You might remember The Swellers from "The Life and Death Of A Mid-Level Band."
That's how founder Jonathan Diener summed up his career in an autobiographical piece for Noisey this July.
"You know when someone mentions a band name and it sounds vaguely familiar, so you politely say you think you've heard of them?" Diener wrote. "I'm in one of those bands. We were never a household name or a band who sold out a tour, but maybe we were one of those bands you accidentally saw open for a band you really love."
The band hit it big when they went on tour with Paramore in 2009, but they ran into some serious bad luck with mishandled Soundscan results and struggled to stay afloat.
"Every tour we wanted, we were getting," Diener wrote. "We even got a publishing deal and got a song in one of the Tony Hawk Pro Skater games. In typical Swellers fashion, the game ended up being the dud of the franchise. To people back home, we finally made it. To us, we were just now able to afford our already cheap rent. Since I was technically living in the poverty level, I was getting groceries with food stamps. Imagine that, a band being on a big indie record label and still living off of food stamps."
Eventually, money problems became too much to deal with.
"We really didn't want to stop the band, but we knew things were plateauing," Diener wrote. "By getting out now, we could at least preserve some kind of legacy. On our last tour, I brought up the idea of booking some final shows and calling it a night. The guys were reluctant at first, but all agreed it was for the best."
Monday, the band released the first leg of their farewell tour. Here are the dates:
11/13: Buffalo, NY @ Studio at Waiting Room
11/14: Boston, MA @ Cuisine En Locale
11/15: New York, NY @ The Studio at Webster Hall
11/16: Philadelphia, PA @ The Barbary
11/21: Chicago, IL @ Subterranean
11/22: Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
12/06: Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
