Swami & the Bed of Nails
All of This Awaits You
SWAMI/BMG
Pay no attention to the lyrics of the nine songs that make up this debut album from Swami & the Bed of Nails and you might be fooled into thinking it’s simply a joyful punk-rock explosion of carpe diem. And to be fair, there is a song called “Ketchup, Mustard and Relish” that’s devoted to those three things, and which pretty much just repeats their names over and over and over. But beyond the jovial, uplifting rock ’n’ roll undertones of these songs, there’s a darkness underpinning them.
That’s because Swami is an alter-ego of John Reis (a.k.a. Speedo, a.k.a. Slasher), the guy best known for fronting Rocket From the Crypt and playing guitar in Drive Like Jehu and Hot Snakes, among other projects. He was in those three bands with Rick Froberg, and the pair were working on a new Hot Snakes record when Froberg died unexpectedly in June of 2023 at the age of 55. The songs on All of This Awaits You were born out of those initial writing sessions, and as a result they serve as a fitting send-off for Reis’ former partner-in-crime. But while the first three tracks—“How Are You Peeling?,” “Harbor Freight,” and the aforementioned celebration of condiments—rush along with a certain joie de vivre and rock ’n’ roll insouciance, there’s a distinctly profound melancholy to the anthemic punk of “Teen Hate,” a song that looks back at being able to look forward before the world plays its wicked games on you and tears the people you love away for good.
Later, the oddly located “Lost in Bermondsey” is a raucous, hedonistic celebration of living for the moment, while the rollicking “Shock and Awe” is a defiant honky-tonk stomp—both of which eschew sadness for celebration. But penultimate track “Don’t Wait” and closer “Beware the Halo” serve as poignant tributes to Froberg without becoming sentimental or saccharine. The message is clear: long live Rick Froberg, and long live rock ’n’ roll.
