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Apr 18, 2012 By Austin Trunick Photography by Robert Kidd Swervedriver

Chances to see seminal shoegazers Swervedriver live have been relatively uncommon in the 14 years since their last album, even post-reunion at Coachella 2008. However, when one of indie rock’s most notorious recluses, Jeff Mangum, has resurfaced to play half a dozen NYC-area shows in the last two years, or the disbanded Pulp has lined up back-to-back shows at Radio City Music Hall, you have to start believing that maybe no band is truly broken up for good. Four years into their reformation, it’s starting to look as if Swervedriver may be back together for the long haul. Their March 31st show at the Bowery Ballroom was their third stop in New York in that much time.

Brooklyn trio Heaven opened the evening with a set of lush noisepop songs; they sounded like a band that would have been an equally choice selection to open for shoegaze powerhouse Swervedriver in 1992 as they are in 2012. Veterans of a number of notable bands, Matt Sumrow (of Dean and Britta and Ambulance LTD), Ryan Lee Dunlap (Fan-Tan), and Mikey Jones (of The Big Sleep, Snowden, and Adam Franklin’s solo band) joined together to form this heavy dreampop unit, currently touring in support of a 7-inch single. Heaven quietly took the stage to push out a short set of gloriously unquiet songs, not stopping to address the audience or even give us their band’s name until the very end of their set. Their sound is a combination of an aggressive, pedal-twisted guitar attack filled out with washes of New Wave synth chords, which form a thick foundation for their power pop structures and covertly smooth harmonies. Clearly a skilled team of veterans growing into their own songwriting force, they put on an impressive show for an outfit with so little material currently available. Heaven will be releasing a full-length debut album later this year.

Swervedriver took the stage shortly afterward, propelling through a lengthy, satisfying set heavy on crucial numbers from their classics Raise and Mezcal Head, as well as choice cuts from later-era albums Ejector Seat Reservation and 99th Dream. As well as one might know the songs in their head, it’s still surprising to see them performed live. The dense sweep of the dual guitars on tracks such as “Rave Down” seem to overwhelm the mix when they’re oozing out of stereo speakers, or swallow you in a blanket of distortion when listened to on headphones; it’s hard to believe sound of that magnitude is being reproduced by just two guitarists and long chains of pedals, even when you’re staring at it. Their stage manner was very no-nonsense; practically living the shoegaze stereotype by saying very little, they blasted through many of their most venerated tracks (“Son of Mustang Ford,” “Duel,” “Never Lose That Feeling”) while only missing a handful of favorites (most notably “Duress,” despite numerous requests shouted from the crowd).

Singer and guitarist Adam Franklin showed inordinate devotion to the cause about halfway through the set, when he sliced a finger on his right hand, spilling blood across his pickups and tossing droplets across the stage floor each time he raised the finger to his mouth to suck it clean. Whether through the Bowery Ballroom’s lack of Band-Aids or the guitarist’s particularly inspired display of badassery, Franklin returned for an encore with a clean Jazzmaster and a still-open wound, only to coat its pickguard with a fresh spray of hemoglobin.

Swervedriver setlist:

“Last Train to Satansville”

“Scrawl and Scream”

“Never Lose That Feeling”

“Pile Up”

“The Birds”

“These Times”

“Deep Seat”

“Deep Wound”

“Motor Away” (Guided By Voices cover)

“Son of Jaguar E”

“Wrong Treats”

“Sandblasted”

“Sunset”

“Son of Mustang Ford”

“Rave Down”

“Girl on a Motorbike”

“Cars Converge on Paris”

“Duel”