Interview: Going Swimming Chat About Their New Release, ‘All Dressed Up To Cry’

Naarm/Melbourne-based surf-punk quartet Going Swimming have just returned from hiatus with their chaotic new single ‘All Dressed up to Cry‘ – produced by the band and mixed by Rohan Sforcina (Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Adalita). We sat down with the band to discuss the new jam, early days of the band and more! 

Congratulations on the release of ‘All Dressed Up To Cry’ – what are the plans to celebrate the release?

Probably invite the band over and we’ll get all dressed up in our fanciest outfits to have a good sook.

Can you tell us a bit about what the song is about?
This song was written about going through mental struggles during the lockdowns. We would often try our best to make the most of it and get excited and dressed up to go to the shops or the post office, but it was so difficult to ignore the black dog that was weighing us down.

Lockdown was a heavy time mentally for most of us – what do you think helped you get yourself on your feet once the world opened up again?
Just being able to hang out with all our friends again. Summer had just started to get going and I feel like everyone in the inner north was at Edi Gardens with the biggest smiles on their faces. Those house parties that went down after everything opened up were some of the best.

How did you all start the band?
We were all in other bands that were coming to an end, and they were more on the serious side of music. Aswin started writing some really tidy surf inspired punk tunes and then convinced us all to join him in his then labelled ‘Super-Secret Surf Band’. It was a new sound for all of us and we decided very early on that we wanted to keep this band fun, and not take ourselves too seriously and It’s probably the reason we’ve been able to stay together and enjoy it for as long as we have.

Talk us through what the typical writing process is when you create new music?

Aswin or Callan will write and demo new songs and then Nick or Myself (Ben) will add vocals over the top. The only part we do as a group is the backing vocals, which we tend to workshop and experiment with on the fly at rehearsals. In saying that sometimes the songs sound great as is and we ignore vocals altogether and keep them as instrumentals, which I guess is pretty common in the surf genre.

What’s the plans for the rest of the year looking like?

We’re finally going to release this new album and pair it with a launch show sometime around November. We’re also looking to hit the road and play some Interstate shows, which we haven’t done for a while, so that will be grouse.

Going Swimming’s new single, All Dressed Up To Cry is available now, everywhere.