Still Rockin' It - Cheryl Lee
Join Cheryl Lee That Radio Chick on Still Rockin' It for news, reviews and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians.
What are they up to at the moment? Let's find out .......
Still Rockin' It - Cheryl Lee
What has Andrew Swift been up to lately? OR From Punk to Country to Parenthood
Join Cheryl Lee - That Radio Chick on STILL ROCKIN' IT for news, reviews, music and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians
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
that radio chick, cheryl lee, here. Welcome to the still rocki'g it podcast, where we'll have music news, reviews and interviews with some of our favorite australian musicians and artists. Everybody's favorite tattooed troubadour country singer, Andrew Swift, is about to release his fourth studio album, Lucky Stars. He returns with a bold new single, See you at the Bottom, and it is punchy, a hard-on-the-sleeve anthem that fuses alt-country grit with pop rock swagger. It's the next single to be lifted from the upcoming album, after the chart-crushing single Get Lost. Stay tuned to the end. There's a fantastic prize to win as well. To catch up on podcasts from other favourite artists, simply go to thatradiochick. com. au. You're with Cheryl Lee that Radio Chick, and I'd like to welcome into the Zoom room with us today, three-time Golden Guitar winner, mr Andrew Swift. Thanks for joining us today, Andrew.
Andrew Swift:My pleasure. Thank you for having me.
Cheryl Lee:We've got lots of exciting stuff to talk about a new single, an album and a corresponding tour. Have we got time to take a little step back before we go forward?
Andrew Swift:Absolutely always.
Cheryl Lee:What I found really interesting was when I read a former pop punk guitarist turn country now.
Andrew Swift:Yeah, well, yeah, it's funny because I never listened to pop punk before I was in the band. I I was in high school and friends said to me swifty, we're starting a band, you've got a big shed at your place, so rehearsals at your place this weekend. I said, okay, they came around and they were. They said all right, so what we want you to play on guitar is this we'll play this part. And all of a sudden we're playing Blink 182 songs and I had never heard them before. But it was a lot of fun to. I'd never played music with other people before, so it was fun to really do that. You know, I ended up falling in love with it. We had a of fun with it.
Andrew Swift:I learned a lot from being in that band and a lot of what not to do as well. But when I started writing my own stuff, people would say you know, it's got a bit of a country vibe to it and coming from a pop punk background out of Melbourne, I thought that was a negative thing. I'd say don't use that C word with me. But eventually I got dragged up to Tamworth, fell in love with it all and realised that there is a place for me, and I just realised how ignorant I was to country music and how much more there was that I was unaware of. So it was like a crash course for me, and my one regret is that I didn't find country music sooner.
Cheryl Lee:Lucky you did eventually. Right back to the very beginning. Are you from a musical family, Andrew? The parents, musical brothers, sisters.
Andrew Swift:My sister learned saxophone for half a term. I think my mum will tell you that she was a great pianist who could only play by ear. I've never seen anything to back this up, but she's sworn it black and blue her whole life. But my uncle was in the Australian Boys Choir, I think somewhere. My grandpa's brother was an extremely highly rated drummer who sessioned for I think it was, I think, Louis Armstrong back in the day, and so there is a bit of music in the family, but it's not strong in the family these days, I'd say.
Cheryl Lee:I love it Like you're in the band because you've got a big shed. It's like the old old days where it's like you've got a van, you're in our band, we need a van. Yeah, had you been playing the guitar prior to owning a big shed yeah.
Andrew Swift:So, uh, I, I was playing guitar. I picked up a guitar in high school. I'd been playing drums first for about four years. That was probably the other reason they said reels was in my place because I had a drum kit there. But I picked up a guitar and started 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 great outlet for me, a great way to express myself. But you know, I got up and performed at school assemblies and you know I was known for carrying a guitar around school and you know it was always something I was doing. So it was always something I was doing. So it was, yeah. Just the boys at school knew that that was the case and they said, right, start in a band, swifty.
Cheryl Lee:Music is like that, isn't it? It can be very, very therapeutic.
Andrew Swift:Yeah, absolutely.
Cheryl Lee:When you first picked up a guitar, was it part of the plan to make music your career, or did you have a plan B? What was the first job?
Andrew Swift:Well, I mean, I was still in school when I picked up the guitar, but I think I was also quite lost. I didn't really have much direction then either. So I was doing all the subjects at school that would lead me, you know, down to some sort of business. You know mum wanted me to do legal studies or something, but you know I had a knack for numbers and languages and stuff like that. So I was doing my subjects in high school with maths methods and Japanese and literature and all that sort of stuff. But I didn't know what I wanted to do when I finished school. At that point all I wanted to do 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, acu in Melbourne. I took a year off school.
Andrew Swift:Once I finished high school I knew I wanted to be a musician, so I got a job at Hungry Jacks. I went to university the year after 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 on our band at the time and and work as hard as we could on that. You know there's been plenty of times throughout the years where I've had many odd jobs to support music. But I've always been trying to make it work and it's only been the last seven years that it's been full time for me doing my own music. But there were multiple times where I was like music industry, this is rough, like I need to find something else. What can I do as a different career? And there was nothing that came to mind, so nothing's compared.
Cheryl Lee:Sounds like it's your life's passion and that's that.
Andrew Swift:Yeah, very much so. I considered joining the police force. I considered applying to be a kindergarten teacher or early childhood learning and stuff. I'm good with kids, but I wasn't passionate or excited about any of them so I knew that I wouldn't be happy, no matter what.
Cheryl Lee:Congratulations for sticking with it and, you know, following your musical dreams and desires, and congratulations on all the successes that that has brought you. Well done.
Andrew Swift:Thank you. Thank you, you are listening to Still Rockin' it the podcast with Cheryl Lee.
Cheryl Lee:Andrew played guitar in a pop punk band who played a lot of Blink-182 songs, so let's have one from the very early influence. Here they are All the Small Things, and then we're back to talk some more things. Country to Andrew Swift. We'll talk about some of the new things, but another thing that caught my eye is in September you are off to Canada. Yeah, yeah.
Andrew Swift:I just recently signed on with a Canadian management company called Strut Entertainment. They were very keen for me to come over for this CCMA week, which is Canada's equivalent to CMA Fest or even our Tamworth, where it's basically run by CMAA for the week. So apparently it's a great week where the whole industry comes together. So it's a great networking opportunity for me and also a good chance for me to do a couple of little showcases and show them what us Aussies can do over in Canada.
Cheryl Lee:Well done, congratulations. Taking Australian talent to the world.
Andrew Swift:Thank you, thank you.
Cheryl Lee:We'd better touch on what we're here for. You're dropping a new single See you at the Bottom, and there's quite a meaning to this song, isn't there A bit of a background story?
Andrew Swift:Yeah, and we've kind of touched on it a little bit is that you know I started writing songs because it was a way to express myself while I was down. Things are going great at the moment. You know, life's never been better. You know, my beautiful partner and I bought a place last year and I get to do music full-time as my job and you know we just welcome the little girl into the world as well. So my first kid that's why there's a little mini mouse over here behind me that's not mine, it's our daughters you know, things are great but and I am writing a lot more happier songs but things haven't always been great.
Andrew Swift:So this was a co-write that I was doing with blake dantier and a friend of his who's, based in the uk. I think it was blake actually pitched the idea of see you at the bottom, but it resonated with me. Why it was so easy to write with him about it is because I've been down plenty of times. You know it's. I was writing to cope with depression, and depression isn't something that you get better like. You don't get over it. It still lingers and I can feel when it's coming on and and I've got ways to to get around it and to make myself feel better. So it's always easier to. I mean this song's about recognizing when someone's down. You know, meet, I'll meet you at the bottom, we'll be there for each other, we'll have a drink, we'll talk it out and, you know, let's get through it together yeah, and lift each other up, yeah, yeah.
Cheryl Lee:So it might be a little bit, a little bit darker there, but it's hopeful that's right, and that was the tricky thing to capture because it was.
Andrew Swift: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 energy about it, because that's kind of the attitude we want to have when we're in those positions and I think we've managed to maintain that.
Cheryl Lee:And it's a really important subject as well. The more we talk about it, the more everybody realises yeah, we all go through it at times, and you know we need to build each other up, don't we?
Andrew Swift:Absolutely, that's it, you know. You know, we're all human, we go through ups and downs and if you can be there, you can recognise when someone's in one of those down points and in one of those ruts and you can reach out and lend them an ear or help them through it, then that's, you know, an amazing thing.
Cheryl Lee:I'm really proud of you for writing a song, a story in a song like that. Thank you With such an important meaning. Other than that, you've also got an album coming out and a tour.
Andrew Swift:Yeah, yeah. So it's been an interesting year because I've been stuck well, not stuck. I've been home for a few months to help out with the arrival of our little girl and I'm itching to get back on the road. I love being on the road. So we've got a big tour planned when the album comes out. The album comes out October 17th and the tour starts the week before. Queensland will get a bit of a sneak peek before everybody else, I think.
Andrew Swift:But yeah, Lucky Stars is the album title and that comes from a song on the record which is actually about our daughter. Her name is Valentine and the song is called oh Valentine. It's a duet with Valentine's mum, my partner. We wrote the song together with a friend of ours and we've made a duet with the two of us singing, you know, like a little letter to our girl saying what we hope, things that we hope for her, and there's a line in there saying we count our lucky stars. You came into our lives. So that's where the titles come from and it sums up the album really well, because the tracks on the album, if you listen to them in a certain order, would probably tell a journey of who I thought I used to be, compared to where I am now, and that little journey. I'm grateful for how things have panned out and I count my lucky stars.
Cheryl Lee:I love that. How old is Valentine?
Andrew Swift:She's two and a half months old. She's literally. She's great. She's, you know, giving us lots of smiles, lots of finding her voice. I can hear her in the background at the moment. She does all these little laughs. She's singing already. Yeah, that's right, that's right. Well, both mum and dad are singers, so you know, hopefully she picks that up as well.
Cheryl Lee:It's probably just a little bit too soon to see if she's got any. You know major musical talent yet, but I'm sure With a talented mum and dad she will be yeah thank you, hopefully, look no pressure as long as she's in life, that's what matters. Exactly right. Any siblings in the family.
Andrew Swift:No, no, we're quite happy with the one. Simone has two boys as well, so I'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:Oh, great age difference because they can help out a little bit. But we, we're good, we have a full house, full hearts, we're quite happy. Oh beautiful being a little sister. She's going to be so pampered, so loved, right absolutely spoiled it's very spoiled.
Andrew Swift:50% of the time she's an only child. You know the boys are their dads every other week. You know we need them to come back every other week to make sure they keep her in check, I think and are you getting much sleep?
Andrew Swift:yeah, I actually. I just had a nap before our chat, did you? I did, Simone's back at uni. She's got one semester left of uni. I have Valentine on my own for a few days a week, which is a big learning curve for me. I've never done it before. So we've been running around today dropping off posters of venues and bits and pieces, and she's been keeping me on my toes, so I took the opportunity to just rest the eyes for a sec.
Cheryl Lee:Smart. Sleep when they sleep.
Andrew Swift:Yeah, yeah, that's it. So I did. I did just that.
Cheryl Lee:Still rockin' It the podcast with that radio chick, cheryl Lee, going to play. See you at the Bottom at the end of the chat. First, let's play one from the Lightning Strikes and Neon Nights album from 2023, Smoke Em If you Got Em. Then we're back to say farewell to Andrew Swift.
Cheryl Lee:Where can we find these tour dates? You start on the 23rd and you go all the way through to next year. You are hitting our wonderful town in February, but where will we go to find these dates on the Google-o-meter?
Andrew Swift:So if you head to andrewswift. com. au all the tour dates are there you can pre-order the album through my store there as well, and if you do that, if you buy directly through me you go in the draw to win a house concert. I'll come to your place, I'll bring some drinks and my guitar and I'll do a private show for you and your friends.
Cheryl Lee:Oh my God, even in South Australia.
Andrew Swift:Even in South Australia. It doesn't matter where you are. I will you know if you win, I'm coming to your place.
Cheryl Lee:That's fantastic. What's the?
Andrew Swift:website again, it's wwwandrewswift. com. au.
Cheryl Lee:Get onto the Googleometer now and enter that, but if you win, you have to invite 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 a great song. I really love the feelings behind it and I wish you all the best with it. We'll see you down the front in the new year when you hit our beautiful state yeah, I love south aust.
Andrew Swift:It's funny I said to my booking agent I don't care if the shows are next year. We need to include South Australia in this announcement. The last time I announced the run of shows without South Australia, they tore me apart on social media. But I'd only been there a couple of months before. I'm like I can't. We needed to give it a little bit of a gap.
Cheryl Lee:We made sure that SA was included on on this lot of announcements we can be a little bit precious like that because we do miss out sometimes, but it's fantastic. We've got four dates to choose from in February. Some regional areas as well Mt Gambier, the Wheatsheaf here in town and the Quorn Town Hall. And the fabulous favourite of ours, Murray Delta Juke, joint down in Goolwa. So I shall see you down the front there, Adelaideans at least one of those and we look forward to hearing the new songs live.
Andrew Swift:I look forward to playing them live and I look forward to getting back to South Australia, so I can't wait to see you then.
Cheryl Lee:Thank you so much for spending some time with us today, Andrew.
Andrew Swift:My pleasure. Thanks for having me.
Cheryl Lee:I'll let you get back to Valentine. What a beautiful name.
Andrew Swift:Thank you.
Cheryl Lee:Bye for now.
Andrew Swift:See you, See you. You are listening to Still Rockin' it the podcast with Cheryl Lee.
Cheryl Lee:As promised, we're going to go out with See you at the Bottom from the soon-to-be-released album Lucky Stars. Remember, if you win the free gig in your backyard with Andrew, remember who told you about it and remember to send me an invite.
Cheryl Lee:You're with Cheryl Lee, that radio chick. Thank you so much for joining me on the Still Rockin' it podcast. Hope to catch you again next time. Get out when you can support Aussie music and I'll see you down the front.