Ejector Seat Reservation released

Swervedriver’s third album, Ejector Seat Reservation , was recorded primarily at Church Studios and Konk Studios in Crouch End , North London and again produced by the band and Alan Moulder. Aside from themes of fatalism and flight working their way into its composition, “for some reason we were wanting to reverse the notion of being the band with the American references in our songs and so some very British reference points appeared in the lyrics,” explained Franklin. The band had a dispute with McGee over picking the album’s launching single—they thought “The Other Jesus” was the obvious choice but McGee overrode them, selecting “Last Day on Earth” in an attempt to capitalize on the current trend perpetuated by Britpop bands like Oasis of featuring strings and acoustic guitars. Initial promo pressings of the record including the additional track “It’s All Happening Now” had to be withdrawn after permission to use lyrics lifted from Bob Dylan ‘s ” It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue ” was denied. (They would later be given away to fan club members.) These incidents would prove to be just a precursor to the group’s album woes, however. Realizing a vanishing return on their investment, American label A&M cut the band’s funding, telling them the album would not fit into their release schedule for another year and a half. In response, the group requested to be released from their contract. With its loss of the band’s licensing to A&M (approximately US$350,000 per album), an already financially troubled Creation released Ejector Seat Reservation domestically on 15 July 1995 but dropped the band a week later. Subsequently, it received no promotional support (aside from a few small ads) and would remain unreleased in North America.