Victoria’s Current Swell Wins 2011 Peak Performance Project

Youthink catches up with 2011 Peak Performance Project winners Current Swell.

Victoria roots-reggae band Current Swell has had an incredible year. Besides releasing their latest album, Long Time Ago in October, the band just won the top prize for the 2011 Peak Performance Project, taking home $100,500 to support their music career.
 
I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Current Swell’s Scott Stanton (vocals/lead guitar) just weeks before the band’s big win to chat about their new album and what  it was like to be a part of the 2011 Peak Performance Project.

YT: Take us back to moments before the Top 5 in the Peak Performance project was announced.
SS: To be honest, a bunch of my friends were trying to hold a listening party and I didn’t really want to go because I didn’t really want to sit there when they didn’t announce our names and everyone is expecting it, you know? So I was sitting at home, playing guitar and drinking coffee. I was contemplating whether or not I was going to listen to it at all. And I think last minute I decided to turn it on and I was listening, then it was like they went through a couple of the first bands, and then they were like, “In alphabetical order!” and then they did The Boom Booms, and they did us. I just smiled and I was really excited. I didn’t jump around like crazy, but I was very excited, and then I was on the phone for [all of] the next day.
 
YT: Heading into The Peak Performance Project this year, what were your expectations for the contest and what were the biggest lessons you learned along the way?
SS: The biggest lesson I learned is that you can always learn more. Heading into the contest… I am going to be honest, I was one of the guys that was like, “I really don’t think we should do this,” because I have never really looked at music as a competition, and I didn’t even know how they were going to pick the winners because it is all different music, you know?

But then I got it in and I realized that it is just so much more than a competition. It was just a great experience meeting all of these people and I just have some of the greatest friends that I am sure I am going to have for the rest of my life because of this competition. I learned so much, like, so, so much. It is unbelievable what you think you know because you have been doing it for so long. We had these classes at the boot camp and every day I was like, “Oh, I am going to pass out in this class, it is going to be a snoozer,” and I would go and I was just bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. I just didn’t want to blink because it was all so educational, and that is so not like me because in school, I was the kid at the back of the class, sleeping every class.
 
YT: What would it mean to you to win the entire competition?
SS: It would be amazing! I really think it would help our band. I don’t think it would change anything we were going to do, but I think that winning it would just launch our careers more than anything else could.

YT: What are you most looking forward to for the Peak finale on November 17^th?
SS: Just celebrating! Our band has been very, very busy and we’re going on a tour and it got planned out so if there was a win, we would be back in town for it. I just really am rooting for everyone. I didn’t vote, you know, how you’re supposed to vote? I was like, “I am not voting for us.” I don’t want to vote for anyone just because I don’t know who the best band is, and we are a really hard-working band, but there to celebrate and cheer everybody on. I think we got a really extravagant suite right by the Commodore, so we’ll have a really, really cool after party, I guess. It should be a lot of fun.
 
YT: How have your fans responded to your new album, Long Time Ago?
SS: Everyone’s response has been very positive, more positive than our last album. This album, within a day, the amount of response I got from people that I don’t know, and people online, and from reviews and stuff has all been really, really good. However, everyone has noticed a change. There is definitely a change in tone and I think that is just from us growing up. It is just what has been happening in our lives and it has inspired the songs. I am really excited to see what this album will do for us over the course of a year, just because so far, it has just been so positive.
 
YT: How has the band grown since your 2009 album, Protect Your Own, and how has that affected your latest project?
SS: I think when it came down to it, we were just working hard, touring, making a video, and it was kind of just like, you know, we were just trying to do whatever we can. And then we got new management and our new bass player came on like literally right after we finished Protect Your Own.

So we have kind of just been doing like a lot of out-of-country stuff. We did Australia, we did Hawaii, and down through the States, and I think it’s just going to be a full-fledged push on this next album, like as much as we can get in people’s faces. You know, we want to go across Canada once or twice and then right from there we are going right to Brazil. We’re going right back to Australia... it’s going to be very much go-go-go. We are getting to the place where we can almost, almost make a living. It’s hard to make a living off music, but we’re just, we’re just trying our best, I guess.
 
YT: If you could have Lady Gaga’s design team for a day, what would you have them make for you?
SS: If I could have anything I wanted, and honestly, this isn’t going to make for a good answer, I would like a really, really nice fitted suit, because I don’t own a suit and it would be really nice to own a suit.
 
YT: Do you have any New Year’s resolutions for 2012?
SS: My New Year’s resolution last year was to be more artistic by doing art, like me and my girlfriend had art night every night. This year? To be more artistic by setting time aside to read and do random art, whatever, sculpture, drawing, painting and just turning off the television a bit more.
 
YT: What was your favourite art piece that you did with your girlfriend?
SS: My favourite art piece that I did with my girlfriend was a two-inch painting. It was two inches by two inches, so really small. It was a picture of a little wave, and a sun, and a seagull, and it is still hanging in our bathroom.