What is your name?
Sarah Swire & Sister Swire
What is your genre of music?
We’ve been calling it Art Rock and that feels….close to right?
Give us a little bio about you.
I am a writer, actor, musician and choreographer. I cut my teeth as a theatre maker and performer in Scotland from the age of 17 – 26. I’m sober and managing my co-dependency with coffee and tarot. I am learning to create art that is more than just self reflection. I have a phobia of squid.
What made you go into music?
I mean my “cool” answer is Tom Waits but if I’m being honest its Shania Twain and School of Rock
Who are your influences?
Shania Twain and School of Rock but over a lifetime I can see my work effected by:
Authors like Miranda July, Joy Williams, William A Burroughs, Augustin Burroughs, Clive Barker and Patty Smith. Theatre makers like Kander & Ebb and Brecht & Weill. Movies like Holy Mountain, The House and Mandy. And music artists like Zeppelin, Micachu and the Shapes, Parquet Courts, A Tribe Called Quest, Clipping, Feist, Fever Ray, King Gizzard, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Of Montreal, The White Stripes
And of course…ACDC and Tom Waits.
Are you a signed?
Currently we are not! I needed to self release this first record and learn through my own trial by fire. I’ve learned: It’s a lot lol, my friends rock, I panic when I don’t have full creative control, and the business of art is a magic trick of “Look Here!” and not over there. My friends and I have spent most of this year trying to learn more about human attention and how to conspire with it.
You released your new album ‘Sister Swire’, tell us more about the album and the meaning behind the song.
The album is about the intersection of bliss & rage, paranoia, and the uncanny coping mechanisms that lead to a duality in self; how the fulfillment or coercion of self love effects the way you view the world, and ergo the way it looks back at you
Describe each track in two words.
Butcher – Addictive Duplicity
Pulleys and Gears – Soft Boys
She’s Fun – Mutual Manipulation
Rosy – Dating Musicians
Tried On Confidence of Rural Ontario Boys – Plutonic Wishfulness
Don’t Know Jack – Genetic
Trauma Comedy Beats – Scrambled Libido
Getting Good – Self Congratulation
Moneys Punk – Capitalism, Yay!
She’s Screaming – Existential Paranoia
Cue The House Band – Psychological Mutiny I Shot The President – Rock bottom
What was the writing and recording process like?
These songs span a range of time between the ages of 15 and 26. They are a mixture of glorified journal entries and stream of consciousness ramblings. It feels like a wide brush stroke of attitudes held together through my relationship to rhyme.
I’m beyond grateful for the band Cameron Reed (electric guitar), Nicholas Posthumus (bass), Lawrence Libor (drums and piano) and Essery Waller (Designer) who create this with me. This album is because of them, their humour and belief in my ideas. I love them dearly, I trust them implicitly and I am forever in in awe of their musicianship and artistry.
Making this record has allowed me snuff out some insidious intrusive thoughts and exhausted beliefs so I can start writing fiction. It’s allowed me to trust in my style. I’m excited to stop writing about myself and create other worlds. While this is the beginning off my music career it feels like the end of a huge chapter of growing up.
Who did you work with on the album?
Joel Plaskett produced our record, and has subsequently become a very dear friend and collaborator.
Cam, Nick, Lawrence, Essery and I recorded at Fang Recording in Dartmouth Nova Scotia, with the studio’s manager and head engineer Thomas Stajcer holding the fort DOWN.
I loved, beyond words loved, working with Joel. I can’t imagine making this album with anyone else. I still get emotional thinking about the first time I heard My Sister Is A Butcher fully mixed. He honed in on a sound I’ve had in my head since I was a kid but struggled to articulate. Even cooler, he’s introduced me to new artists, writers, thinkers and philosophers who have stoked a new fire for learning in me. He and Eric Stephen Martin run a bookstore, Friction Books, out of 45 Portland, and it’s chalk full of some CHOICE literature. Yeah… the entire experience made me more eager to be alive. What more could you want.
Will we see a music video for any of the tracks and if so what can we expect from the creative process?
We got a music video for Getting Good and Rosy coming in hot!
Do you have any live shows coming up?
MAY 6th – The Dakota Tavern – Toronto, ON
May 27th – Union Street Café – Berwick, Nova Scotia May
29th – Morley’s Cafe – Dartmouth NS
June 1st – Motel Chelsea – Chelsea, Quebec
June 2nd – Bowie’s – Smith’s Falls, Ontario
June 3rd – Hotel Wolfe Island – Wolfe Island, Ontario
June 4th – Irene’s Pub Sunday Revue – Ottawa, Ontario
June 7th – The Garrison – Toronto, Ontario
June 11th – Rooftop Revue in The Junction – Toronto, Ontario
August 16th – 27th – Edinburgh Fringe Festival
What else can we expect in early 2023?
A bigger show. More words. More videos. More bands. New art. New collaborations.
Where do you see yourself now in 5 Years?
I would like to own a castle with my friends.
What quote or saying do you always stick by?
“You can’t make it for that!” -Nana
When you are at a gig, what are 5 things you cannot forget?
Thank your friends, thank your band, thank the sound person, thank the venue, thank the audience
Do you have social media accounts so your fans can follow you?
@sarahswire @sisterswire
