Cole Becker of SWMRS talks love for the bay, the clash, and haunted venues

Ask any young music enthusiast if they’ve watched School of Rock and you’ll most likely get a yes. Then ask if watching the film inspired them to start a punk band that would go on to perform on The Late Late Show with James Corden, have their music celebrated by Rolling Stone, and tour with prolific acts like Blink 182, Green Day, and All Time Low. If you get another yes, then you’re probably talking to Cole Becker of SWMRS.

After performing at music festivals around Europe, the Oakland rockers are returning to the Bay to headline their third Uncool Halloween party at the UC Theatre on Saturday, October 26th. Before the spooky celebration, the B-Side caught up with Becker to talk about the band’s new album, his love for Bay Area art, and his brief past with our publication.

Cole Becker: You know I actually applied to the B-Side when I was at Berkeley?

The B-Side: Really? That’s awesome! What department?

I don’t even remember! I ended up writing for the Daily Cal though.

Nice! Well, thanks for talking with us. The upcoming album is highly anticipated. In a recent interview, you said that while you guys were working on it you got really weird in the studio and had fun listening to weird music. Can you elaborate on that and define what “weird” means?

When we were growing up we made punk music because that was the easiest music for us to make. But what we always tried to do was make things that showed real feeling. Sometimes you have to deconstruct what you think about music and the things that you’re used to doing in order to find new musical textures that represent real feelings. Music is really a language that is reserved just for talking about how you feel and everybody understands that language.

Were there any specific artists that directly influenced the album?

Honestly, there were so many. Something that was really inspiring for me was artists around the Bay Area. Living in Oakland is so cool because everybody who makes music here does something different and unique. It all represents real feelings that people are having. Like, have you guys ever covered Kohinoorgasm? She’s dope! She makes experimental dance music that’s influenced by traditional Indian music. I’ve also always looked up to Damon Albarn from Blur. They always make really great records that all sound different. He’s also in the Gorillaz!

It’s awesome that you mentioned a local act because I was going to ask if there were any up and coming Bay Area artists that you really admired and wanted to shout out.

Oh, definitely. There’s so much music happening all the time. Ricky Lake recently moved to LA but he’s from the Bay. He’s doing really cool stuff. There’s also a band that’s playing our show Saturday called Destroy Boys. They just put out a new full-length album that’s insane. I love it and I’m so happy for them. It’s really hard for me to pick one or two though. I try to appreciate all music that’s around me because when you start to get momentum I think it’s easy to get jaded. I know so many musicians that stop caring about this miracle that we all have friends who are doing the things they love. It’s rare to live in a place and have a community of people that are all actually living the life they want to live. I think that’s super cool!

It’s also cool to have a community of people who are so willing to listen.

Exactly! The people here are so open-minded when it comes to art and music.

Outside of the Bay Area, you’ve been to so many places on tours with other bands. What’s been your favorite venue to play?

Oh! There’s this venue in Milwaukee we played called The Rave. It’s this old social club ballroom from the early 1900s and it’s haunted. The people who work there were like, “Yeah! It’s fully haunted. We didn’t believe in ghosts but there are things that happen here when you’re closing up that make you question everything.”

Did you see anything while you were there?

Nothing weird happened while we were there, but there’s this boiler room that you can go down to and you can hear kids screaming. It’s crazy. But that’s an awesome venue to play. You feel the ghost energy there! It’s just great!

I want to talk about “Berkeley’s on Fire.” That was such a tense time for Berkeley. It really felt like the media and those in charge just weren’t listening to us as a community. It was great to have a song that reflected those frustrations. I was wondering if you feel a responsibility to write about and represent the Bay Area.

I definitely think that anybody who creates has the duty to paint a portrait of what’s it’s actually like to be in a specific time and place. We’re living in the Bay in such a crazy time because it’s changing so much. Nobody knows who to blame or how to fix it and so many people are so vulnerable because of that. I think that anxiety really filters into things like the Milo Yiannopoulos talk. People are just looking for ways to defend themselves. I was there and I thought that was really responsible for everyone to do. Seriously. You have to defend the places you love and you have to put work in to keep them the way they work the best.

I totally agree. Going back to the responsibility of painting a portrait, does that ever feel stressful?

I don’t know if it’s a responsibility as much as it is a deep, deep love for the Bay. And you know we have a weird relationship with it too because we’re from Piedmont, which has a weird, kind of gnarly history to it. So many people are moving from Piedmont, and from all over the world, to Oakland and inflating the housing market. It’s a funny time to be from here. There’s a lot of blame-shifting going on. I’m not saying I feel bad for the programmers moving here, but I definitely think they take more of the blame than they should. We should be taking these issues out on the billionaires and the landlords who own so much land and are inflating prices for no reason.

Yeah. In these instances the ones in charge somehow always get us to fight each other instead of them.

Exactly. And that kind of division keeps us from finding a positive, future-forward solution.

Clearly, there’s this political tension that’s just so potent in everything. It feels inescapable. How are you taking that into account in your own artistry?

Writing political music is funny because there’s a line that you can cross that makes it feel cheesy. So I tried to avoid it for a long time. I mean my favorite band growing up was The Clash and they were never shy in writing about politics. But then I started to realize that there’s even more music has to offer especially in a time like now. When The Clash was making music people didn’t know shit about anything. The media was so much more centralized and topped down. So to have a band like The Clash revisiting history from a more socialist and humanist perspective was important. Now we have Twitter so everybody is just flooded with opinions and politics all day long. It’s a hard balance to find creating a kind of political music that makes people feel empowered instead of inundated with more information.

So, is the new album political?

Some of the songs are political but what they’re more trying to do is put forward this lively, dance energy. We want to get people to imagine their own lives and what they can actually do. Maybe we’re not always going to write about politics but we’re always going to make music that creates a space that re-energizes people so that they can make decisions for themselves and not be totally bogged down with the f—-ing endless onslaught of shitty news.

I love that. I think there’s real power in imagination and daydreaming. I’m really looking forward to this album.

Hell yeah! Well, I’m stoked that I got to talk to the B-Side! Are you coming to the show?

I am! I’ve never been to Uncool Halloween. What should I, and other fans, expect from the show?

It’s gonna be a party! My mom and I are currently making the decorations. Mostly my mom, because she shreds. She’s making 300 fake candles to hang from the ceiling to make it look like the Great Hall from Hogwarts! Expect a lot of people flexing their sewing skills. One fan tweeted their costume and it looked insane. Also, I think people are ready to release some of the pent-up energy they have. It’s gonna be a wild show!

Written by Rebekah Gonzalez