Lisa Ann Swain
I was born Lisa Ann Swain in the small town of Sharon Center, OH, though I consider Bath, OH my true hometown as that's where I spent the majority of my childhood. From the time I was 8 my father's job sent us to Southern Pines, NC during the winter months, to return back to Bath for the remainder of the year. At age 14 we made a permanent move to NC, where I still live to this day.
I wrote my first set of lyrics when I was 20 years old, and they seemed to come from some other place outside myself. Though I lost the original writings, years later I could still remember the words, like they were embedded in my brain, they'd become a part of me. I didn't write another song until I was 32, a song in honor of a dear friend I'd lost at age 24, one who I'd sworn would never be forgotten.
But writing songs, writing poetry was really just a hobby until 15 years ago when I finally met someone who could write the music to make my songs come to life and though we worked together for several years, our songs were mainly heard only by friends online and off. And that's when song writing really became my passion and I began seeing it as a gift I was given.
There have been different bands that I've loved over the years but when I was in my late 20s I heard The Cure for the first time and their music spoke to a much deeper part of me, I didn't just hear it with my ears, I heard it and felt it deep in my soul. They've been my favorite band ever since. My tastes do tend to lean towards more toward the alternative rock bands like Depeche Mode & New Order, but I also like bands like Keane and Coldplay.
As far as influences or inspirations for my lyrics, I don't consider my words to be influenced by any artist or music genre, many of the songs I write are personal, some more than others. Some are written because a book meant something to me, like "Veronika Decides to Die" by Paulo Coelho, which is the influence for our song "Like Veronika".
In 2020 I had the amazing fortune to join a music website where I met Drew. He had a couple of songs posted as samples of his work, and when I heard his song "Brothers Grimm" I was hooked. Later I went to his youtube channel and listened to more of his beautiful songs and they spoke to my soul, just like The Cure has done for so many years and I knew, he was the composer/song writer I had been dreaming of working with all these years. I contacted him and we just "clicked" from the very beginning, kindred souls on the same wave length, the same path, and here we are today, song writing partners in the true sense of the word.
Hear This Shadowbox - lyrics by Lisa Ann Swain
Drew Campbell
I was born and raised in a small town in Yorkshire, England. As my father was in the military we moved around quite a bit and music was the centrepiece of my life, the constant through the changing landscapes. My earliest memories are of the stacked albums from the favourites of my mother and father. I remember being entranced and somewhat freaked out by the cover of David Bowie's Aladdin Sane which I would take out of its sleeve and examine, and place delicately on the turntable when my parents were not around. The music within seemed from another world and gave me a rush to the head I still look for today when engaged in the obsessive hyperfocused process of creation I call my Bubble.
I remember there were also vinyl "LPs" from artists like ABBA, T-Rex, Roxy Music and Donna Summer, Queen, ELO, and Iggy Pop. I can still smell those cheap plastic sleeves and feel the textures of the grooved vinyl on my fingers.
The first song I remember discovering for myself was Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart", which is now my favourite record of all time but it was not for quite a while that I rediscovered the Mighty J.D.; maybe even 15 years went by before I turned again to that detached otherworldly voice and those insistent metallic rhythms which I now find oddly so warm and comforting.
I went through many phases of music obsession, each layering upon the earlier, Heavy Metal, Post-Punk, Delta Blues, American Psychedelia and then the discovery of classical music which is now so close to my heart.
I guess I would call amongst my greatest influences in terms of their presence inside my creative space David Bowie, The Cure, Lou Reed, Rachmaninov and My Bloody Valentine, though to reduce this army of ghosts to such a select few seems ungrateful somehow for the magic they left behind for eternity.
I've admired so many lyricists in the past and it was my love and appreciation for the true poets from musical history that sparked in me real inspiration when Lisa crossed my path. As soon as I started reading her words my poor sozzled brain started firing off chem trails of creativity and the music became like Connect The Dots.
So we enter 2022 with a suitcase of plans and a hatful of hope.
Hear Brothers Grimm - by Drew Campbell