PRIZES to win! PROMOTIONS
SWIZ was a hardcore punk band from Washington, D.C., bred in the fertile underground before Fugazi and Nirvana rose to popularity. The band's lineup featured vocalist Shawn Brown (formerly of Dag Nasty), bassist Nathan Larson, drummer Alex Daniels, guitarist Jason Farrell, and, in their early days, Ramsey Metalf (guitar). Their two albums were released by Amanda MacKaye's Sammich Records--sister label to Dischord Records. Larson was replaced by bassist Dave Eight in 1989 as Swiz continued to make a name for themselves across the US over their three-year run (1987-1990). Their short, sharp, sonic blasts still resonate and continue to inspire musicians, artists, and fans alike.
It's not always easy to get into books about groups I don't know, but this one totally nails it . . . [T]he difference in the speakers' voices becomes a kaleidoscope which simultaneously defuses any sort of bullshit mythology (read: baggage) a reader might bring along, humanizing the members of the band as their van breaks down and they play shitty shows and don't get along and struggle and kick ass thousands of miles from home.-- ""Razorcake"" The band's members--plus a few other involved parties--have penned this insider account of Swiz's rise and demise, with results that are entertaining, revealing, and at times a bit depressing . . . it captures a particular moment in the city's punk scene-- ""Washingtonian"" Coinciding with the 2025 release of Swiz's remastered catalogue, this book brings all the members of the band together in conversation. Consisting of recollections and reflections in verse and prose, new conversations between members, tour notes, drawings, comics, and over 100 previously unreleased images, this uniquely compiled memoir gives readers insight into the band's history and experiences. The narrative thread fluidly shifts between band members, connecting their varied accounts of their experiences. Readers can choose to read each member's accounts separately or to read them together as interconnected stories that build upon and inform one another.-- ""Library Journal"" The members of D.C.-based punk band Swiz assemble a colorful and eclectic career retrospective . . . Veering from prose to poetry to comic strip, the sections combine to form . . . a passionate ode to hardcore punk's brief but intense moment in the spotlight and Swiz's role in it.-- ""Publishers Weekly"" Like reunions, memoirs can be mystique killers--but Swiz is threading the needle again with an eponymous new book in which the band's members take turns channeling hazy memories from the late 1980s into sharp blocks of clean text. Swiz is a memoir, yeah, technically, but the book's collage-like structure and collaborative zeal make it feel more like a cut-and-paste punk fanzine, placing it in the orbit of two other outstanding punk biographies released in the past year Huggy Bear--Killed (of Kids) about the incendiary English riot grrrl band Huggy Bear; and To Ease My Troubled Mind: The Authorized Unauthorized History of Billy Childish.-- ""Washington Post"" Swiz blends oral history, scrapbook, and journal to chronicle the late 1980s Washington, D.C., hardcore punk band fronted by Shawn Brown, formerly of Dag Nasty. Packed with childhood and band photos, flyers, lyrics, journal excerpts, interviews, comics, poetry, and even a list of rejected band names, the book captures both the sound and the scene . . . Fans of hardcore punk will cherish this vivid, raw portrait of youth in full thrash.-- ""Booklist""
