The Bogeys, a SLO local band, played a sweaty house show show Jan 31, 2020, where they unveiled multiple new songs that will be on their upcoming album.
The band was founded back in 2016. The original members included AJ Absy on vocals and guitar, Josh Hill on drums, Matt Thomson on bass and Sean O’Donnell on lead guitar.
After O’Donnell left town, the band often played as a three piece and went through a few guitarists before they finally landed on Morgan Swanson, who has now been playing lead guitar for the Bogeys for nearly two years.
They’ve also had a number of bass players over the years. When Thomson moved on from SLO, they tried out a couple bassists before finding Ethan Chavez.
The new guys are often tossed in the deep end without much time to get used to the vibe. Both Swanson and Chavez started playing shows almost immediately. Swanson remembers how he had to test the waters to understand what was there first.
“It’s different when you walk into a culture rather than starting from scratch,” Swanson said. “I had to understand what being the Bogeys was before I felt comfortable adding my own perspective in.”
When Swanson joined, surf was a heavy influence. He said he, “learned a lot about surf music through the Bogeys. I definitely wouldn’t classify Bogeys as surf rock but it is an influence.”
Absy added that much of their sound has been influenced by different genres as well.
Swanson found their sound difficult to describe because he believes sound is “never described by the generators but rather by the listeners. To me genre comes from music, music doesn’t come from genre. I’d be interested in what you think my genre is. To me it’s just music.”
Once he began to understand what the Bogeys had been before him, Swanson felt he was able to “tastefully” add what he thought the music needed in ways he said drastically changed their sound. Much of his influences came from genres like post rock, which he believes makes his perspective unique.
“When building a building in progress, you have to understand the foundation to build on top,” Swanson said. “I was able to take the band in a new direction in collaboration with the rest of the Bogeys to create something truly authentic to me.”
“[Chavez] brings his own vibe but also understands the context from which the songs are written,” said Swanson. “Always open to new ideas and he doesn’t have an ego. Very open with his communication. I value that a lot. I can tell his heart is in it.”
“Every artist has something to offer. No artist is like another so each one has its own specific perspective on the art,” Swanson said.
“I find inspiration through interaction with my environment,” said Swanson. “I think that we are shaped by our world. And by exploring the intricacies of the everyday, inspiration can be found in the most unlikely of places.”
Swanson said he allows life to present him with inspiration. “Sometimes it means I won’t be as productive as other artists. But when it does come it’ll be from true inspiration rather than contrived. I’ll be going about my day and see something beautiful and it’ll inspire me musically […] If I find something I appreciate, I try to find a way to implement that into my playing as well.”
“Once you’re fully honest with yourself that’s when the good stuff comes out and the truth comes out,” Absy said. “I’ve tried to write songs that weren’t truly me and the songs just weren’t quite there.”
Both Swanson and Absy stressed quality over quantity, explaining that they’d rather produce a few great songs rather than as many songs as possible.
“I’ve seen colleagues put out shittier sounding music but I admire that because they’re still putting out content,” Absy said. “Our approach is to polish it really hard first. When we do release a song you bet your ass it’s a high fidelity song. Our new songs require less production and are more authentic with who we are right now.”
Currently, one of Swanson’s favorite songs to play is a new one called Skelly Klater, featured on the album that is set for release in July. It was partially written in a Taco Bell.
“Everyone was looking at me really weird because I was playing drums on my kneecaps but sometimes that’s the price you pay for music,” Swanson said.
“We love to play songs live to get a feel for how they sound in different settings. There’s something different about an audience,” Swanson said. “Having that feedback is an extremely valuable and important part of the songwriting process.”
“The thing about music, when people are listening, it’s important to be ready with something to say. A lot of people focus on getting people to listen but once they’re there they’re not sure what they want to tell them,” Swanson said. “Hopefully people appreciate that it is good. Fine. But that’s not the end goal. It’s just an effect of me doing what I love.”
“I want to reflect the emotions people are feeling and pass that along to someone else. Be that rock,” Absy said. “I feel entitled to do that. I have these talents for a reason. It’s like if you have a super power. It would be selfish not to help other people. The spiritual side of me makes me feel like I’m supposed to do something positive instead of just keeping it to myself.”
The Bogeys will be playing a show on Valentine’s Day with KCPR and another on February 15 with Stage 9.
For more information on the Bogeys, visit their website.
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