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By Mike Bell- Calgary Sun, Canoe.ca
A little bit of old, a little bit of new.
That's a common theme these days in the world of West Coast Canadian hip hop crew Swollen Members. When I catch up with Prevail, for example, he's in the middle of redecorating his downtown Vancouver apartment in a motif mixing 1940's art deco and modern styles.
Then, of course, there's the Juno-winning act's latest release, Monsters In the Closet, which is something of a stop gap -- an impressive one, mind you -- to satiate fans until a new studio album hits the streets.
The disc is made up of older, unreleased material and remixes, with a handful of new tracks thrown in, including a track called Breath -- featuring friend Nelly Furtado -- which they just finished shooting a video for with famed Canadian illustrator Todd McFarlane.
Other than being an excellent album in its own right, it's also a great picture of the evolution of this country's premiere urban act.
"This is something for our real listeners, for our fans and friends," Prevail says of the 20-track album released in the fall.
"There's some older stuff, which is raw, more experimental, heavier ... what we used to do before we started getting into the process of making songs with the intent of creating a song from beginning to end, making it a really polished and a complete finished product.
"Not like the other songs weren't, but we definitely concentrated a lot on the new songs that are on the album, and we felt it really helped round it out and give it that feeling that it was a whole album as opposed to old songs that we had sitting around."
As for an entirely new studio album -- which will be the act's first since 2001's Bad Dreams -- Prevail says fans shouldn't have too much longer to wait. "We're in the process (of recording it) right now," he says.
"We've recorded about three songs so far and it's one of those things with us, in particular, we find that we start recording and we go 'Oh these songs are great, we totally got back in (the studio) with the right mindframe,' and then we start recording more, and the songs start getting more and more in-depth and complex.
"It's that feeling of getting your feet wet again and getting into the process of making songs ... we're really excited."
What might delay things is a hush-hush deal Swollen Members are working on in the U.S. Prevail wouldn't offer any insight, but was looking at it as a great foot in the door to the American market. "There's so much stuff happening right now with what's going on in the New Year, hopefully, stateside," he says, noting that it would probably mean spending time re-promoting Monsters or even Bad Dreams. "So we're trying to really get geared up for that as well because that's going to be a big step and a part of the rollercoaster ride all over again."
Which fittingly brings us to the Swollen Members' show this coming Tuesday night at the Telus Convention Centre.
Fitting because the group will, with some old and new favourites, help send out the old year and bring in the new.
As for what fans, old and new, can expect, Prevail says they can count on something extra special. "As all our shows are celebrations, when you amplify it with the magnitude of what New Year's Eve is and has become -- and not just people going out to party -- you can expect nothing less than a fantastic show," he says. "We have as much fun as the crowd is hopefully having.
"That's how we translate in shows -- we put a lot out, we get a lot back."
December 28, 2002 [Canoe.ca]