The band played on the Vans Warped Tour in 2005 and had a short tour in Japan following the Japanese release of The Beginning of the End Again.
The Swellers self-released their first two EPs (Long And Hard in 2002, End of Discussion in 2003) and in 2005, The Beginning of the End Again was released on Search and Rescue Records (US) and Radtone Music (Japan). The band's debut full-length, entitled My Everest, was released June 5, 2007 on Search and Rescue Records.
Since then the band has been touring nonstop around the U.S. and Canada with bands like Less Than Jake, Streetlight Manifesto, A Wilhelm Scream, Polar Bear Club, Crime In Stereo, Set Your Goals, Four Year Strong, Broadway Calls, Living With Lions and Fireworks. They promoted Ups and Downsizing by opening for Paramore's Brand New Eyes tour. They later supported Motion City Soundtrack's My Dinosaur Life tour and played shows in Europe with Anti-Flag.
The Swellers completed a tour as an opening act for The Early November. During the tour they also played along with The Wonder Years and Young Statues.
Past members include Garrett Burgett, Lance Nelson, Nate lamberts, Nick Ondovcsik, and Brad Linden
They announced that they planned to split in 2015.
Since then Nick Diener has produced albums by Hot Mulligan and Much The Same. Jonathan Diener has played drums in No Trigger and leads the band Baggage.
Fire Away
The Swellers Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Search without rescue.
Of all the times you looked out to sea,
You never stepped in.
Why wait for me?
Abandon ship.
Fend for yourself.
Priorities change,
And hope fades away.
How did you get here?
At first you thought you had control,
Now you're just following.
So lost again.
Abandon ship.
Fend for yourself.
You've got that sinking feeling and nothing else.
With the resources left in your heart,
Of course you're afraid.
And all you did was break another tie.
And all of this can break another time.
Abandon ship.
Fend for yourself.
You've got that sinking feeling and nothing else.
The main theme of The Swellers’ “Fire Away” is one of giving up on someone, be it a relationship, a friend or even oneself. The opening lyrics “Load up the flares and fire away, search without rescue” suggests that the singer has given up on someone or something. They have tried everything to rescue them or bring them back, but ultimately it’s time to let go and move on. The next line “Of all the times you looked out to sea, you never stepped in. Why wait for me?” implies that the person the singer tried to rescue has never tried to help themselves, they have always relied on others to help them out. The singer feels frustrated that they waited for them, but they never reciprocated the effort, so they’re giving up.
In the chorus, the lyrics “Abandon ship. Fend for yourself. You’ve got that sinking feeling and nothing else” reiterate the point that the singer is done trying to help or save someone. They’re telling them to fend for themselves and that they’re not going to be there anymore to rescue them when they’re sinking. The last verse “With the resources left in your heart, of course, you’re afraid. And all you did was break another tie, and all of this can break another time” shows that the person being abandoned might have trust issues or fears of abandonment themselves. They’re afraid of being alone and the singer knows that leaving them will hurt, but it’s necessary for both parties.
Line by Line Meaning
Load up the flares and fire away.
Take action and try your best to get out of a tough situation.
Search without rescue.
Looking for a solution without receiving any help from others.
Of all the times you looked out to sea,
You never stepped in.
You've witnessed others do great things, but you never tried to do something yourself.
Why wait for me?
Why expect someone else to help you when you're capable of taking action yourself?
Abandon ship.
Fend for yourself.
You've got that sinking feeling and nothing else.
You're on your own and it's not looking good. You need to do what you can to survive.
Priorities change,
And hope fades away.
As time goes on, what was once important may no longer be a priority, leading to feelings of hopelessness.
How did you get here?
At first you thought you had control,
Now you're just following.
So lost again.
You feel lost and unsure of how you ended up in your current situation. You thought you had everything under control, but now you're just going through the motions and feeling lost again.
With the resources left in your heart,
Of course you're afraid.
You're scared because you're limited by your own emotions and resources.
And all you did was break another tie.
And all of this can break another time.
You've burned bridges and made situations worse instead of solving them, and there's a chance it could happen again.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: JONATHAN DIENER, JONATHAN ADAM DIENER, NICHOLAS BRIAN DIENER, NICK DIENER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Christopher Murphy
These dudes were super underrated
Ross Cairns
Loving The Swellers right now! Just the right amount of rock without being too poppie.
ThePartyGuest
Feel bad for people that don't know about this band
5:AM SKATEBOARDS
I just discovered them for their song about Brian Deneke. Great band! Thank you Brian for showing me them in his own way.
Dale Gribble
miss them
Adrian Nardi
Heard of them for the first time a while back.. fuck I missed out on one of the best bands, been hooked
SGT Cloudrunner
As do I, when I saw them Warped Tour last year, there were only maybe 10 other people watching them with me. It was cool because I got to be in the front row (also the only row, haha), but it made me sad.
Jayson Obos
These guys were super underrated. Also Jono and Nick are super friendly. Such a shame they never got big.
Logan Kirkey
Such a shame they never got their big break
who cares
Saw these live. We hung out with them afterward and they were all really sweet and funny :)