Biography

Originally a Go-Go's cover band named Raspberry Bang, SWIRLIES formed in Cambridge, MA in 1990 and featured Damon Tutunjian (guitar/vocals), Seana Carmody (guitar/vocals), Andy Bernick (bass), and Ben Drucker (drums). SWIRLIES played live for the first time on 25 January 1991 at The Alcove in Allston, MA. In these early years, SWIRLIES wandered the northeast and released 7" records on Slumberland, Pop Narcotic, Cinderblock, and other labels. In June 1992, SWIRLIES signed to then-Boston-based Taang! Records and released ’What to Do About Them’ EP (a collection of previous 7"s and new tracks) and ‘Blondertongue Audiobaton’ LP. Our dependence on sacred symbols (The Ostrich, The Number 11, The One Who Speaks Abstractly On Recordings) began at this time but did not protect us from The Curse. Other SWIRLIES releases include ‘They Spent Their Wild Youthful Days In The Glittering World Of The Salons’ LP (1995), ‘Strictly East Coast Sneaky Flute Music’ LP (1998), 'Cats of The Wild, Volume 2' (2003), 'Swirlies' Magic Strop: Tonight...' (2018) and the live SWIRLIES' MAGIC STROP series. In recent decades, the band has generally consisted of some combination of Damon, Andy, Adam Pierce (since 1995), Rob Laakso (since 1997), Deb Warfield (since 2003-4), and Elliott Malvas (since 2013). SWIRLIES have been small time touring (mainly in odd years) since 2009. We shall see you at The Spit on the 4th of July. --Swirlies