Swan Island was an American five-piece rock band from

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, United States. Their music was influenced by

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...

, new wave,

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

, and

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

, as well as

queercore Queercore (or homocore) is a cultural/social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of the punk subculture and a music genre that comes from punk rock. It is distinguished by its discontent with society in general, and specifical ...

bands from the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

. The band was started in March 2004 by drummer Vincent Domini (Menagerie/DJ Automaton) and guitarist Aubree Bernier-Clarke (Half-Seas-Over). They were soon joined by guitarist Torrence Stratton, vocalist Brisa Gonzalez, and bassist Bob E. Kendrick (Shemo and owner of 16 records). Swan Island performed with

Sleater-Kinney Sleater-Kinney ( ) is an American rock band that formed in Olympia, Washington, in 1994. The band's current lineup features Corin Tucker (vocals and guitar) and Carrie Brownstein (guitar and vocals), following the departure of longtime member J ...

Mary Timony Mary Bozana Timony (born October 17, 1970) is an American independent singer-songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist, and violist. She has been a member of the bands Helium, Autoclave and Wild Flag, and currently fronts Ex Hex. Timony's music is o ...

, LKN,

The Gossip Gossip (or The Gossip) was an American indie rock band formed in Searcy, Arkansas, originally active from 1999 until 2016. For most of their career, the band consisted of singer Beth Ditto, multi-instrumentalist Brace Paine, and drummer Hannah ...

Tracy and the Plastics Tracy + the Plastics is an American electropop and video project group from Olympia, Washington, United States. The members include Nikki Romanos on keyboard, Cola on drums, and Tracy as the lead vocals. Although the name implied the group was m ...

, and others on the west coast. In the summer of 2006 they performed at the week-long ''Homo-A-Go-Go'' festival in

Olympia, Washington Olympia is the capital of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat and largest city of Thurston County. It is southwest of the state's most populous city, Seattle, and is a cultural center of the southern Puget Sound region. European ...

. Many of the members of Swan Island have been involved with

Rock and Roll Camp for Girls The Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls is both the original Rock n Roll Camp for Girls non-profit organization based in Portland, Oregon, United States, and the common name associated with the Girls Rock Camp movement of youth organizations for girls i ...

. The band's records have been reviewed at ''

Spin Magazine ''Spin'' (stylized in all caps) is an American music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione, Jr. Now owned by Next Management Partners, the magazine is an online publication since it stopped issuing a print edition in 2012. Histor ...

'', AllMusic, and PopMatters.

Discography

*''Night Owl'', 3"CD on 16 Records, 2005 *''The Centre Will Hold'', LP on 16 Records / Holocene Music, September 2006

References

External links

Swan Island Official SiteWillamette Week, Best New Band 2006Willamette Week, Swan Island Calling It QuitsCary Clarke, "Our Town Could Be Your Life." ''The Portland Mercury'', January 17, 2008Mairead Case, "Riot Redux." ''City Pages'' Music, October 11, 2006
Musical groups from Portland, Oregon American all-female bands Queercore groups 2004 establishments in Oregon 2008 disestablishments in Oregon Musical groups established in 2004 Musical groups disestablished in 2008 {{US-rock-band-stub