The Swimming Pool Q's - 2007 Press - Atlanta Journal Northside Review

Royal Academy of Reality

Royal Academy of Reality is an ambitious and successful summer blockbuster of a release...a sexy tour de force...glorious odes to the solar system. It's an anthem of the sun that would bust out in blows against the empire if anyone had the energy to launch a wooden ship, much less a rocket.

--VILLAGE VOICE

Possibly the most progressive American rock record of the new century. It sets an artistic standard few bands will be able to match.

--THE STATE

Overflowing with musical and intellectual ideas...flat-out astonishing.

--WIRE U.K.

Pocket symphonies of silvery guitar and warm-water singing: Abbey Road wrapped in kudzu.
--ROLLING STONE

A lavish record that's as cryptic as R.E.M. and as expansive as The Flaming Lips...warm and humane rather than aridly cerebral...their time may have come. 4 STARS.
--Q MAGAZINE U.K.

A gorgeous disc from a unique band that has been out of action too long.
--WASHINGTON POST

GRADE: A: Repeat listenings of Reality yield countless new pleasures.
--ATLANTA JOURNAL

A sprawling 70-minute voyage into deep space.
--CREATIVE LOAFING

The striking scale and superb craft of this album are impressive by any standard.

--ALL MUSIC GUIDE

This is one terrific album...a spectacular sound, one that overflows with sheer exuberance and invention...a strikingly original piece of work, and proof positive that in the grand tradition of Sgt. Pepper and Dark Side of the Moon, imagination and ambition are still vital ingredients when it comes to making music that really matters.
--SOUTH FLORIDA'S ENTERTAINMENT

NEWS & VIEWS

A rock and roll Gravity's Rainbow.
--AMPLIFIER

Exquisitely crafted songs [that] burst on the ear with the sudden force and electric sizzle of an August thunderstorm. Others open like furled flower buds, petal by petal, with imagery that's both winsome and passionate.
--TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT

Administration

2007 Press > Atlanta Journal Northside Review (1) > Atlanta Journal Northside Review

Atlanta Journal Northside Review Interview, 5.18.07
Q&A: The Swimming Pool Q's

Cows, road signs, misread lines inspire group

Northside's many outdoor concerts often host bands that play golden oldies from the '40s, '50s and '60s. But at least one concert this summer will feature a welcome throwback to Atlanta's New Wave music scene of the '70s and '80s.

The Swimming Pool Q's formed in 1978, and by the early 1980s, critics were celebrating the band's new sound —- along with the B-52s, R.E.M. and several other Georgia bands —- as a new genre in rock music.

But the Swimming Pool Q's are no museum piece. For nearly 30 years the band members have managed to pursue separate endeavors, yet stay connected musically. Their 2003 album, Royal Academy of Reality, was acclaimed by Rolling Stone, The Village Voice and The Washington Post, among others. And the band is working on a new album called Suddenly Not Yet. A single, "The Whisper Trees," is due to be released this summer. The band performs July 7 in the Roswell Riverside Sounds concert series.

Northside Weekend talked with singer/songwriter Jeff Calder, who started the group with guitarist Bob Elsey.

Q: The Q's sound seems part rock, jazz, fusion and possibly more. Do you still consider it New Wave?

A: You're right. Even at the time that we started, New Wave was just a world we came from. We shared elements of that movement, but we were a very individual band ... we were constantly evolving.

Q: An early song, "Rat Bait," is an outrageous tune with the line "Roy's like a cow with a bloodshot eye ... Watch it rat bait." Did you write that with someone special in mind?

A: That's an early song I wrote in 1978. Bob [Elsey] wrote the music. ... I heard a farm report on a radio broadcast while I was driving through North Carolina. Someone was selling a cow with a bloodshot eye. As that was happening I went by a road sign with crude letters that said "rat bait." Bob had a killer riff to the music, and I said "This is really good; add this."

Q: What kinds of reactions do you get to that song?

A: That's a defining and popular song. We played it at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame [in 2004]. ... It was the most radical moment to ever happen at that event. It's a staid program. Some people liked the song. Some were befuddled. "Rat Bait" is not the song you would expect to hear. My friend Mike Clark [the late co-owner of Southern Tracks studio] pulled some strings and got us on the show. He insisted we play "Rat Bait."

Q: In nearly 30 years the group has never broken up. What do you attribute to your longevity?

A: It's like growing up with a second family. You learn to let people be themselves and go in whatever direction they want to individually. It's made our music have a lot of diversity.

Q: Where did the name Swimming Pool Q's come from?

A: In the mid-1970s, I misread a line in a detective novel about a bar fight. It said, "swinging pool cues." I thought it said "swimming pool cues." ... When it came time for us to name a band, it seemed like a good name. Cues was modified into Q's. Plus the letter Q has an allure. And the rest is perhaps history.

—-Adrianne M. Murchison