My first experience with Ink Swell came in the form of a particularly high-energy performance at The Milestone in late February. The band piqued my interest with their upbeat, fast-tempo, danceable sound that echoed the style of some of my favorite punk subgenres: the shouted lyrics and quick, rhythmic, sound found in the 70’s Brit Punk and Oi! Subgenre. I went home, and hit shuffle on Kitsch, Ink Swell’s debut album released in 2022. Spacebound, the album’s first track, started to play and I was instantly overtaken by a spaceship-like, sci-fi ambiance; a soundscape of synth and metal which quickly turned into a catchy, arpeggiated guitar rift… only for the track to later take a turn from ambient to Punk- with the vocalist delivering a blaring, glam-rock chorus.Spacebound surprised me again, taking yet another completely different turn at around the 5-minute point of the track- breaking down into melancholic, hazy guitar before once again switching back into the earlier upbeat spirit of the song. In a single track, I felt I had just heard different styles shifting from Cocteau Twins to The Clash, to Slowdive, and then back to a sound like The Garden-successfully incorporating the different traits from distinctive genres, and marrying them into one well-rounded, genre-shifting sound.
A few weeks later, at a True Lilith show at The Milestone in March, I noticed a young man in the audience quite literally tearing up the dance floor- doing the twist and spinning across the floor. After True Lilith’s set, as I sat on the Milestone’s ancient couch in front of the merch stand, the mystery Dancer would warmly introduce himself as Pete Hayes- Ink Swell’s guitarist- who I had actually been trying to set up an interview with for the past two weeks. Surprised, we began a sort of impromptu interview in the time between sets. Pieces of Charlotte band lore came together in real time in front of me as Hayes told me a bit about the band, and how he and other members had actually been in True Lilith at one point. We finalized plans to meet at Sake's fast food sushi and hibachi restaurant that week, (Yup, that’s a thing- you can get sushi at a drive-through. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised though, it makes sense for a band with the ability to showcase qualities from 3 different genres all within one song to genre-mix when it comes to food as well) and a few days later, the six of us crammed into two restaurant booths- I sat down with the guys from Ink Swell as the band told me more about their origin story, the influences behind their sound, and the creative processes behind their album, Kitsch.
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Along with Hayes, Ink Swell is comprised of Adrian Allman on bass, Music Knight on drums, and vocalist Jason Vas.
Members Adrian and Music were both members of their schools’ respective concert and marching bands: “ I did marching band for 8 years, first in high school and then in college.”, explains Music. “ I never really super liked playing marching drums- in college, at basketball games, all the drums sat in the back, except for the one person who was playing drum set- and you’d have to play for 20,000 people like that.”
Meanwhile, both guitarist Pete and vocalist Jason were enrolled in music lessons.“Jason and I took lessons at the same place- Jason was taking piano lessons, and I was taking guitar lessons. We did that for like 3 or four years, back when we were in middle school.”, describes Pete. “A few years later, whenever we started hanging out again, the first thing we got on the same foot with, was sharing music with one another. Before I graduated, I was always going out and buying music- sitting late at night, just listening to albums.”, reminisces the guitarist.
“I’ve known Adrian longer than anybody- and I met Jason in the 2nd grade, he kinda bullied me, funny enough.”, Pete says as he and Jason share a laugh from across the table. “Jason and I were friends independently from Adrian- then we all started hanging out together.”
“He introduced me to Team Fortress 2.”, adds bassist Adrian. “We’re all big Valve heads, I really like Portal and all that too.”
The band informs me that their name, Ink Swell, is derived from this shared interest in video games- Ink Swell being the namesake of a Grimstroke ability in the strategy game Dota 2.
Pete continues on the shared origins of the band, which funnily enough, converges in the band True Lilith for both Adrian and Pete (the Charlotte Lore continues to expand). “Lineage-wise, the first band that I was in was True Lilith. That was when Adrian and I were both in the band when it was in a sort of transitory state; then it was just me, Chloe (Lilith’s vocalist and guitarist) , and Adrian for a while.”
“I completely forget I basically learned drums to play in True Lilith”, adds Adrian.
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When Adrian would be unable to play drums for a particular show, the band would ask Music Knight to fill in. “When Adrian couldn’t make it and they asked me to play, it kind of coincided with this crazy moment in my life- I was breaking up with my girlfriend of 7 years”, recalls Knight. “Like, if they were making a movie about my life- that would have been a key moment.”, says the drummer. “They (True Lilith) ask me to do it, I play the show, and I’m in the band.”
In the following few months, both Adrian and Pete would leave True Lilith to pursue other projects, eventually culminating in the two forming Ink Swell as a band.
“In the end of the rough period of Covid, we started meeting up in my basement to practice recording.”, explains Hayes. “Music eventually got integrated as our drummer. That first show we all played together, I was like, ‘This is what we could sound like'.” At the time, Knight was still serving as the drummer for both projects.
“Playing drums is one thing, playing drums in a band was different- and I had at least a little bit of experience doing that. I remember you guys asking me on my front porch to join- At that point, it was my third string band. I was already playing for Find, and True Lilith- then we booked another house show for March, and that was when we (Ink Swell) were already formed as a band.”
When True Lilith would temporarily disband in the midst of a transitory period,Ink Swell would become Music’s number one creative project. With the lineup locked in by October of 2020, Ink Swell would play their second show ever together on Halloween of that same year.
Amalgamated
“We wanted to have a bit of that unpredictable sound,” Adrian tells me of the band’s genre-bending, distinct style, “But still rewarding. You can make something that’s really odd the first time, but is rewarding on re-listen. I want to make something you can listen to on repeat,” the bassist explains. “Obviously, being a bassist in high school, I was really into Primus- they made me want to play slap bass. I also had an interest in weird songwriting- bands like XTC have a huge influence on my style of playing.”
“Adrian has been ground zero for me finding some of my favorite bands.”, Pete adds, “Ween and Mars Volta.”
“I love Mars Volta. I think that’s where a’lot of our more stilted rhythms and our odd songs come from. They Might Be Giants have a very present influence on me, too, especially in terms of how I write bass lines- ‘cause they have very good melodies and harmonies. Whenever I write something, it is something that has depth; every now and then you find something that really fits your goals as a musician-a little nugget of gold that makes you think, “You’re not gonna see this on everyone’s topper charts”. I think in that sense with music, everyone has a certain thing they’re looking for It’s really about finding something that clicks with you like no other music does. That’s the thing with terms like 'Universal music', there’s no single piece of music that truly relates to everyone," explains Adrian.
“Growing up with my Dad, he had this huge stereo at home, I was always listening to stuff he liked to hear," Pete says of his earliest musical influences. “He’s 63 years old, he grew up on a’lot of the stuff from the ’70s, everything from Pink Floyd and Steely Dan to Led Zepplin , but then of course, I also listened to a lot of fusion jazz music, which is kind of where I cut my teeth as a guitar player with an improvisational structure in mind. Frank Zappa, Jeff Beck, and Alan Holdsworth are probably my biggest influences as far as guitar playing goes. More recently, since Adrian kind of got me into listening to Mars Volta, Omar Rodriguez Lopez has also been a big influence in terms of experimenting with deals and effects- different soundscaping,” explains the guitarist. “Some elements of shoe gaze, too, I like all that kind of stuff- like Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine. I’m interested in the sound created by kind of layering these distortions- like building a sound out of noise.” Pete credits this musical interest in soundscapes and sounds with a “glitchy” aspect to it as the influences behind the space-like UFO noises heard at the beginning of Spacebound.
“I play drums,” Music Knight, the band’s percussionist begins, “And like all good drummers, I grew up listening to Rush. My dad played drums, and obviously, that was a big influence- though he never really sat down and taught me anything. Having something that complex as a starting point was kind of helpful- if you’re starting all the way down- you can sort of keep going,” he says. “My number one favorite band is System of A Down, ( I listen to) a lot of those contemporaries. I’d describe my drumming style as a fusion of Prog Rock sort of stuff with early 2000’s metal- sort of Linkin Park, Deftones -inspired drumming,” says Knight. The drummer says of his particular musical inspiration for Ink Swell, “When I first started studying some of the more post-hardcore bands, I started to lean into the more weird, dissonant sort of stuff. I was like, ‘Let’s do chords that sound weird. Let’s do a weird, dumb Prague-rock breakdown at the end of this song. I like meshing a corny cheesy drum beat, with something a little more original and inspired.”
Ink Swell’s final member, vocalist Jason Vas, has sat relatively quiet thus far, contemplatively listening to the answers of his fellow bandmates- which was a bit of a surprise coming from the bolting, rambunctious performer who accompanied his delivery of vocals with a high-energy performance accentuated by lots of jumping, dancing, and even rolling around on the ground, at the bands’ Milestone show in January.
Clearly multifaceted as both a performer and songwriter, Vas lists a wide variety of influences for both his vocal style, as well as lyricism: “ I joined Ink Swell in 2020- and I had never sung before. People had said I had a good singing voice, so I did- but (I think) I’m a much better writer. Some of my influences who got me into songwriting are Tom Waits, Amad Zaiyar- he’s an Afghan pop singer from the 70s, my friend showed me him. Cedric from Mars Volta, that’s another person I’d say I derive inspiration from.”
“Especially the spoken word and stage presence”, agrees Music.
“Damo Suzuki from Can, too. They’re a (German) Kraut-rock band from the ’70s. Funny enough, Mars Volta lists them as an influence. When I first heard Can, I put it on the record player, I thought it was the stupidest shit I ever heard. But then, I heard it about 15 more times and fell in love with it. (Vocally) I just try to sing in my own style. I like adding melodies that aren’t very commonly heard together- a style of singing and screaming; It’s a range of emotions from whatever I’m feeling, a vehicle for what I’m feeling- Those highs and lows are a sort of catharsis. “, explains Jason. “I like a lot of different music, but if I were to say my favorites lyric-wise, Matt Elliot and Vic Chesnut, because they can convey things without using similes, and do so in a more metaphorically speaking way.”
“Songwriting wise, I do a lot of the arrangement in the band,” says Music. “Pete will come up with the guitar part, Adrian will bring the bass, and Jason does the melody and lyrics- I sort of arrange it, and inspiration sort of comes from Rush- the weird arrangements and time signatures- going back and forth.”
“We’ve kind of developed a good feel for each other’s style- a lot of unspoken communication kind of effortlessly to get what needs to be done, done,” adds bassist Adrian.
“The marriage of kind of atmospheric kind of guitar stuff, mixed with like the open-mindedness of jazz and fusion is mainly where id say my two lanes lie," says Pete of creating his guitar parts in the band. “All the guitar solos I play (during live performances) are wholly improvised- since I’ve learned to play guitar by improvisation…I’m used to narrowing it down till stuff sounds good, and it kind of got to where id rather utilize that tool of having a different flow every time,” Pete said.
“I like to use experimental elements to make music feel bigger instead of smaller”, says Adrian. “There’s people who will take noise and experimental to make it sound unlistenable in a sort of way- I like to use those weird textures to make something bigger- I get a lot of that from the Mars Volta, and it sounds ethereal- it’s about putting that kind of energy in.”
“It’s definitely a controlled chaos.”, muses Hayes.
Kitsch
“A Lot of those songs, Spacebound and Endless Eight, Pete had already written,” says Music of Ink Swell’s debut album, Kitsch.“Both of those songs had very loose arrangements. Space bound was 15 minutes.”
“It started off as just ambiance- and then like a middle of a song- and then ambiance again,” Pete says of Kitsch’s opening track. Spacebound is the most brazen ‘We’re trying to be progressive rock’ kind of thing- that’s kind of what I originally wanted the band to sort of be more on that line- then we honed into our own original style. Instead of using a particular band or style as a blueprint, we developed something that was our own sound,” elaborates Pete. “Limbo was more short circuit…it kind of sounds like a western song, so I gave it a little gallop on the drums.”
“There’s a vague sort of Primus thing going on in that song," muses Adrian.
“There’s elements of hardcore and punk, and also that jangly, melodic sort of sound like The Smiths,” adds Pete
“That riff in Limbo was the only riff I’ve ever written for the band- I made the benchmark for the verse,” says Jason.
“Limbo's a good example of Pete coming to me with two completely different things- and saying, ‘Let’s make this into one song’.” says Music on the collaborative process behind Limbo. “What’s the best way to get from point A to point B- that’s the stuff I enjoy most about writing music.”
“It’s kind of funny- we hadn’t figured out what we were doing as a band when Music first joined, I feel like the songs that ended up being the most uniquely “Kitsch” came when we started writing as this iteration of the band- like when we wrote Opaque Parasite,” Pete remarks.
“It’s kind of like a Prog punk song,” adds the drummer.
“I get a little bit from Andy Summers- I really like those sounds he gets on those Police records in an arpeggiated chords kind of way,” remarks Hayes.
Avarice
Ink Swell’s first single released on Spotify in 2021, Avarice, features all of the classic qualities of an upbeat, danceable, punk anthem. The track features a catchy, upbeat riff and high-tempo rhythm, and energetic vocals: “Scratch and scream over every toil," vocalist Jason Vas croons on the track, before screaming out in apparent exasperation, “UNLESS THEY POSSESS THAT sweet, sweet, Oil." Through its lyricism and tongue-in-cheek performance, Avarice, on the surface, critiques the bleakness of modern Americana Late-Stage Capitalism, chock full of fast food, mass-produced items, strip malls, and wars over Oil. At the same time, however, the track functions as a jab at performative activism, the empty repetition of the same message with no real original thought or intent in doing so, other than repeating the same “acceptable” set of beliefs popular at the time.
“Adrian wrote the riff”, vocalist Jason Vos says of the track, “and I sort of wrote lyrics that I thought would go good with it, based off of how I was feeling at the time…People make a bunch of songs in the punk scene- and it’s mostly like, the same superficial political message; the lines “Hold out your empty hoping hand” and “The next big change- go and sign that paper” allude to that, there’s this sort of mentality of like, ‘Go and sign a petition’. If you want to go see a change, go do that yourself. And don’t brag about helping people,” says Vos.
Ink Swell’s other members express their dissatisfaction with issues like skyrocketing rent, overhaul, and performative charity, all themes touched on lyrically in Avarice. “In Belmont, over the past two years, I’ve watched the woods behind my house get cleared out and turned into a subdivision.”, begins Pete. “My grandma was convinced by a real estate agent to sell out- so, y’know, a lot of people who have lived here for years have had to move away because they can’t afford to live here anymore.”
“There’s a lot of fake philanthropy going on in the modern age.”, says Adrian of the apparent current-day charity wave. “All of these non-profit orgs, they know how to make it look like they’re doing something with it.”, explains the bassist.
“It’s like, well, you gave a homeless guy 100 dollars, Mr. Beast, but you made a million off of views from the video,” says Music.
Lyrically, Avarice is just one example of Jason Vas’ use of introspection and literary technique within his songwriting, tracks like Opaque Parasite sporting visceral, neoteric lyrics like: “You’re a curved, a sword in my side, the wound sepulchered by your silver tongue… glassy onyx lens pave way for my surprise.”
Bandmate Music Knight says of Vas’s songwriting: “[Jason] will use words that are more visceral- there’s a morbidity to your words sometimes…He’s like a thesaurus.”, observes the drummer.
“How I write lyrics- I started off writing most of the stuff we have in songs, it was poetry. I like the style of a lot of old 1800s, 1900s authors.”, says Vas. “It’s more theatrical.”, agrees Pete.
“Authors like Jack Vance and Lovecraft- of course, I don’t agree with his actions or beliefs, but I appreciate his literature and the morbidity of it,” offers Jason.
“I think you do implement elements of existential horror in your lyricism,” adds Pete. “The lyrics all in the title song (Kitsch)- they all mean nothing- it's an infatuated nothing. I listen to a couple of indie songs from like the early 2010s, and I look at their lyrics, and a lot of it's not stupid- it is nonsense that just turns into poetry.”
The guitarist continues: “ I think the thing that’s interesting about Kitsch- the term Kitsch refers to art that is emotionally bankrupt. It’s based in this kind of empty facade of ‘This is what you’re supposed to be feeling’. It’s like that painting of the bulldogs sitting around the poker table,” says Pete.” I think it’s interesting the way Jason mixes these words into a nostalgic kind of vibe- one that doesn’t lead you anywhere.”
“It goes a little deeper, ‘cause we don’t sound like any one particular band,” asserts Music. “We’re not just pulling at your heartstrings- it's a little self-aware, we poke fun at ourselves.”
“It’s the combination of mixing those more abstract ideas with something that’s a little less minimalist, and a little more progressive and contemporary,” says Pete. “I think an important part is that we all write and play to our own strengths.”
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Ink Swell is undoubtedly a talented, multi-faceted, and charismatic bunch- qualities which shine through in both their musicality, and their ability as performers. Check out the band’s album, Kitsch , to take a musical journey through everything from spacey shoe-gaze ambiance to heavy, upbeat punk riffs.
Ink Swell’s newest single- Lincoln Street, is available on Spotify now. If you’re a fan of Ink Swell’s other music, or the sort of sound presented in Avarice, go ahead and check it out.
Music Knight’s other project, Cosmic Twynk, just debuted last month. For fans of New Metal and Experimental, check Twynk out at their show on June 6th at The Milestone, and @cosmictwynk on Instagram.
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