Although 2008 sees the first full-length release by the Swimmers, the band has a long history as a fixture in the Philadelphia music scene. The release of Fighting Trees, the group’s highly anticipated debut on MAD Dragon (Ryko/WEA) in March 2008 will mark the first of many milestones that lie ahead for the quartet.
Fighting Trees was recorded and mixed at Miner Street Studios, home of renowned Philadelphia producer Brian McTear (Matt Pond PA, Danielson, Mazarin). Bill Moriarty (Dr. Dog, Man Man) contributed additional tracking and the rest was recorded in Swimmers frontman Steve Yutzy-Burk... (+) expand

Although 2008 sees the first full-length release by the Swimmers, the band has a long history as a fixture in the Philadelphia music scene. The release of Fighting Trees, the group’s highly anticipated debut on MAD Dragon (Ryko/WEA) in March 2008 will mark the first of many milestones that lie ahead for the quartet.
Fighting Trees was recorded and mixed at Miner Street Studios, home of renowned Philadelphia producer Brian McTear (Matt Pond PA, Danielson, Mazarin). Bill Moriarty (Dr. Dog, Man Man) contributed additional tracking and the rest was recorded in Swimmers frontman Steve Yutzy-Burkey’s home studio. The self-produced album reveals a creative sensibility drawn from the band members’ small-town roots and current lives in artistic but gritty Philadelphia neighborhoods. Fighting Trees mixes an Indie-rock aesthetic with bright melodies and hook-filled choruses pulled from the pop and rock sounds of the 1960’s.

Steve met his wife Krista, the Swimmers keyboardist, while both attended a small liberal arts college in Goshen, Indiana. It was there that he also began collaborating with bass player Rick Sieber. The three later relocated to Philadelphia, where Steve, in response to a newspaper ad, became a pipe organ tuner. On the job, drummer Scott French and Steve became friends and eventually co-writers, as they repaired and tuned massive organs in churches across Pennsylvania. Scott wrote “St. Cecilia,” Fighting Trees’ ode to the patron saint of music, on one of these tuning trips. While recording the album, the band returned to many of the same churches to record organ and piano tracks.

Rick and Steve have performed together in various groups over the past ten years, most notably in the alt-country band One Star Hotel, which gained a devoted following throughout the eastern U.S. and northern Europe. More recently, Steve began to look for a new direction for a group of songs he had been writing, inspired by the John Cheever short story ‘The Swimmer.’ One night in late 2005, while trying out the song ideas on a clanky old piano, the four long-time friends decided to begin recording and performing as a group.

The songs on Fighting Trees set Steve’s deeply personal lyrics to familiar, yet unique pop arrangements. “’Heaven’ is about returning to my hometown of Lancaster, PA and finding it very different than my idealized memories,” Steve said about writing the buoyant, cheerful anthem. “Pocket Full Of Gold” peals with clanging bell riffs and bright vocal harmonies while the lyrics tell the eerie story of a person oblivious to the world falling apart around him. One of Fighting Trees more somber tracks, “Miles From Our Fears” is Steve’s lullaby to “someone afraid of noises in the middle of the night.” The track, like the album as a whole, includes elements that are both disquieting and disarming at the same time.

While recording their debut album, the Swimmers began headlining shows and selling out venues throughout Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and Delaware. In the summer of 2007, the finished album was proclaimed by influential WXPN PD Bruce Warren to be “the best record not released in 2007” and Fighting Trees was picked up for release by MAD Dragon Records. (-) collapse