Watford bass guitarist on 90's indie band The Sway's reunion

Paul, who lives in Leavesden, is the bass player and backing vocalist for The Sway, an indie rock band that originated in Mill Hill in 1989. Although the four-piece never made it big, they were successful enough to headline the famous Marquis club twice and once had an up-and-coming Scottish group named Travis support them at a gig in Kentish Town.

After splitting in 1995, Paul and bandmates David Casson, Jim Kook and Sean Kelly got back together to release their sole LP to date, ‘When Worlds Collide’, in 2011 before going their separate ways again. But The Sway have reformed and on Monday will release ‘Songs for Then & Now’, a four-track EP, on all the major streaming platforms.

“If we reach a few ears and people say ‘I really like that’ and in a few years time they say ‘I really liked that song, it means a lot to me’, that’s what it’s all about,” said the 52-year-old Watford fan and keen runner, who works in the administration department at West Herts Crematorium. “Mostly it’s for our own enjoyment and if people get something out of it, it’s a bonus.”

The Sway's new EP will be available to stream on Monday (Image: Supplied)

The catalyst for the reunion was a surprise get together Paul’s wife arranged to celebrate his tenth sobriety anniversary in November 2022.

The bandmates enjoyed a great day in the studio, played a couple of their old songs and gelled again, and were soon discussing getting back together.

It has resulted in ‘Songs for Then & Now’, so named because the first two tracks ‘You Drag’ and ‘Possible’ were performed by the band at what turned out to be their final gig at a BBC live event in Birmingham, while ‘My Universe’ and ‘Daylight’ are brand new material.

The Sway's sound is more James than Oasis and Paul explained: “Our influences going back are probably U2, The Cure, Echo & the Bunnymen and then going a little bit more forward House of Love, Shed Seven and James, so comparisons are understandable.

“The final song, ‘Daylight’, which is a bit intense and heavy, that’s a purposeful nod to Echo and the Bunnymen and House of Love.”

The cover of the 'Songs for Then & Now' EP (Image: Supplied)

Following the release of the EP, The Sway are planning to make their back catalogue available on digital format. No new live shows have been confirmed yet but Paul said: “If people start enjoying it then next summer, hopefully we’ve had enough time to rehearse an hour set or so, we can get a gig locally. We’d certainly love to play live, hopefully next summer and maybe outdoors.”

Paul is lifelong friends with David, who is The Sway’s singer and guitarist. They met drummer Sean at a party when they were teenagers and “had this drunken idea about forming a band after discussing that we all liked the same music”.

The Sway (L to R) Sean, David, Jim and Paul in their younger days (Image: Supplied)

Guitarist Jim later joined and the future looked increasingly positive as The Sway were signed to a label, released a couple of EPs and started touring.

“We had two years not working, getting our expenses paid and trying to make it bigger than what we’d got to at that point,” Paul said. “Unfortunately, we got a little bit disillusioned with it after a couple of years of trying, there was always promise around the corner and in the end something had to give and it folded in on itself in 1995 after playing that BBC gig in Birmingham.

“It was that old rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle on a lemonade budget for a couple of years but we had an incredible time and I don’t think any of us would have changed the experience and the laughs that we had.

“There were so many good bands around at the time and it was really, really hard to make it so the fact that was some interest, we sold a few records and played a few decent sized gigs, it was a fantastic time for us.”