With the temperature in the mid-thirties, CLASH manoeuvres our way backstage at Madrid’s Mad Cool festival to find the members of Swim School cooling their feet in a small paddling pool backstage. They have been enjoying the festival vibes with Billy McMahon (drums) quipping: “I’m feeling a little too good” at the start of the interview.
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In our previous interview with Swim School, they spoke about wanting to try a “heavier” sound in future and with ‘Seeing It Now’ it really feels like they have accomplished that. “I think we’ve done that,” Billy laughs. Lewis Bunting (guitar) adds: “We’ve been doing a lot of writing recently as well.” The new ‘heavier’ sound is reflected in the new material they are working on. Alice Johnson (vocals) mentions that their “biggest streamed song” is also their “heaviest” – sounding one. It seems like making the change was worth it. Billy says: “It’s more fun to be heavy, as well.” While Alice adds: “Chaotic.”
Alice has previously spoken about struggling with impostor syndrome. “Horrific,” she says. “Funnily enough, our single ‘Seeing It Now’ is all about feeling that you don’t deserve that you’ve got.” She goes on to speak about feeling that all her dreams are coming true but also not quite believing worthy of them (“Why is this happening?,’ she asks). ‘Seeing It Now’ is a track about “making the fans proud”. They wanted to show their appreciation for their fans and Alice says thinking of the fans helps her “get through that really hard mindset”. “Impostor syndrome can suck at times. Even today, it’s like, ‘What are [three people] from Scotland doing in Madrid?” But then they think about how hard they have worked to be where they are today. For example, on the bill at Mad Cool. Alice realises this and answers her own question. “Same reason that Smashing Pumpkins are here, same reason that Dua Lipa is here. We’ve all been booked because we’re doing the same thing; creating music.”
She admits that these are words inspired that something Billy has said, so she wanted to give “credit” to him too. However the impostor syndrome disappears on when they are on stage because Alice feels “so comfortable”. “You just zone out.” They were also enjoying playing European festivals “for the first time”. It felt almost like a “holiday” because they’d been “so busy as a bad for the past five years,” Alice tells us.
“If anything, this is like a two-in-one. It’s like a holiday but you get to play a festival and do what you love.” The band had been documenting their time in Madrid on their social media accounts and seemed to really be enjoying their time in the Spanish capital. Lewis also spoke about seeing “familiar faces” at festivals, which is “so nice”, Alice adds “because we’re so far from home”.
They have been playing their new songs, taken from their latest EP ‘Seeing It Now’, at their live shows. Alice describes the experience as “daunting” in case fans don’t “know” the songs and since there is so much preparation for the performances. However, she adds that the “excitement” outweighs any trepidation. She loves the feeling of hearing fans sing lyrics back to them. “That’s when it really hits.”
They recently were on tour in the UK and Billy says, because their shows had all been support for other artists and bands (who had their own fanbases), they “didn’t really know what our fan base was going to be”. “For two weeks, we had the best time ever.”
Alice adds: It’s that one thing you dream of when you start a band, playing big shows but also going on your first headline tour and selling it completely… There’s no feeling better than it, really. We’re very blessed for our amazing fans for allowing us to do that.”
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Stay in touch with Swim School on social media.
Words: Narzra Ahmed
Photo Credit: Olie Erskine
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