Known by many artists as the go-to ‘guitar guy’ in North London
Oli Swan has been secretly writing and recording his own songs in between studio sessions and guitar repairs. Inspired by the classic song-writing sensibilities of musical heroes Paul McCartney and Tom Petty
Swan’s recordings nod knowingly to muscular soft pop tropes of yore
mixing layers of musical loveliness with the lushest of melodies
as evinced by the ‘All Of My Friends Are Lonely’ EP which heads out in April.

It’s a resoundingly empathetic sound which has already received praise and plays from Jack Saunders (Radio One)
Tom Ravenscroft (BBC 6Music)
Gary Crowley (BBC London)
Angelle Joseph (BBC Introducing Suffolk) and Shell Zenner (Amazing Radio)
as well as support from indie heroes The Magic Numbers
The Graveltones and Ren Harvieu. Oh
Oli has also struck up an unlikely lockdown bromance with HRH of Pop Robbie Williams
who thinks he’s “incredible!” and who took it upon himself to tweet out about the previous Swan song. Oli can definitely see the funny side:

“’Make Me Cry’ began as an in-joke between me and my buddy Nico (who features on the track). The hook popped out late one night and we would sing it every time we saw each other after that
visualizing high-budget music videos with speedboats and models! For me it sums up the simultaneous ridiculousness and realness of heartbreak. Like cruising the empty city streets at night in an open-top Corvette
wondering if you could ever love again…That’s no joke baby!”

In these covid-crippled times the speedboats and models have had to be put on the back burner
but the terrific ‘Make Me Cry’ video still manages to rustle up a photolove-style story in a backstreet bowling alley. It’ll have to do for now
as The Dangerous Creatures
a revolving line-up of A-Team musicians from the London underground
are sadly rocked down in lockdown right now. Luckily
the panda got its first glimpse of their heroically exuberant live set onstage at the Old Blue Last towards the close of 2019
back when a small gig was our hugely happifying place:

“The live thing is big!” the singer beams. “It’s joyous and it’s fun. I think that’s what people want from a live show - for it to be fun. I hope we get to take these songs out this year…”