Upcoming Releases

Swami Records and punk veteran Swami John Reis are excited to announce the Friday, February 18 digital release of Ride The Wild Night, Reis’ long-awaited debut solo album. Ride The Wild Night is neither completely similar nor dissimilar to Reis’ previous bands (Hot Snakes, Night Marchers, The Sultans, Rocket From The Crypt, Drive Like Jehu), yet the sound is immediately familiar and assuring — like an old friend you lost touch with that comes back into your life only to ask to borrow money. The music is an amalgam of Sixties folk-punk, Seventies punk-punk and pre-Vietnam War rock ’n’ roll, filtered through Reis’ unregistered, trademark sensibilities.

“I wanted to celebrate some of my favorite rock ’n’ roll in its transitional periods,” Reis said. “Flaming Groovies, Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Kinks, The Saints and others created some of the most exciting recordings while also connecting the musical past to its future. That really appeals to me.”

Recorded by Reis at City Of Refuge (Night Marchers, Black Lips, The Spits) and mixed by Ben Moore (Hot Snakes, Diamanda Galas) at Singing Serpent, Ride The Wild Night is built on stentorian bedrock of savage drumming by J. Sinclair K. of Hot Snakes and the pounding acoustic piano of Joe Guevara. Also adding their expertise to the mix is Chris Prescott (Pinback) Gar Wood (Hot Snakes), Glen Galloway (Truman’s Water), Jacob Turnbloom (Mrs. Magician) and Jordan Clark (PLOSIVS). With this backing, Swami John Reis finalizes it with his throaty basso and weaponizes the files with roaring electric guitars, rapid acoustic guitar strum and bass.

“All of these stories are real — they just might not be completely true,” Reis adds. ”The words come from what I overhear through my fence, what I see across the street, pictures I see in my head, experiences that I can’t forget or am grateful to remember.” If there is a loose theme throughout the record he offers, “Musically and lyrically, there is a motivation to surrender to a restless and impulsive spirit that can only be satisfied by breaking things. Creating rubble for better or worse.“

Ride The Wild Night track list:

1. Ride The Wild Night
2. I Ain’t Your Pawn
3. Do You Still Wanna Make Out?
4. When I Kicked Him In The Face
5. Days Of Auld Lang Syne
6. I Hate My Neighbors
7. In The Yellow House
8. Vape In The Dark Alone
9. Rip From The Bone
10. We Broke The News
11. Keeper Of The Plains