Get Out

Swell

Polar

Long Way Home

Mercedes

WHY-PHY

Without It

Known for their high energy live sets and room filling sound, the three highschool friends draw clear similarities from the likes of early Lower Than Atlantis and post-grunge group Dinosaur Pile-Up. switchdown infuse their alt-rock riffs with punk vibes, though not without the odd ‘pop’ hook. Based in the greener shires of Leicester, the DIY band first hit the scene in Spring 2018 and have since supported the likes of Can’t Swim, Mallory Knox, Woes, and Lizzy Farrell.

Sam (guitar/vox), Joe (drums), and Harry (bass) first became close friends in highschool, starting bands that never quite got round to being named, and pushing each other into Enter Shikari mosh pits. Fast forward a few years to Summer 2017, having all earnt degrees, they found themselves slowly coming to terms with life outside of university. Emerging from the gloom of job searches and mid-afternoon wakeup calls, their first single ‘Spark’ was charged with optimism and ideas of fresh starts. Despite being written before the band had even begun, the fast paced track helped set the tone for their future creative endeavors - a solid platform for them to start making a lot of noise. 

‘Spark’ saw its premiere on BBC Introducing East Midlands in April 2018, with a homemade music video comprising Harry’s brother’s travelling footage later released through Punktastic. After establishing switchdown’s direction, the band put out a four track EP, ‘Headway’, in May 2019 via SoundWaves Magazine. Another DIY video, this time for ‘Swell’, found its way onto Discovered Magazine, along with other tracks from the EP gaining airplay on BBC introducing EM.

For switchdown, it’s always been about having fun with your friends. It kind of makes sense then that the video for ‘Swell’ appears as almost a diary from one of their group surfing trips. Running the band is a collaborative effort - certainly no divas here. Each getting stuck in, with lyrics often coming from Joe, and Sam and Harry editing away on photos/videos. With Harry’s brother George and a few friends being roped into working behind the camera, the band certainly takes on the iconic words of Jack Black “Just because you’re not in the band doesn’t mean you’re not IN the band!”

It’s fair to say that switchdown pour as much of themselves into everything they do, be it spending hours in Sam’s garden flicking paint on black envelopes soon to contain lead single ‘Spark’, designing each piece of merch and album artwork, or building a merch board out of spare bits of wood and Harry’s old jeans. The DIY lifestyle really is a pleasure for these three, not just a necessity.

Switchdown