Jeff Calder-vocals, guitar; Anne Richmond-Boston-vocals; Bob Elsey-guitar; Tim DeLaney-Bass; and Billy Burton-Drums. Alumnus: Robert Schmid-Drums; J.E. Garnett-Bass; Billy Jones-Bass; Gary Brown-Bass; and Pete Jarkunas-Bass/Percussion.
Special Double Bill on St. Patrick's Day Weekend
THE SWIMMING POOL Q's & GLENN PHILLIPS BAND
In a special double bill, The Swimming Pool Q's and The Glenn Phillips Band will be appearing on Saturday, March 14
at the Red Light Café in Atlanta, Georgia
Glenn Phillips Band plays at 8:30
The Swimming Pool Q's play at 10:30
All-Ages, No-Smoking
Bring the Family
The Red Light Café
553 Amsterdam Avenue in Atlanta
Phone: 404.874.7828
The Supreme Court CD Supreme Court Goes Electric (with Jeff Calder, Anne Richmond Boston, and Glenn Phillips) is now availabale for downloads! Link to Downloads here:
iTunes / eMusic (Glenn Phillips) / eMusic (Supreme Court) / Rhapsody / napster / Zune / Amazon
Lil Drummer Dude
The Swimming Pool Q's are celebrating their 30th Anniversary in 2008! UPCOMING SHOWS:
The Swimming Pool Q's will appear at the 688/Metroplex Reunion event at the Masquerade in Atlanta on Saturday evening, October 4. Q's showtime will be 11 PM. The Q's will also support Tom Gray and Charles Wolf for several songs by their legendary band, The Brains.
Artists include Follow For Now, Mary My Hope, The Nightporters, Phreddy Vomit & Plastic Jesus, The Restraints, Hallows Eve, The Roys, Vietnam, Dead Elvis, Rotten Gimmick, and Liers In Wait.
The Supreme Court, featuring Jeff Calder of The Swimming Pool Q's and Atlanta guitarist Glenn Phillips, will be opening for Richard Lloyd & The Sufi-Monkey Trio on Monday, August 4 at Savannah Smiles(314 Williamson St., Savannah, GA 31401 - behind the Bay Street Quality Inn). Showtime for The Court is 8 PM.
Advance tickets are available from Tiny Team Concerts.
Guitar legend Richard Lloyd was cofounder of TELEVISION with TOM VERLAINE. Supporting Richard in the Sufi Monkeys will be Television drummer BILLY FICCA. This is a rare stop on Richard's first Southeastern tour in more than two decades. He'll be performing songs from his new album The Radiant Monkey (2008), as well as his own versions of old Television tunes.
On Saturday, March 15, St. Patrick's Day Weekend, The SWIMMING POOL Q's and THE GLENN PHILLIPS BAND will be appearing on at Red Light Café in Atlanta, Georgia. Glenn Phillips Band plays at 8:30; The Swimming Pool Q's play at 10:30. Jeff Calder of The Q's will also play keyboards and guitar with Glenn. It will be an all ages, non-smoking event. The Red Light Café is located at 553 Amsterdam Avenue in Atlanta, 403.874.7828
HISTORY:Founded in Atlanta in 1978, The Swimming Pool Q’s were among the first generation of Georgia’s celebrated New Wave bands that included THE B-52’s, THE BRAINS, PYLON and R.E.M. When original members Jeff Calder and Bob Elsey were joined by Anne Richmond Boston, the initial configuration of the Q's quickly established a reputation for superb musicianship and originality. With a barrage of East Coast and regional dates beginning in 1979 (including the Southern leg of the first major POLICE tour), The Swimming Pool Q's developed the confident live presentation they have maintained into the present era.
The Q’s first full-length release, The Deep End [1981, DB 55], reissued in 2001 as a deluxe CD, was an immediate classic of the new creative pop sound being forged in Atlanta and Athens at the turn of that decade. The band signed with A & M Records in 1984 and released two highly acclaimed albums, The Swimming Pool Q’s [A&M SP5015,1984], produced by David Anderle with Ed Stasium, and Blue Tomorrow [A&M SP5107, 1986], produced by Mike Howlett.
"Visionary pop eccentrics from Atlanta," noted Melody Maker. "Some of the most compelling rock sounds in all of America...lofty architectural style distinguished by the elegant and muscular guitar duets between Jeff Calder and Bob Elsey and [Anne] Boston's rhapsodic alto phrasings," said The Village Voice. In Rolling Stone, Kurt Loder wrote, "Overlaid with Calder's unusually literate songwriting sensibility, this musical melange is one of the freshest sounds coming out of the South." The Swimming Pool Q's were chosen as support act for LOU REED on his New Sensations comeback tour.
Anne Richmond Boston departed in 1987, though she continued to provide her artistic and vocal expertise over the years, returning in 1998. As a quartet, The Q's released their prescient satire of televangelism, The Firing Squad for God EP [DB 87] and, in 1989, the angry World War Two Point Five [Capitol/DB C1-91068]. In early 1993, The Swimming Pool Q's began recording their cosmogonical magnum opus, Royal Academy of Reality.
ROYAL ACADEMY OF REALITY
In 2003, to great acclaim, THE SWIMMING POOL Q’s released their disc, Royal Academy of Reality (BRN-CD-145) on BAR/NONE RECORDS. Produced by Q’s singer/songwriter JEFF CALDER and producer/engineer PHIL HADAWAY, this was the first Swimming Pool Q’s full-length album in over ten years. Across the spectrum of American media, RAR has generated the highest praise.
Royal Academy contains 20 tracks recorded at various studios and remote locations in Atlanta and Savannah. During the sessions, The Q’s’ core line-up since 1982 [BILL BURTON, drums; Jeff Calder, vocals, rhythm guitar; BOB ELSEY, lead guitar] was augmented by Neill Calabro (vibes), Marty Kearns (keyboards) and percussionist Pete Jarkunas, who played bass on The Q’s’ 1981 debut, The Deep End.
ANNE RICHMOND BOSTON, The Swimming Pool Q’s’ exquisite vocalist, returned to active service as the making of Royal Academy entered its final stage. Her alto achieves its characteristic emotional effect, most evident on the duet, "Radio in Memphis". The Q’s received additional support from a distinguished cast of more than two dozen musicians, including: BRENDAN O’BRIEN (producer of BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, TRAIN, PEARL JAM &c); MOE TUCKER (drummer of THE VELVET UNDERGROUND); TOM GRAY (composer of "Money Changes Everything" by Atlanta greats, The BRAINS); SAMARAI CELESTIAL (the late drummer for SUN RA).
Contributing to the album’s rare atmospheric beauty and reinforcing the Royal Academy’s themes, The Q’s supplement their guitar-based sound with glass harp, Clavioline, harpsichord, dulcimer, bagpipes, Leslie steel guitar, muted trumpet, turntables, tamboura, sitar and the Chinese version of the koto, known as the chang.
As fans of The Q’s previous work might expect, the group’s incomparable lead guitarist, Bob Elsey, conducts his solos in trigonometric fashion throughout (see, "Yin Yang" and "For No Reason"). Drummer Bill Burton’s undiminished powers of invention are of particular note on the closing 5/4 jam, "Alpha Centauri’s Rise", The Q’s tribute to coastal net-casters who secretly serve as interstellar senders-and-receivers.
The composition of Royal Academy of Reality is punctuated by ambient interludes ("Cosmogonical Heliopolis") and ecological concerns ("The Earth Makes Us Feel Things"). Still, "Everybody Knows Tomorrow" and "Out of Nothing" affirm that The Swimming Pool Q’s have lost none of the Pop sensibility that defined their mid-80s’s work. Jeff Calder’s familiar growl and wicked sense of humor remain intact, especially on rambunctious jaunts like "The Do What and The Who What", wherein the song’s protagonist has a flashing light on the top of his head, so the planes won’t hit him in the dark. Among the Royal Academy’s many highlights, The Velvet’s Moe Tucker pounded drum and tambourine one afternoon between 2:45 and 3:00, forming the basis for "Wheel of the Sun".
Royal Academy of Reality reestablishes The Swimming Pool Q’s as an American band of first consequence.
A-Bomb Woke Me Up: Video. This video is a "No Big Wheel" production video, "The A-Bomb Woke Me Up". A Frame by Frame video created for the Swimming Pool Q's reissue of "The Deep End" in 2001. Photos by Steve Rucker. Animated by Andy King. Art Direction, Props and Modeling by Lisa King. Props and Modeling by Michael Rucker. Extra, extra special thanks to Stuart Clark (http://www.stuartclark.net/) for investing his time and help in converting this video to a modern format, so that it can be viewed on the net. See video below:
Can't believe it's been 27 years since we sat in that fern bar in the Governor's Square Mall in Tallahassee and got trashed with your rhythm section. Thanks for the add - Dave from Toxic Shock.
It was really good to see your band at the Reunion last night! Thanks for being secure enough in your own identity to have Tom & Chuck sit in with you again! I don't know if The Brains would have done it any better! Keep playing, different music makes a difference.
As a mid-forty-ish Atlantan, I had the pleasure of seeing the Q's play many times "back in the day", usually at 688. Glad to see you guys are still at it. By the way Jeff, my dad used to fill your family's precriptions at Oak Grove Pharmacy. He says "hi" - not really, but he would, he's a pretty nice guy.
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