Swath | fr

Swath may refer to more than one band:



1.) Swath was formed in Helsinki in the year 2004 as a tribute band for the Finnish speed metal legend Stone. In the beginning, the band played Stone covers that were replicated note by note. Some pretty nice shows were played during this time, eg. at Tavastia Club and Ruisrock festival in 2006 to name some of the highlights.
At this point, the band was actually called Sten as a weird tribute to Stone's first record's cover art.

However, the band soon decided to get out of the tribute band scene, and decided to concentrate on their own material which had been created since the moldy rehearsal room days of autumn 2004 when the band was formed. The music wasn't unlike Stone's 80's stuff - some progressive influences and lots of hooks thrown in a storm of kick-ass thrashy riffs.

The first demo was recorded at Room 7 studios (actually, just a nickname for the band's rehearsal place..) with the aid of Jesper Johnson and "released" in early 2007. The debut gig with the band's own material (plus a few Stone covers) was also played in October 2007.

Founding member Juha Päivärinta (guitars) took leave of the band in early 2008, but the band still decided to carry on with their plans to record their next demo more professionally. The studio chosen for this was Drop Hammer in Helsinki, and with the aid of Santeri Salmi (recording & mixing), Jaakko Viitalähde (mastering) and Pekka Keskinen (cover art), a shiny disc-shaped baby called The Circle was brought upon this unsuspecting world in late summer 2008.

The Circle gathered some nice reviews in press and net publications (mostly four out of five star reviews). At the end of year 2008, another line-up change was deemed
necessary for the band to continue and Markus Lehto was replaced by Juuso Backman (from melodic death metal band All Dreams Dying) on drums. Also stepping in for the six-string duties was Niko Poikulainen (from progressive punk-metal band Tiuha).

The band spent the year 2009 mainly playing gigs and writing new material and building a home studio with more professional equipment in their new rehearsal place.

2.) Swath is an instrumental four piece rock band from Binghamton, NY.

Taken from their myspace:

Swath came together as a full four-piece instrumental band in early 2004. Based in Broome County, New York, guitarists Dan Micholychak and Bob Aiken, bassist Kevin Kober and drummer Bijoy Datta combine a blend of diverse influences into their original sound. The band has established a home studio in the Goodwill Theater in Johnson City, a growing group of performing artists with a strong interest in its community's local history. Playing an instrumental style that ranges from ambient and minimalist to heavy metal, Swath has become known for their wide and thick sound, moving melodies and counter-harmonies, and complex and non-traditional songs. The band's latest full-length album, "Confluence", was released in January 2009. Swath previously released its first full-length album, "A Bygone Era", in April 2006 and a one-song demo, "True Position", in early 2005. .