The Swimming Pool Q's

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

jeff bewley.jpg

Photo by Glenn Bewley

In his houndstooth cape and top hat, Jeff Calder overwhelms the audience with his pompous and domineering manner.

-The Bagpipe, Lakeland High School, April 19th, 1969

JEFF CALDER

Jeff Calder grew up in Charleston, South Carolina. He spent his teenage years in Lakeland, Florida, selling clothing after school and trying to convince his friends to let him be in their bands. Upon graduation from the University of Florida in 1973, he pursued a career as a free-lance writer before moving to Atlanta in 1978 to form The Swimming Pool Q's with Bob Elsey. Over the years, his articles have appeared in Atlanta Journal-Constitution, South Atlantic Quarterly, Mix Magazine, and Stomp and Stammer, among other publications. His popular long essay, "Living By Night in the Land of Opportunity: Reflections on Life in a Rock & Roll Band," appeared in Duke University's South Atlantic Quarterly (Fall, 1991). He's also known for his in-depth liner notes for The Deep End and for Matthew Sweet's To Understand: The Early Recordings of Matthew Sweet. His appreciation of Richard & Mimi Farina aired on National Public Radio's All Things Considered in December, 1999.

In the 1990s, during the protracted recording of The Swimming Pool Q's Royal Academy of Reality, Calder was a regional A&R scout for Interscope Records and producer Brendan O'Brien's Sony subsidiary, 57/Shotput Records. For Shotput, he produced The Sight-seers disc Funseeking With The Sight-seers, and he was reissue coordinator for Music To Eat (Sony/Columbia/Shotput), the classic avant-garde rock album by Hampton Grease Band, originally released on Columbia Records in 1971. With Royal Academy co-producer Phil Hadaway, he produced an album for Savannah's City of Lindas. Calder also contributes lyrics and music to Supreme Court (Supreme Court Goes Electric; DB Recs; 1992), his group with guitarist Glenn Phillips; their new album, Sun Hex, is forthcoming.