Swim Wear are a four piece indie rock band who formed whilst studying at Leeds Conservatoire in 2021.

Since then, they have played headline shows in Leeds and Liverpool as well as supported the likes of Reverend And The Makers, The Sheratons, Candid and many more.

Swim Wear have thus far released some of the most exciting new music by a young 4 piece guitar, bass, drums quartet. Gigslutz interview the band exclusively here:

Can you tell me about your upbringing?

Ned – I’m from Surrey so I’m the only southern lad in the band, I’ve had a musical upbringing and spent most my time playing video games and drumming to metal music.

Matt – I’m Shropshire born and bred. I spent my youth dressing up in trilby hats and crooning in my spare time, but after some time I decided my Strat Bullet was more fun.

Iwan – I’m originally from down in Ascot but I spent most of my upbringing in North Wales, constantly dragging my dad to gigs in Manchester and Liverpool that I was probably 10 years too young to be at.

Rob – I grew up in North Wales and met Iwan through playing guitar when I was about 11, we’ve played together ever since in a load of different bands

What was the first music you can remember hearing?

Ned – I always remember a compilation CD playing around the house when I was little and particularly remember the Kaiser Chiefs Ruby coming on when I was about 4.

Matt – The earliest music I remember listening to was my dads copy of the ultimate experience Hendrix CD, “Burning of the midnight lamp” always stuck in my mind and one time I even refused to get out the car until it had finished.

Iwan – I genuinely think the first song I can remember hearing was “Catch a Falling Star” by Perry Como, I’m not quite sure where I heard it first but now I just associate it with when I was very little.

Rob – I always used to get the Pop Party CD of each year in my stocking at Christmas, so it was probably something off one of those, 5 colours in her hair was a particularly early memory from them.

What was the first serious music you can remember hearing?

Ned – If what you mean by serious music is something like a gig, then my first one was when my Dad took me to see the Klaxons because I liked ‘Golden Skans’

Matt – I stumbled across John Mayer playing ‘Gravity’ on YouTube and I had never seen anyone make a guitar do anything like that.

Iwan – I would always ask to have ‘England’s Newest Hitmakers’ by the Stones on in the car whenever I was with my Dad because I listened to lots of pop music at the time and that sounded completely different.

Rob – Me and my parents used to watch old re runs of top of the pops on BBC4 and my parents would always tell me to pay attention when anything like blondie or dire straight would ever come on, their were definitely others too but they all merge into one.

When did the band members all start singing/playing instruments?

Ned – I started drums when I was 7 or 8, in school after my parents suggested to me

Matt – I got my first Strat when I was 7 for Christmas, and then properly singing at about 13

Iwan – I Started guitar at 7, which was the youngest that the local music service would let you start

Rob – My first instrument is actually guitar which I started in year 4 in primary school, pretty much only playing classical guitar until I was about 16, then I got an electric and a bass. And I actually have my first ever bass lesson next week!

Were the band in any bands previous to swimwear?

Having all come from a music college we’ve been in a load of other projects together and completely separate, and we are all still very much involved in other current projects in Leeds and further afield.

How did the band form?

Iwan: I released some music over lockdown as a solo project but when restrictions eventually lifted I really wanted to play them live. I have never liked the idea of being a solo artist so asked the others to form a band, using my previous releases as a starting point. I knew all the boys already and was just lucky that they all wanted to be apart of it.

Who are the bands musical influences?

We draw inspiration from lots of places as all four of us have various inspirations but as a band we feel we take influence from artists like The Kooks, The 1975, Jaws, Marsicans et

How do the band write their material?

Iwan normally finds himself in some sort of sticky situation and inevitably ends up writing a song about it, so he’s always the source of the lyrics but past that point all the tunes are written in a band room together, some taking 45 minutes and others take 3 months to be done.

Can you tell me about the 513 EP? What are the influences behind the tracks?

The musical inspiration behind the EP is very much a throwback to indie music that we all grew up listening to, namely bands like the kooks and the libertines. However, the inspiration behind the lyrics will still have to be left to the imagination.

Your new self titled track sounds like a mix of swimming tape, nature TV and Orange juice. Are you pleased with the track?

Iwan: I’m really pleased with the track as I feel that it is the closest we have come to having an end product that sounded like what we were aiming for from the start.

Are the band planning on releasing an album?

Not in the forcible, probably not until someone else is paying for it in all honesty

The band are on the verge of playing gigs in Leeds and Liverpool. What can fans expect at the gigs?

The gigs went really well, as well as we could’ve hoped, we tried a couple of new things. Getting our good mate Bruno to join us to play keys with us and of course the big thing of doing our first ever headline outside of Leeds. I think we will be following suit with the 1975 and taking an ‘indefinite hiatus’ on headline shows for now though

Are you looking to play gigs further afield and maybe festivals?

We would love to, we’ve been busy working on that already and we really hope we can give everyone some good news about this soon.

Finally, what’s on your turntables?

Ned – Well, as the metalhead of the band I’ve got a slight heavier taste than Iwan (laughs). I’m currently listening to bands like SiM and coldrain but that’s currently being separated with a bit of country like Luke Combs and a new American indie pop artist called hey it’s jay.

Matt – At the minute I am absolutely loving “angel in realtime,” by Gang of Youths. I’ve been listening to it religiously, it’s the most excited I’ve been by an album as a whole piece of work in ages.

Iwan – I’ve been smashing the new EP from Jaws at the minute, I’ve loved that band for a while and think it’s amongst their strongest material! I’ve also recently come across the latest single from April Tapes, I think it’s boss and can’t wait to see what else they do!

Rob – Ive been loving Inhaler after seeing them at Leeds fest this year, I think they’re one of, if not the coolest looking and sounding band at the minute. Ive also been loving the new Nothing but Thieves stuff and one of my mates introduced me to CMAT a couple of days ago.

More info regarding Swimwear can be found here