Son of Mustang Ford released

Instead of debuting with a full-length album, Swervedriver released a series of four-track EPs over the span of a year, subscribing to the popular trend in the early ’90s. “If you had 4 songs ready-ish, you would record them there and then and put them all out ASAP. No such thing as ‘saving songs for the album’ back then,” explained Hartridge. The tracks were recorded at The Greenhouse & Falconer Studios in London and were all produced by the band. Swervedriver’s debut offering, Son of Mustang Ford , was released on 16 July 1990 and included the song “Kill the Superheroes”, one of Franklin’s first attempts at writing in an alternate tuning . Franklin stated in NME , ” Son of Mustang Ford was based on the Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas idea – driving around, out of your box, over America’s landscapes.” The EP was characterized as “a chromium-plated piece of automobile romanticism.” The group launched the release with an appearance on the John Peel BBC Radio 1 show on 31 July 1990, performing a select B-side from each of their three debut EPs along with the song “Over” (which would not see an official release for 15 years). The release of Rave Down , the second EP in the series, followed in November. Mary Anne Hobbs called its title track “a cyclone of wild, swollen riff machinery that sounds like it’s been played with dislocated shoulder joints.” Both EPs received favorable reviews and their title singles made their way into the UK indie and metal charts. However, mainstream British music press soon shifted their focus to bands who fit easier into the shoegazer mould. The group began gaining popularity in the United States, and in early 1991 Swervedriver signed with American label A&M Records and went on their first US tour, a brief run of shows in support of Ned’s Atomic Dustbin that kicked off at the Marquee in New York City. On 22 July 1991, their third EP, Sandblasted , was released with the title single reaching number 67 on the UK chart and being described as “a head-on collision between guitars raging for chaos.”