FAQ :  "Another Spectrum of Colour" perhaPs.  The Story on PerSwayed.    

by :  Free Admiral Rich.



Why the above graphic titled :  "another spectrum of colour"?  It's a lyric found in the PerSwayed song "What's Happening" as written and recorded in  2002.  "what's happening is another spectrum of colour.... never seen before, another spectrum of colour".

What's with the name PerSwayed?   PerSwayed, as a word, or, I guess, an invented word or title is, we feel, both a noun and a verb.  When we came up with the name in 2001, we broke it down to mean : Per : regarding us.  Swayed : we are moved.  Of late it seems that the name is taking on bigger and more important matters besides just us, a band who has been inviting an audience for their work.  Trying to persuade someone to listen in.  How ? hopefully with good music, etc. 

Would you say you are a confident band?   We understand it is up to the audience to like us; meanwhile, we are trying to do what we can do rather freely and with confidence, we believe in our songs and we think there's a reason why we have them and can play them.  As a band our main objective is to make music really and potentially have a bit of control regarding the outcome of that music should there be any.  We're confident yes, but not expecting anythin; meanwhile we are explorers into music and, you know, make way for some unknown continent, another spectrum of colour. 

What was the first song written by PerSwayed?  “Be Moved” was the first song we ever wrote as a band and I remember crafting it into a song and how that all happened.  It was the first time the four of us got together to “jam” in early 2001 and as soon as I began to sing I could tell they were surprised with what was happening.  They played a riff, I picked out an old poem from the binder and opened my mouth and started to sing.  To me, the singing seemed to work immediately and it was a real counter melody from what they were playing.  Over the next couple of months they adjusted the song and I ended up singing it lower.  It was clear from the beginning that this could really work.  We could be a band, we could make songs.  I suppose I was pretty confident at that time that it would work; afterall, I did fancy myself a singer.

How did PerSwayed come together?  It all kind of circled around an old black drum kit and something just meant to be it seems.   Joel and Andy had been playing drums and guitar together for probably a couple of years mostly just fooling on that old kit in our parents basement.  That old drum kit had been given to me as a gift, black and shiny in the back of a station wagon on a rainy Oct 24.  Not sure why I wanted that kit.  I guess I just thought I’d be able to drum.  There was a rhythm in me.   One thing became clear over the years, there was a rhythm in my brothers as well.  So yeah, it was a pretty old kit and I passed it on over to Colin as a birthday gift one Sept. 28th.  I was always a pretty busy sort of guy, but Colin and I got together every once in awhile to play together. I’d pick up an old guitar, plug in and we’d jam it out.  One thing was really clear, Colin was a truly skilled drummer.  So one night Colin arranged that the four of us would come together and start trying to be a band.  He'd drum, I was going to sing, Joel on guitar, and Andre had just bought a new bass guitar and amp.  We started coming up with stuff right away and thought that we should be a band and started debating what to call ourselves.  That was back in 2001 and we came up with the name PerSwayed.

Is this a real brother band?  Yeah, three admiraal brother together with joel devries.  There's no PerSwayed without Joel. 

What does it mean to you to have a band?  Every band growing up in some lost suburbia feels it; namely, a sense of detachment and also a need to make music and a want to get that music heard especially if you think the music might be kind of good.  You form a band because you can, because you want to, it makes sense to you and it just keeps on making sense even is you sometimes feel like you are just toiling away in oblivion.  But music is much more than just finding an audience for it.  I’ve got a lot of songs about how everything feels hopeless and there’s really no reason to carry on.  The question really is, how do you carry on?  How do you carry on?  The answer :  You get yourself a band.  That’s what you do.  Brothers gather round. 

So the four of you came together, what was that like?  So there was Andy and Joel, long time friends, hanging out, playing a bit and there was Colin working off tons of energy on his drums and I was out there writing away in my Harrison pad.  Andy bought a new Bass guitar.  Joel bought his Epitone guitar.  Colin tuned up that old kit and they invited me out to sing with them.  “Be Moved” was the first song we ever wrote and it seemed like we wrote it that first night we jammed together in the Admiraal family basement. 


What's the song "Be Moved all about ?  This was our first “Intro” song and is a song about us, the progressive original rock band PerSwayed.  Since 2001, when we first started playing live shows together, “Be Moved” was our usual opener.  Since early 2005 we’ve been using “Top of the World” in the opening spot in its place.  We like the idea of introducing ourselves, of saying, here we are, you can’t hear this anywhere else, this is us, live, real, in the here and now. 

Be Moved states that "this is me and my brother's trip", and you know, our band really is a brother’s trip.  I’m the oldest of the three Admiraal brothers; namely, Rich, Andre and Colin and Joel, well, he’s like a brother to us.  Joel Devries has been Andre’s best friend since grade school. 

Be Moved opens with a real confidence in its tone, but features lyrics that are a bit like a prayer humbly asking for a blessing on this our journey forward into music.  You know, when you take the stage, you want to have a sense of confidence and we find that what can give confidence is to have a real reason for why you are doing what your doing.  This song provides some of these reasons.  We’ve thought it out and we should be confident because we stand for something.     and we enter the stage with this confidence and with some general reasons for why we are doing it. But there's a reserved element in this song, almost shy, and hopefully with humility the words fall out. A real acknowledgement that you are indeed getting yourself across in some manner. A manner that is, perhaps, not your intention until you wrote an answer to a question like this and thought the song through again, but now, at this time with the real performance in mind. We really have grown as a band because of our live performances and how best to connect with audience. This song is about that. Saying, hey, this is us, this is PerSwayed.