WE SWING TO THE BLUES

It’s time to stop singin’ and time to start swingin’. This chunk of text is about a
band, which is old, and which is also new. About fifteen years ago, I started a band with
some of my best friends, Swing Kids. People in general could have given two shits about
us at the time, which was fine. In retrospect, we had a lager worldly vision, and didn’t
pay a lot of attention to things that normal bands might have. The band did a handful of
short tours and within only a couple years, self-destructed. It might have been for the
better, since some of us moved onto musical projects that were more progressive, and
maybe even more musically mature. Swing Kids was what it was.
More than a decade later, Swing Kids played two shows. The members in the
band looked at the shows along the lines of what one might consider a funeral, and
maybe as a departure to one of the most amazing people to have ever come into my
life, Eric Allen. The shows went on accordingly and money was raised and given to
various charities and we walked away with an experience that was not only nostalgic,
but challenging. We played without a founding member, who had passed away, and
that aspect showed us that the performances lacked something that is not describable in
words. But we were better than we ever were, sonically speaking.
For me, personally, I would not want to do what was done at those two shows
ever again. However, I felt the desire to play with John, Jimmy, and Jose on some sort
of level. They are punks, my family, and are on the same page as I am. As time passed
and thoughts processed, we decided to pick up where we left off. But there was a sense of
relevance that had to be added to what we wanted to do. Not only did Swing Kids need
two guitar players, something to really push a more aggressive element, we needed to
change the name, as Swing Kids passed away with Eric Allen.
Blue Note features founding members if Swing Kids, with the addition of Nathan
Joyner. The band is a forward step in a direction that reunited musical acts tend to not
follow. There is no need to repeat the past. Just to fuck it up and move on. As Swing
Kids once said, “I’m sorry to say, but it’s not over”.
– Justin Pearson

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*Photos by Matt Miller