What has Andrew Swift been up to lately? OR From Punk to Country to Parenthood

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Andrew Swift defies the typical Nashville-to-stardom narrative with his refreshingly authentic journey into country music. The three-time Golden Guitar winner candidly admits he once avoided the "C-word" entirely, having been drafted into a high school pop-punk band simply because he had "a big shed" for rehearsals. This reluctant country convert, who initially played Blink-182 covers despite never having heard them before, found his true voice only after being "dragged" to Tamworth and discovering a musical community that resonated with his natural songwriting style.

Swift's new single "See You at the Bottom" showcases his evolution as an artist—fusing alt-country grit with pop-rock swagger while addressing the deeply personal topic of depression. "Depression isn't something you get over. It still lingers," he shares, explaining how the upbeat track aims to capture the supportive energy needed when helping others through dark times. This balance of serious themes with hopeful delivery perfectly captures Andrew's approach to songwriting that began as personal therapy and evolved into his life's passion.

The upcoming album "Lucky Stars" marks a new chapter for Andrew, with its title drawn from a heartfelt duet with his partner about their two-month-old daughter Valentine. As he prepares for an extensive Australian tour while balancing first-time fatherhood with a newborn and his role as stepdad to two boys, he embodies the modern working musician finding harmony between creative ambition and family life. 

Fans who pre-order the album through andrewswift.com.au enter a draw to win the ultimate prize—a private house concert where this tattooed troubadour will bring drinks, his guitar, and perform an intimate show regardless of your location. 

Don't miss this opportunity to experience the raw storytelling and musical craftsmanship that transformed a reluctant musician into one of Australia's most compelling country voices.

What has Andrew Swift been up to lately?  Let's find out!

Get out when you can, support local music and I'll see you down the front!!

Visit: ThatRadioChick.com.au

Episode Transcript

Cheryl Lee (00:04):
that radio chick, cheryl lee, here.
Welcome to the still rocki'g itpodcast, where we'll have music
news, reviews and interviewswith some of our favorite
australian musicians and artists.
Everybody's favorite tattooedtroubadour country singer,
Andrew Swift, is about torelease his fourth studio album,

(00:25):
Lucky Stars.
He returns with a bold newsingle, See you at the Bottom,
and it is punchy, ahard-on-the-sleeve anthem that
fuses alt-country grit with poprock swagger.
It's the next single to belifted from the upcoming album,
after the chart-crushing singleGet Lost.
Stay tuned to the end.
There's a fantastic prize towin as well.

(00:47):
To catch up on podcasts fromother favourite artists, simply
go to thatradiochick.
com.
au.
You're with Cheryl Lee thatRadio Chick, and I'd like to
welcome into the Zoom room withus today, three-time Golden
Guitar winner, mr Andrew Swift.
Thanks for joining us today,Andrew.

Andrew Swift (01:07):
My pleasure.
Thank you for having me.

Cheryl Lee (01:09):
We've got lots of exciting stuff to talk about a
new single, an album and acorresponding tour.
Have we got time to take alittle step back before we go
forward?

Andrew Swift (01:19):
Absolutely always.

Cheryl Lee (01:21):
What I found really interesting was when I read a
former pop punk guitarist turncountry now.

Andrew Swift (01:30):
Yeah, well, yeah, it's funny because I never
listened to pop punk before Iwas in the band.
I I was in high school andfriends said to me swifty, we're
starting a band, you've got abig shed at your place, so
rehearsals at your place thisweekend.
I said, okay, they came aroundand they were.
They said all right, so what wewant you to play on guitar is
this we'll play this part.
And all of a sudden we'replaying Blink 182 songs and I

(01:53):
had never heard them before.
But it was a lot of fun to.
I'd never played music withother people before, so it was
fun to really do that.
You know, I ended up falling inlove with it.
We had a of fun with it.
I learned a lot from being inthat band and a lot of what not
to do as well.
But when I started writing myown stuff, people would say you
know, it's got a bit of acountry vibe to it and coming
from a pop punk background outof Melbourne, I thought that was

(02:14):
a negative thing.
I'd say don't use that C wordwith me.
But eventually I got dragged upto Tamworth, fell in love with
it all and realised that thereis a place for me, and I just
realised how ignorant I was tocountry music and how much more
there was that I was unaware of.
So it was like a crash coursefor me, and my one regret is
that I didn't find country musicsooner.

Cheryl Lee (02:34):
Lucky you did eventually.
Right back to the verybeginning.
Are you from a musical family,Andrew?
The parents, musical brothers,sisters.

Andrew Swift (02:44):
My sister learned saxophone for half a term.
I think my mum will tell youthat she was a great pianist who
could only play by ear.
I've never seen anything toback this up, but she's sworn it
black and blue her whole life.
But my uncle was in theAustralian Boys Choir, I think
somewhere.
My grandpa's brother was anextremely highly rated drummer

(03:06):
who sessioned for I think it was, I think, Louis Armstrong back
in the day, and so there is abit of music in the family, but
it's not strong in the familythese days, I'd say.

Cheryl Lee (03:16):
I love it Like you're in the band because
you've got a big shed.
It's like the old old dayswhere it's like you've got a van
, you're in our band, we need avan.
Yeah, had you been playing theguitar prior to owning a big
shed yeah.

Andrew Swift (03:32):
So, uh, I, I was playing guitar.
I picked up a guitar in highschool.
I'd been playing drums firstfor about four years.
That was probably the otherreason they said reels was in my
place because I had a drum kitthere.
But I picked up a guitar andstarted writing songs just as a
way to express myself.
I didn't know it at the time,but I was going through
depression and it was a greatoutlet for me, a great way to

(03:53):
express myself.
But you know, I got up andperformed at school assemblies
and you know I was known forcarrying a guitar around school
and you know it was alwayssomething I was doing.
So it was always something Iwas doing.
So it was, yeah.
Just the boys at school knewthat that was the case and they
said, right, start in a band,swifty.

Cheryl Lee (04:09):
Music is like that, isn't it?
It can be very, verytherapeutic.

Andrew Swift (04:12):
Yeah, absolutely.

Cheryl Lee (04:13):
When you first picked up a guitar, was it part
of the plan to make music yourcareer, or did you have a plan B
?
What was the first job?

Andrew Swift (04:24):
Well, I mean, I was still in school when I
picked up the guitar, but Ithink I was also quite lost.
I didn't really have muchdirection then either.
So I was doing all the subjectsat school that would lead me,
you know, down to some sort ofbusiness.
You know mum wanted me to dolegal studies or something, but
you know I had a knack fornumbers and languages and stuff

(04:46):
like that.
So I was doing my subjects inhigh school with maths methods
and Japanese and literature andall that sort of stuff.
But I didn't know what I wantedto do when I finished school.
At that point all I wanted todo was play music, but I applied
for university.
I didn't get what I was after,but I ended up getting accepted
into a youth studies course, acuin Melbourne.
I took a year off school.

(05:06):
Once I finished high school Iknew I wanted to be a musician,
so I got a job at Hungry Jacks.
I went to university the yearafter and I didn't even last the
semester.
I knew it wasn't for me.
I wasn't happy there.
All I wanted to do was focus onour band at the time and and
work as hard as we could on that.
You know there's been plenty oftimes throughout the years
where I've had many odd jobs tosupport music.
But I've always been trying tomake it work and it's only been

(05:27):
the last seven years that it'sbeen full time for me doing my
own music.
But there were multiple timeswhere I was like music industry,
this is rough, like I need tofind something else.
What can I do as a differentcareer?
And there was nothing that cameto mind, so nothing's compared.

Cheryl Lee (05:42):
Sounds like it's your life's passion and that's
that.

Andrew Swift (05:46):
Yeah, very much so .
I considered joining the policeforce.
I considered applying to be akindergarten teacher or early
childhood learning and stuff.
I'm good with kids, but Iwasn't passionate or excited
about any of them so I knew thatI wouldn't be happy, no matter
what.

Cheryl Lee (06:02):
Congratulations for sticking with it and, you know,
following your musical dreamsand desires, and congratulations
on all the successes that thathas brought you.
Well done.

Andrew Swift (06:14):
Thank you.
Thank you, you are listening toStill Rockin' it the podcast
with Cheryl Lee.

Cheryl Lee (06:22):
Andrew played guitar in a pop punk band who played a
lot of Blink-182 songs, solet's have one from the very
early influence.
Here they are All the SmallThings, and then we're back to
talk some more things.
Country to Andrew Swift.

(06:46):
We'll talk about some of thenew things, but another thing
that caught my eye is inSeptember you are off to Canada.
Yeah, yeah.

Andrew Swift (06:56):
I just recently signed on with a Canadian
management company called StrutEntertainment.
They were very keen for me tocome over for this CCMA week,
which is Canada's equivalent toCMA Fest or even our Tamworth,
where it's basically run by CMAAfor the week.
So apparently it's a great weekwhere the whole industry comes
together.
So it's a great networkingopportunity for me and also a

(07:18):
good chance for me to do acouple of little showcases and
show them what us Aussies can doover in Canada.

Cheryl Lee (07:24):
Well done, congratulations.
Taking Australian talent to theworld.

Andrew Swift (07:29):
Thank you, thank you.

Cheryl Lee (07:31):
We'd better touch on what we're here for.
You're dropping a new singleSee you at the Bottom, and
there's quite a meaning to thissong, isn't there A bit of a
background story?

Andrew Swift (07:41):
Yeah, and we've kind of touched on it a little
bit is that you know I startedwriting songs because it was a
way to express myself while Iwas down.
Things are going great at themoment.
You know, life's never beenbetter.
You know, my beautiful partnerand I bought a place last year
and I get to do music full-timeas my job and you know we just
welcome the little girl into theworld as well.
So my first kid that's whythere's a little mini mouse over

(08:04):
here behind me that's not mine,it's our daughters you know,
things are great but and I amwriting a lot more happier songs
but things haven't always beengreat.
So this was a co-write that Iwas doing with blake dantier and
a friend of his who's, based inthe uk.
I think it was blake actuallypitched the idea of see you at
the bottom, but it resonatedwith me.

(08:25):
Why it was so easy to writewith him about it is because
I've been down plenty of times.
You know it's.
I was writing to cope withdepression, and depression isn't
something that you get betterlike.
You don't get over it.
It still lingers and I can feelwhen it's coming on and and
I've got ways to to get aroundit and to make myself feel
better.
So it's always easier to.

(08:46):
I mean this song's aboutrecognizing when someone's down.
You know, meet, I'll meet youat the bottom, we'll be there
for each other, we'll have adrink, we'll talk it out and,
you know, let's get through ittogether yeah, and lift each
other up, yeah, yeah.

Cheryl Lee (08:59):
So it might be a little bit, a little bit darker
there, but it's hopeful that'sright, and that was the tricky
thing to capture because it was.

Andrew Swift (09:07):
you know, it's easy to write a song about being
down with a real slower tempo,darker sounding song, but we
wanted to keep it upbeat and fun.
We wanted to have a good energyabout it, because that's kind
of the attitude we want to havewhen we're in those positions
and I think we've managed tomaintain that.

Cheryl Lee (09:24):
And it's a really important subject as well.
The more we talk about it, themore everybody realises yeah, we
all go through it at times, andyou know we need to build each
other up, don't we?

Andrew Swift (09:34):
Absolutely, that's it, you know.
You know, we're all human, wego through ups and downs and if
you can be there, you canrecognise when someone's in one
of those down points and in oneof those ruts and you can reach
out and lend them an ear or helpthem through it, then that's,
you know, an amazing thing.

Cheryl Lee (09:49):
I'm really proud of you for writing a song, a story
in a song like that.
Thank you With such animportant meaning.
Other than that, you've alsogot an album coming out and a
tour.

Andrew Swift (10:01):
Yeah, yeah.
So it's been an interestingyear because I've been stuck
well, not stuck.
I've been home for a few monthsto help out with the arrival of
our little girl and I'm itchingto get back on the road.
I love being on the road.
So we've got a big tour plannedwhen the album comes out.
The album comes out October17th and the tour starts the
week before.
Queensland will get a bit of asneak peek before everybody else

(10:23):
, I think.
But yeah, Lucky Stars is thealbum title and that comes from
a song on the record which isactually about our daughter.
Her name is Valentine and thesong is called oh Valentine.
It's a duet with Valentine'smum, my partner.
We wrote the song together witha friend of ours and we've made
a duet with the two of ussinging, you know, like a little

(10:44):
letter to our girl saying whatwe hope, things that we hope for
her, and there's a line inthere saying we count our lucky
stars.
You came into our lives.
So that's where the titles comefrom and it sums up the album
really well, because the trackson the album, if you listen to
them in a certain order, wouldprobably tell a journey of who I
thought I used to be, comparedto where I am now, and that
little journey.

(11:04):
I'm grateful for how thingshave panned out and I count my
lucky stars.

Cheryl Lee (11:08):
I love that.
How old is Valentine?

Andrew Swift (11:10):
She's two and a half months old.
She's literally.
She's great.
She's, you know, giving us lotsof smiles, lots of finding her
voice.
I can hear her in thebackground at the moment.
She does all these littlelaughs.
She's singing already.
Yeah, that's right, that'sright.
Well, both mum and dad aresingers, so you know, hopefully
she picks that up as well.

Cheryl Lee (11:28):
It's probably just a little bit too soon to see if
she's got any.
You know major musical talentyet, but I'm sure With a
talented mum and dad she will beyeah thank you, hopefully, look
no pressure as long as she's inlife, that's what matters.
Exactly right.
Any siblings in the family.

Andrew Swift (11:46):
No, no, we're quite happy with the one.
Simone has two boys as well, soI've had the stepdad shoes on
for a few years.
The boys are great.
They're a little bit older,they're 9 and 11, and they're
stoked to have a little sister.

Cheryl Lee (12:05):
Oh, great age difference because they can help
out a little bit.
But we, we're good, we have afull house, full hearts, we're
quite happy.
Oh beautiful being a littlesister.
She's going to be so pampered,so loved, right absolutely
spoiled it's very spoiled.

Andrew Swift (12:14):
50% of the time she's an only child.
You know the boys are theirdads every other week.
You know we need them to comeback every other week to make
sure they keep her in check, Ithink and are you getting much
sleep?
yeah, I actually.
I just had a nap before ourchat, did you?
I did, Simone's back at uni.
She's got one semester left ofuni.
I have Valentine on my own fora few days a week, which is a

(12:35):
big learning curve for me.
I've never done it before.
So we've been running aroundtoday dropping off posters of
venues and bits and pieces, andshe's been keeping me on my toes
, so I took the opportunity tojust rest the eyes for a sec.

Cheryl Lee (12:48):
Smart.
Sleep when they sleep.

Andrew Swift (12:50):
Yeah, yeah, that's it.
So I did.
I did just that.

Cheryl Lee (12:54):
Still rockin' It the podcast with that radio chick,
cheryl Lee, going to play.
See you at the Bottom at theend of the chat.
First, let's play one from theLightning Strikes and Neon
Nights album from 2023, Smoke EmIf you Got Em.
Then we're back to say farewellto Andrew Swift.

(13:23):
Where can we find these tourdates?
You start on the 23rd and yougo all the way through to next
year.
You are hitting our wonderfultown in February, but where will
we go to find these dates onthe Google-o-meter?

Andrew Swift (13:38):
So if you head to andrewswift.
com.
au all the tour dates are thereyou can pre-order the album
through my store there as well,and if you do that, if you buy
directly through me you go inthe draw to win a house concert.
I'll come to your place, I'llbring some drinks and my guitar
and I'll do a private show foryou and your friends.

Cheryl Lee (13:55):
Oh my God, even in South Australia.

Andrew Swift (13:59):
Even in South Australia.
It doesn't matter where you are.
I will you know if you win, I'mcoming to your place.

Cheryl Lee (14:03):
That's fantastic.
What's the?

Andrew Swift (14:06):
website again, it's wwwandrewswift.
com.
au.

Cheryl Lee (14:11):
Get onto the Googleometer now and enter that,
but if you win, you have toinvite me.
That's the deal.
That's it.
All the best with the new bubba, human and album.
All the best with the tour.
Congratulations again on such agreat song.
I really love the feelingsbehind it and I wish you all the

(14:32):
best with it.
We'll see you down the front inthe new year when you hit our
beautiful state yeah, I lovesouth aust.

Andrew Swift (14:40):
It's funny I said to my booking agent I don't care
if the shows are next year.
We need to include SouthAustralia in this announcement.
The last time I announced therun of shows without South
Australia, they tore me apart onsocial media.
But I'd only been there acouple of months before.
I'm like I can't.
We needed to give it a littlebit of a gap.

Cheryl Lee (14:56):
We made sure that SA was included on on this lot of
announcements we can be a littlebit precious like that because
we do miss out sometimes, butit's fantastic.
We've got four dates to choosefrom in February.
Some regional areas as well MtGambier, the Wheatsheaf here in
town and the Quorn Town Hall.

(15:17):
And the fabulous favourite ofours, Murray Delta Juke, joint
down in Goolwa.
So I shall see you down thefront there, Adelaideans at
least one of those and we lookforward to hearing the new songs
live.

Andrew Swift (15:31):
I look forward to playing them live and I look
forward to getting back to SouthAustralia, so I can't wait to
see you then.

Cheryl Lee (15:36):
Thank you so much for spending some time with us
today, Andrew.

Andrew Swift (15:39):
My pleasure.
Thanks for having me.

Cheryl Lee (15:40):
I'll let you get back to Valentine.
What a beautiful name.

Andrew Swift (15:44):
Thank you.

Cheryl Lee (15:44):
Bye for now.

Andrew Swift (15:45):
See you, See you.
You are listening to StillRockin' it the podcast with
Cheryl Lee.

Cheryl Lee (15:53):
As promised, we're going to go out with See you at
the Bottom from thesoon-to-be-released album Lucky
Stars.
Remember, if you win the freegig in your backyard with Andrew
, remember who told you about itand remember to send me an
invite.

(16:14):
You're with Cheryl Lee, thatradio chick.
Thank you so much for joiningme on the Still Rockin' it
podcast.
Hope to catch you again nexttime.
Get out when you can supportAussie music and I'll see you
down the front.