Swapmeet Are Playing SXSW
Photos by Josh Sabini.
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Swapmeet are one of the seven bands playing at the 2026 Monster Children SXSW showcase.
Already interviewing the Adelaide-based four-piece only a few months ago (you can read that here), sitting down with them again, to just ask how they’re feeling about going to the festival, seemed unnecessary. Instead, I wanted to tell the story of the day we did that interview, which gives a nice insight into the four angels playing in heaven.
We plan to meet up at the Tote where we were to do the interview before they headline the pub's upstairs band room. As I’m leaving mine, I try to call Venus a few times. She told me to call her around seven, to see where they were at, she doesn’t answer. I head there anyway, hoping they’re at least there by the time I arrive. Our plans are loose; supposed to meet up earlier in the day, but it kept getting pushed back until we realised in between soundcheck and their set was going to be the only time that worked. When I walk in, they’re thankfully all there. Venus greets me, surprised as if she wasn’t sure if I was still coming. I tell her I’d tried to call her, to which she pulls out her phone that reads ‘iPhone unavailable, try again in five hours’. Her screen is broken, seemingly having a mind of its own; it’s been ghost typing a random code before she can even attempt to put in her passcode correctly.
The last few weeks have been huge for Swapmeet, fresh off last week’s SXSW Sydney high, where they played four shows in almost just as many nights, and winning the festival's awards for Best Performance and Best Emerging Artist. The former, a no-brainer. The latter, locking them in a spot at SXSW in Austin, and affirming my prediction that they’re going to be the next big thing to come out of the country. Then today, the reason for the change in our plans, they had meetings with a few labels about the potential of getting signed. Something I’m excited to hear, knowing their debut album, which I had already cheekily heard, was too good to be a self-release or released by a small Australian label.
At this point, they’re half an hour behind schedule, haven’t even done soundcheck yet, still setting up the stage of what is, in my opinion, the most cursed band room in the city – a crazy feat considering Melbourne is the city with the most music venues per capita in the world. The dungeon tier room of the Melbourne institution sits up a steep staircase, with walls painted a deep blood-like red, a floor – that feels like it could cave in at any moment – laid with cheap Persian rugs, windows boarded up with ply, a stage pushed into the corner and an array of benches and junk are scattered around the room’s periphery. It really feels like a torture chamber, possessed by the same ghosts within Venus’ iPhone, but it’s just the upstairs of what Google’s AI calls a ‘cornerstone of the Australian rock and punk scene.’
As they finish setting up the stage and begin soundcheck. I find myself utilising an old couch up against a wall, exhausted, not caring that it’s probably seen some of the worst things known to man, I lie down on my side. Playing through the, at the time, unreleased, “I Know!”, to a crowd of the sound guy, three of our friends and me with the same energy they would if playing to a full house. It really makes sense why they won the Best Performance award.
After soundcheck, we head out to do the interview, quickly picking the park down the street as our location of choice. Sitting in the dark, with soft spring rain drizzling down on us, the four of them pass around a vape, reminiscing on meeting each other, how the band started and what it means to be a part of the band now. Josh keeps apologising for speaking too much, but I tell him everything he adds is perfect. Keeping on assuring them all that they don’t have to worry about what they’re saying, as I can edit it, but they still all continue to apologise for speaking too much or rambling on. I didn’t want to tell them bit I love it; watching them bounce off one another, flowing through inside jokes while speaking on how important the band is for them and how much they care for each other, was such a joy.
Deciding to wrap up the interview as the first band is about to start, we walk back towards the Tote. Maxwell and Jack tell me about Soursob Bob, a guy from Adelaide who sings songs about his girlfriend leaving him for Jesus, the dole, his Mazda 323 and has an album titled Don’t Quit Your Day Job, who sent them a cease and desist because their original name, Soursob, was too similar to his. A fact I thought was so strange, I couldn’t help but giggle. In return, I tell them about Total Wife, a band from Nashville whose album Come Back Down was my favourite album of the year, with their fusion of traditional shoegaze with electronic breakbeat elements. It felt reminiscent of the way Jack, a self-confessed “Ableton nerd”, spoke about incorporating sound effects and samples into Swapmeet’s songs.
I don’t really want to try to explain the genre Swapmeet falls into, as it feels like a pointless disservice to what it is, but the inclusion of electronic elements and samples is something that really stands out. Their music feels like exactly what contemporary indie rock should be: playful and high energy with emotional depth. With the discussions around bands like Fcukers and, more recently, RIP Magic, making the indie kids dance, their new album highlights their ability to be within that.
Venus’ phone is still locked, just over four hours to go now, and with her card on her phone, she can’t buy anything. While the boys walk back to the venue to watch the opening band. She asks if I can come with her to the bottle shop to buy her a bottle of soju, promising me that she’ll transfer me when she can open her phone again. I assured her the $10 bottle was fine, it was my shout. She still asked me for my bank details a few days later, insisting that she pay me back.
We walk back into the venue, halfway through the second band, I realise that I’m not going to make it home if I don’t leave now. At the same time, I’m conflicted as I don’t want to be the draining music journalist who comes to interview the band but doesn’t stay for their set. Remembering that I saw them last week, in the basement of some random Sydney pub with an American Apparel LED sign behind them, I decided it’s probably okay and I should put myself first as I really couldn’t be upright any longer. Apologising profusely to each of them (and completely lying in the introduction for the interview, where I said I saw them play). I am so sorry, everyone.
I would still like to take this time to write about what watching the band who won the award for Best Performance is like, so I will use other times I have seen them as the example… Venus is bouncing around the stage, picking up and putting down her guitar, handling the roles of guitarist and lead vocalist. Maxwell and Jack, energetically switch positions between being the band's drummers, guitarists, and vocalists. While Josh is running around the stage and eventually into the crowd on bass, trying not to lose his connection to the amp. There’s this high energy and purity that lies within their performance that is extremely reminiscent of who they are as people. Never trying to be someone they’re not and always just true to themselves.
In hindsight, the interview we published came out prematurely, speaking in depth about their upcoming album, which hadn't even had a single song from it released. Now, however, seems like the right time to direct you back. Their first single from the album, "I Know!" was released last week with a music video and the announcement that they've signed to Winspear, the same label that last year released albums by Wishy, Teethe, and Winter. And now, they're headed to Austin to play SXSW and appear on American soil for the first time. If you find yourself in Austin, please make sure you see them. You'll be better off for it.