User talk:Kevman H

Swivel Spider
Swivel Spider are a rock group on the rise, originating from the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. The five members - Heath Van Der Waerden (vocals), Simon Shields (lead guitar), Dougal Sully (lead rhythm guitar), Callum Browning (bass) and Kevin Hawkins (drums and backing vocals) - originally met each other at secondary school. They have recorded two albums, both independently released – BN2 and Unplugged.

Their most renowned songs are Sleeper and Accidental Celebrity, both written significantly early on in the band’s history. Their more recent works include Underground Reality, Cliché, Escape, Untitled and the instrumental Golf Shorts.

Swivel Spider have also been noted for their ability to make common contemporary rock songs ‘their own’. Their unique takes on ‘School of Rock’ and ‘Come Out and Play’, amongst others, have been widely praised by not only their legions of followers, but by musical critics. While many bands prefer to re-make popular tunes into punk songs, Swivel Spider have made a name for themselves by re-making punk songs and converting them to new genres.

What is a Swivel Spider?
The name, Swivel Spider, derives from a common colloquial expression used by young adults and teenagers to describe soft drink ‘spiders’ from a particular fast-food chain. At this franchise, free drink refills are authorized, along with a product that consists of ice cream in a cup. Together, these two combine to construct a ‘Swivel Spider’.

Members Van Der Waerden, Shields, Sully and Hawkins regularly indulge in the ‘Swivel Spider’.

The history of the band
i) The early days

Dougal Sully and Kevin Hawkins, friends since primary school, were the original brains behind the idea to form a rock band. In their high school years, the two formed the rock/punk group Silent Riot. The band became quite controversial as its name was very similar to that of 1980s rockers Quiet Riot. Unfortunately for the four members of Silent Riot, no real success followed their hullabaloo, their song 'What’s Happening Now' labelling the band a ‘one-hit wonder’ at best.

Years later, Sully and Hawkins, both now recovered from the disappointing decline of Silent Riot, decided to have another crack at rock music. With help from friend Simon Shields, the three started ‘jammin’ at Hawkins’ residence, rediscovering their lost passion for rock n roll.

As months passed, the threesome decided to expand the band, inviting good friends Heath Van Der Waerden and Callum Browning to join in on the project. Both happily accepted as the group wrote their first song, Sleeper – a song inspired by a dream Shields had about running away from the demons of his past.

Practices soon became much more frequent as the music quality also significantly improved. It wasn’t long before the group’s second song Accidental Celebrity was written – a ‘feel good anthem’ about an ‘Average Joe’ who became famous through sheer luck. The lyrics are rumoured to have been based on the life of guitarist Sully. Other anecdotes reveal the song is about Van Der Waerden’s alter ego.

ii) The name

Joker was a popular choice of name early on and it was almost pencilled in until the news of another band already claiming Joker reached the band members. Delacruz, the surname of some of the band member’s former science teacher, also came close to becoming the name until the teacher threatened them with a lawsuit. The lawsuit was dropped and so was the name.

After much deliberation, the name Swivel Spider was chosen on the 13th of April, 2006. Originally intended as a joke, Shields suggested the name to the fellow members present while eating a ‘Swivel Spider’. The name stuck for a few performances, but was abandoned due to the confusion it created.

Finally, on the 4th of August, later that year, the band unanimously agreed to the new name Mr Grasshopper. Initially a longer version of the name - Mr Grasshopper and the butterflies – was chosen, but it was later rejected due to its length and because of public perception. ‘Mr Grasshopper’ refers to Hawkins’ nickname.

Other names to have been rejected include Maestro, Phoebus, Self Raising Flower, Silent Riot, Swivel, Alien Orders, Blue Cold Ice Water, The Insane Band From Lollypop Land, Kevin Hawkins Trio, Cosmonaut, Malinger, The No-names, Heavy Metal Triangle, Telemarketing Scam, False Alarm, Funkapotamus and Musical Fusion.

iii) The music industry

In June 2006, the band proceeded to perform their first live gig. At this event, Bands Night II (a.k.a. BN2), Swivel Spider opened to a massive audience where they split their set into originals and covers. Preluding to the band’s first song, a video appeared reading in bold letters ‘INTRODUCING SWIVEL SPIDER’, grabbing the audiences attention in grand style as Swivel Spider performed a scintillating show.

Following the success of BN2, the band members recorded and produced their first album, named BN2 in celebration of their sudden burst onto the scene. Originally, the album received bad publicity due to its random comedic tracks featuring members of the band talking, but as time went by, more people accepted the album and began to enjoy these extra tracks. Significantly, track one of the album features bassist Browning yelling out “That’s full distortion”.

Since the release of BN2, Swivel Spider have progressed through many changes. For a brief period, Callan Broadstock, another acquaintance, temporarily took over as lead singer as Van Der Waerden encountered sickness. Luckily, Van Der Waerden overcame the troubles and his fighting spirit inspired the band members.

Furthermore, the group changed their band name to Mr Grasshopper as confusion arose when the band were wrongly introduced as Swivel SpiderS at a major concert. The band’s manager is still investigating who sabotaged that performance, which also featured countless technical problems. Other incidents have occurred at later gigs, but the band decided to ignore them and move on.

With a new band name and a new outlook on the music industry, Mr Grasshopper recorded their second album, Unplugged. While it’s reviews weren’t as grand as its predecessor (some music critics labelled the album as ‘deleterious’), it still achieved more sales. While the sales tally has not yet been released by the band’s manager, it is rumoured to be close to the 2,400 – a remarkable figure considering that the band only participated in their first gig just months prior.

While CD sales have proved to be a success for Swivel Spider/Mr Grasshopper, internet downloads have contributed significantly to the growth of the band and their public image. Through their PureVolume and MySpace web-pages, thousands of people have become aware of the band and have downloaded their songs. Sleeper is currently the band’s most downloaded song, narrowly ahead of Cliche.

Currently, Mr Grasshopper are juggling between their regular gigs and the recording of their forthcoming untitled album, hopefully to be released mid-2007.

hey kev, you're lame. <3 dave —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.190.212.252 (talk) 02:26, 27 September 2007 (UTC)