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By Angela Pacienza - London Free Press, Canoe.ca
As the music video for the Swollen Members' new song Watch This starts to roll, there's a poignant dedication to the people of British Columbia affected by devastating forest fires this summer. More than just sympathizing with their neighbours, the Vancouver-based hip-hop crew was moved by first-hand experience. A set had been created behind an abandoned warehouse in the B.C. interior city of Kelowna to stage the video, complete with vintage cars and gorgeous female dancers.
But as the fires grew, the crew decided it was best to evacuate the area and find a new location for the shoot.
"That really touched us because we saw it with our own eyes," recalled Shane Bunting, better known as Mad Child. "People's lives were being ruined. It was horrible."
In five short years Swollen Members -- made up of emcees Bunting and Kiley James Hendriks (Prevail), producer/DJ Robin Hooper (Rob the Viking), and singer-songwriter Daniel Denton (Moka Only) -- have proven a formidable force in the evolving urban music scene.
Savvy marketing -- they recently toured with power punk group Sum 41 -- and strong collaborative friendships with popstar Nelly Furtado and comic book-toy entrepreneur Todd McFarlane have also helped Swollen Members penetrate mainstream radio. McFarlane, who drew the cover art for the new album, directed Swollen Members' last single Breath, the hit song with Furtado.
With the crew's fourth album, Heavy, the quartet is hoping to solidify their success in Canada, and, with any luck, finally make a dent in the lucrative U.S. market.
Bunting has faith in the material, saying the 14 tracks on Heavy are the band's best work to date.
"Personally I feel like I got four times better as an emcee," he explains fervently. "When we did our first album, it was in a militant mind set. I was working at Subway, I was living at my grandma's in a two-bedroom apartment. I would walk to work every day and all I would do is write, write, write, just freestyle in my head every chance I got."
But then 2001's Bad Dreams album exploded with hits such as Fuel Injected and Take It Back. It hit platinum status in Canada, with more than 100,000 units sold.
Aware that a flop would crush their hard-earned momentum, the quartet rented a home in Venice, Calif,. and set to work on new material.
"I basically just hibernated for four months. I barely answered the phone. I was just able to get back to being a real artist again and I think it really shows on the album," he said of the disc, an energy-filled album with fun rhymes and heavy beats.
Swollen Members, which means phat crew or cool group in hip-hop lingo, has won the Juno for best rap recording three years in a row.
Last year, to the surprise of many, they were nominated in the best group category, alongside rock stalwarts Blue Rodeo, Our Lady Peace and the Tragically Hip.
November 1, 2003 [London Free Press, Canoe.ca]