personal lives, the band remains surprisingly grounded for a group who are so prone to interstellar exploration.
After countless nights spent in Walmart parking lots with their '91 chevy van, highway breakdowns, and rented uHaul’s, the band is building a reputation for packing out clubs across the East coast. Now, they are writing modern psych-rock anthems dipped in a vat of whatever was in the '70s punch bowl. Eschewing tropes of stoner and psych bands in the scene today, these small-town east coasters are in it for the long haul with their seemingly unpredictable compositions. So, sit back, light one up and get ready for tripped out absolution from a band whose so-called ‘big grand entrance’ is only a harbinger of what is to come.
