Rod - Guitars, vox
Chris Pugh - Guitar, vox
Andy Scheen - Bass
Scott Schickler - Drums
Craig Bradford - Drums
Peter Lansdowne - Drums

Butterfingerer
Casiotones
Crime Family
Deranged Diction
Dr. Atomic
Dry Bones
The Fireballs
The Fuzz
Green Handshake
In For Red
Jettewar
Legacy
Moody Brothers
The Purdins
Runaway Trains
Spike
Twink the Wonder Kid
Whistle Jacket
Why
Zyrus

In 1987 I placed an ad in the musician's classified section of The Rocket music paper describing myself as a singer looking for a band that was a cross between Black Flag and Black Sabbath. As it happened, Andy Scheen, who used to hang out at the Deranged Diction practice pad, called to see if I was the old Diction singer. Andy was playing bass in a new band with Chris Pugh and Scott Schickler, and asked if would I be into checking it out? And so I did.

After a somewhat dirgy beginning, we began incorporating some melodic elements into our basic grungy sound. Chris was good friends with Bruce Pavitt, who was just getting his Sub Pop label off the ground, and Bruce agreed to put out a single. Sub Pop called us motorcycle pop, and further tagged us as a cross between Sabbath and the Buzzcocks. The 7-inch (now hanging in the EMP music museum) was followed by two albums that they co-released with European labels. Our first show was at Squid Row with Feast.

We were never one of Sub Pop's favorite bands, but they put us on a couple of southwest tours, lined us up with shows with the likes of Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Alice In Chains, Hole, L7, Babes In Toyland, White Zombie etc, and bought us a car and a U-Haul trailer after we blew up their van on tour. The car also broke down, leaving us on the side of the freeway on the night of our big show in San Francisco.

The second album, Sourpuss, barely got released and since it was an import it could not easily be found in the states. Then Sub Pop "suggested" that we get a different drummer, and, so we did. So we went on a second tour with Craig Bradford in the dead of winter, and broke up shortly after. We regrouped later and recorded new songs, but Sub Pop declined to release them. We then broke up for a short time before Andy and I got together with yet another drummer, Pete Lansdowne, went into the studio with Jack Endino, and recorded the "Rod's Balls" sessions. Chris later rejoined the band, and we played a few shows before calling it a day in 1992.

Fifteen years later, the original Swallow lineup got back together and played several shows and wrote some new songs. Flotation Records released most of the lost Swallow tracks in 2007 as the CD "Teach Your Bird To Sing." Order it from the Flotation Records website. Swallow continued to play occasional shows until mid-2008, when we once again decided enough was enough.

Trapped/Guts 7"
(Sub Pop, 1988)
Out of Print



***************

Sub Pop 200 Comp
"Zoo"
(1988)

Swallow LP
(Sub Pop/Tupelo, 1989)
Out of Print

Zoo / Foetus / Coffin / Guts /
Hard / Cold / BSA / Trim /
Home

****************

Sourpuss
(Sub Pop/Glitterhouse, 1989)
Out of Print

Forever / Thankx / Sex Pig /
Nice / FED / Take Me / Queen / Sink / Time /
In Effect

******************

Fuck Me I'm Rich Comp.
(Sub Pop/Waterfront, 1990)
Out of Print

"Trapped," "Guts"

*********************

"Rod's Balls" sessions (mostly unreleased, 1992)

Amnesia / Last Stop To Heaven / Information Please / Out The Door / Bleached Mud Balls

********************

Teach Your Bird to Sing
Recorded in 1990, released 2007
(Flotation Records)



Rats / Binge / Cop / Dong /
Amnesia / 40 Days / Drink /
Thought / Karma / Ashamed / Put Up

**********************

Rats / Bleached Mud Balls 7"
(2007, Flotation Records)