SWMRS

Swmrs
Swmrs performing in April 2015
Background information
Also known as	The Raining Souls (2004–2008), The Clocks (2008–2009), Emily's Army (2009–2014)
Origin	Oakland, California
Genres	Surf Punk, Rock 'N' Roll, Indie Rock, Beach Pop
Years active	2004–present
Labels	Uncool Records (current) Adeline Records (current) Rise Records (former) Burger Records (former)
Members	Cole Becker Max Becker Joey Armstrong Seb Mueller
Past members	Travis Neumann
Website	http://emilysarmyband.com/

Swmrs (pronounced like "Swimmers") is an American surf punk band formed in Oakland, California in 2004 by Cole Becker and Joey Armstrong, with Cole's brother Max joining only a few weeks afterwards. They drew on a mix of influences ranging from the Beach Boys to the Ramones to create their own brand of Rock and Roll, known as “Beach Pop”. The band added Travis Neumann in 2009, who later left in 2014 due to creative differences. The band released a demo and a string of EP's from 2008 to 2010. The band released their first album Don't Be A Dick on June 14, 2011. The bands second album Lost at Seventeen was released on June 11, 2013. In 2015 Bassist Sebastian Mueller missed a few shows due to college exams and was replaced by drummer Joey Armstrong's brother, Jakob Armstrong for a few shows. The band is currently producing their 3rd studio album, and their first under the name Swmrs.

History

Early years (2004–2008)

The band was formed by Cole Becker and Joey Armstrong. Cole's brother Max Becker later joined the band to play bass. They are known for being the youngest kids to play at 924 Gilman Street. The band was originally named The Raining Souls, but they briefly changed to The Clocks. After realizing there were already many bands with the same name, they changed it to Emily's Army in honor to Max's and Cole's cousin Emily, who suffers from Cystic Fibrosis. Their goal was to raise money and create more awareness for Cystic Fibrosis. In 2008, they released a set of songs on their MySpace page under the album name "This Kid". Although "This Kid" is not an official studio album, a few of these songs appeared throughout their career, including "Burn Apollo" that was re-recorded on their debut album, "Queens" being played live in 2012, and "I Need to Be Fixed" played live during Warped Tour 2012.

Emily's Army (2009–2014)

The band played many small shows and festivals during this time, in California. In 2009 the band added guitarist Travis Neumann. His first appearance was on the band's 2009 EP "Goody Two Shoes". that was followed by the release of two more EPs, "Broadcast This" and "Regan MacNeil". The band spent all of 2010 working and recording their first studio album with Billie Joe Armstrong. In 2011, the band released their first full-length album, Don't Be a Dick, on June 14 through Adeline Records. The album featured 6 re-recorded songs from their earlier releases. In 2012 the band returned to touring, most notably on Warped Tour. The band spent the rest of 2012 and early 2013 recording their second album After touring in 2013 the band returned to the studio to record their second studio albumLost at Seventeen on June 11, 2013 via Adeline Records and Rise Records. The band went on tour with Vans Warped Tour to support the album for the second time in their career. They also toured for the very first time in Great Britain. They played their final shows as Emily's Army during the Soundwave Festival in 2015 in Australia.

Swim EP and Name Change (2014–2015)

In early 2014 the band started writing and recording their 3rd studio album. Travis Neumann officially left the band shortly after the release of their EP Swim, on July 18, 2014. In consequence, bassist Sebastian Mueller joined the band while Max switched to lead guitar. In September 2014 the band officially changed their name to "Swimmers". Before this change was made, however, Swimmers was the name that the band used as a low key name for a small UK tour with Matt Grocott & The Shrives. The UK fans could sign up and receive an email with a link to an Instagram account in order to see the dates of the small tour. The band released there first song as Swimmers, a cover of Dancing On My Own by Robyn October 2014.The band announced via their Twitter account that they would be releasing an EP called Silver Bullets/Palm Trees on March 30, 2015. In March 2015, the band announced via their facebook that Silver Bullest/Palm Trees' release would be delayed (and later canceled) and that Jakob Armstrong, brother of drummer Joey, would be filling in for bassist Seb Mueller who had to take college exams. Mueller was shortly replaced by drummer Joey Armstrong's brother, Jakob Armstrong. On March 28, 2015 at Burgerama, bassist Seb Mueller returned to the band.

3rd Studio Album, Miley/Uncool EP and Uncool Records (2015–present)

The band entered the studio to record their 3rd studio album (first as Swimmers) on June 10, 2015. On June 22, the band announced a September Tour along with Wavves and Twin Peaks. The band reveled via twitter that the album was coming March 2016, if not earlier. The band released 4 songs via Soundcloud in July 2015, two of which where uploaded by themselves, the other two being a song named "Stink Eye", by Frankenshark an early side project that the band uses in live sets and a leaked song "Like Harry Dean Stanton". The band announced that they will be releasing an EP "Miley/Uncool" on September 8, 2015 on their own label "Uncool Records". The EP's first single "Miley" was leaked on September 7, 2015. The band would also start stylizing their name as "Swmrs" as opposed to "Swimmers" in August 2015.

Associated acts

Frankenshark

Two songs were tweeted by the band as a soundcloud link under the name of Frankenshark. The songs were named TV Dinner and Stink Eye. Evidently, by the vocals on the tracks, it was the members of Swimmers. To date, Stink Eye, (later renamed "Tito, Don't Give Me Stink Eye") has been played live several times as Swimmers. The song is expected to be rerecorded to Swimmers new album.

Matt Grocott & The Shrives

In 2014 two UK bands called Matt Grocott & The Shrives toured with Emily's Army. They booked these dates under the name "Swimmers" , conceiving the name for Emily's Army.

It was later announced Joey Armstrong would feature on drums for Matt Grocott & The Shrives' first EP; "Turn Me On" after the band had visited him in California.

DDG

DDG is a band formed at school by Joey and Seb and a few friends. They released two EPs for free on Bandcamp "Fact Check"" and "A DDG Christmas". The Christmas record featured Max and Travis from Emily's Army on bass and rhythm guitar. It also featured a lead singer, which the first EP didn't have, Talya Swensen. Both EPs were released in 2013

Green Day and Family Projects

Drummer Joey Amstrong is the son of Billie Joe Armstrong, lead singer and lead guitarist of punk rock band Green Day. Drummer Joey and his family released a limited EP as "The Boo" for a one time Christmas special. Joey played one gig with his father and Green Day guitarist Jason White called "Two and a Half Men" comprised mostly of Green Day covers. Seb and Joey played bass and drums on Jakob Armstrong's first demos released online in June, 2015.

Band members

Current members

• Cole Becker – Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar (2009-present); Lead Vocals, Lead Guitar (2004–2009)
• Max Becker – Lead Vocals, Lead Guitar (2014–present); Bass, Lead Vocals (2004–2014)
• Joey Armstrong – Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals (2004–present)
• Seb Mueller – Bass, Backing Vocals (2014-present); Live and Session Saxophone (2013)

Former members

• Travis Neumann – Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals (2009–2014)

Touring members

• Jakob Armstrong – Bass, Backing Vocals (2015)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

• Don't Be a Dick (2011)
• Lost at Seventeen (2013)
• TBA (March 2016)

EPs

• Goody Two Shoes (2009)
• Broadcast This (2010)
• Regan MacNeil (2010)
• Swim (2014)
• Miley/Uncool (2015)

Demos

• This Kid. (2008)