“Brilliant! I hope they do it again, and soon!”

Let’s start this off the right way, shall we? Drop what ever it is that you’re doing, run down to the nearest pub, and raise your glass to The Men They Couldn’t Hang. (If you were already at the pub to begin with, you’re my personal hero!) We all owe as much to TMTCH as we do The Pogues, The Dubliners, etc. If you are unfamiliar with TMTCH, you’ll need to play a little catch-up! As far as background checks go, Swill is a current member of The Men They Couldn’t Hang (If you haven’t noticed yet, TMTCH is a what we like to call, a shortcut.) TMTCH have been around for 20+ years. They released their latest album “Smugglers And Bounty Hunters” in 2005. That being said, let’s move on…

“The Day After” is Swill’s solo album. The plan for the album is definitely worth mentioning. First of all, EVERYTHING had to be acoustic. All the people Swill wanted to accompany him on the album were simply given very rough copies of the songs Swill had written. There would be no rehearsal. They would simply run through all the songs and record everything until they got the definitive version. In my opinion, it turned out beautifully! I hate to use the word organic, but it just fits so perfectly. Organic! Nothing on the album sounds rushed, or unfinished. It sounds like a group of friends getting together to play some fantastic songs, and the main point was to have a great time doing it. You can hear how loose everyone sounds on this album. Obviously, there were smiles all around! I’m still amazed how tight these guys sound, considering they didn’t really rehearse! Not to mention, I think my foot was tapping along to the groove the whole time. That my friends, is a great indicator of a brilliant album! My foot doesn’t lie.

The band contains some current members of TMTCH, and some former members of TMTCH. (Can you tell I love typing TMTCH yet?)

Swill – vocals, rhythm acoustic guitar
Tom Spencer – lead acoustic guitar, Nashville String acoustic guitar, banjo
Ricky McGuire – acoustic bass guitar
Jon Odgers – snare drum, bongos, shaker
Bobby Valentino – fiddle, mandolin

So if your a fan of The Men They Couldn’t Hang, you’ll love this album, and if you haven’t heard of The Men They Couldn’t Hang yet, this is a great place to start. I’d also recommend “Night Of A Thousand Candles”

Track listing:
1. The Thief, The Brief, And The Boy In Blue
2. Ready To Blow
3. Family Way (A Changing World)
4. These Days
5. Tightrope
6. Ordinary Girls
7. The Day After
8. Sea Of Heartbreak
9. The Story
10. Hanwell Shuffle
11. In The Jailhouse Now
12. Lost In The Flood
13. You Make My Life Complete

Check out http://www.tmtch.net for more info.

2006