Hailing from Columbia, South Carolina, The Movement started off like any other band: a few friends, some musical equipment and some inspiration. Besides being from somewhere with nearly zero reggae scene, their origin story is pretty cut and dry. They worked hard, grinding and crafting a great live show that eventually earned them touring gigs with bands like Steel Pulse, Blues Traveler, and G Love & Special Sauce, just to name a few. But with that success came a little too much excess. While the band never spectacularly imploded, in 2011 they found themselves in the middle of a tour in a situation where they had no management, no representation, and really no clear future. And their second lead singer had just quit.
But amazingly, five years later they’re still here. Their new album “Golden” is backed by Rootfire, the core three members are back in action and they have a hefty summer tour lined up. In order to find out just how they reinvigorated The Movement, we sat down with lead guitarist and singer Joshua Swain.
You got your start as three-piece from Columbia, South Carolina, a huge southern rock hotbed. Is there a reggae scene there?
There’s absolutely zero reggae scene in Columbia, which was kind of a good thing in the beginning because it put us ahead of the competition. We had a DJ, guitarist, and two singers, which people thought was kinda crazy for a set-up, especially in Columbia where it’s known for southern rock and country. They’re used to seeing the typical guitar, drums, bass, vocals set up.
What influenced you musically growing up there?
Growing up I listened to a lot of Hendrix, Zeppelin and The Doors. I started getting into the Grateful Dead in late middle school and early high school, which eventually lead me to Bob Marley which is where my love of reggae started. After that, it branched out but as for me wanting to make reggae music it really clicked when I heard Sublime. It was like, look you can do reggae too, it’s not just roots stuff from Jamaica, you can make it your own.
You left the group for a while in 2011. How did that affect you and the group when they were playing shows with a new singer?
I think it really screwed up a lot of our momentum. We had been touring since 2004, and it really put a huge dent in the momentum of the band. I had some legal trouble, and I was super burnt out. In 2011 I ended up moving to Denver for about two years, and the band moved forward, released an album without me, got a keyboardist… The other singer of the time kinda took control of the band, which was fine with me because I thought I was totally done.
You eventually rejoined the band. How did that transition come about?
In 2012 or 2013, the other singer ended up quitting the band in the middle of the tour. They called me and they were like, what can we do? We started the project together and I knew the new singer pretty well, so I gave him a call and he was like, “I’m so done, I can’t play another show.” I couldn’t really argue with him because I had been there before, ya know. It’s crazy when you start getting concentrated on other things besides your goal and your music, such as substance or girls or money. It can definitely cloud your mind. I tried to get him to rejoin but couldn’t. A few days later they called me with an opportunity to play some really fun shows out in Ocean City, Maryland. I hadn’t picked up a guitar in like a year, had to relearn all the songs and everything. I thought I did terribly, but we played as a three piece which is how it all started in the beginning which felt rad. Then it was like, hey man wanna do a week of shows? It kind of just escalated from there, until we finally ended up recording in San Diego. By that point we had fired our management and had nothing. We were totally fucked and we didn’t even know it, and basically cut a record with no direction. Luckily we found Rootfire and here we are.
You guys have played an insane amount of shows and tours over the years, with the likes of G Love & Special Sauce, Slightly Stoopid, and 311. Does any one experience stick out?
I mean, I can’t speak for the rest of the guys, but we really have toured with every single fucking reggae bad. We used to do like over 300 shows a year. We’ve played with everyone from Common, Ludacris, Wu-Tang Clan, and even The Original Wailers. The last tour that I thought was really cool, we did with Tribal Seeds. I didn’t really know them that well, and they all turned out to be really cool guys I really appreciate them and their music.
In your new album ‘Golden’, you embrace some electronic vibes and have some rad guest features. What was your attitude going into recording this album? How do you think it differs from your older music?
I think it was inevitable because our producer, Danny Kalb, was insane. He’s worked on some Beck and Ben Harper albums, he even did some Foster The People stuff, he’s done really well with his career. He knows what he’s doing, and we left a lot of the creative input decisions up to him. There was never any of us butting heads against him, we just kinda went with his suggestions and worked with them, even the ones we weren’t huge fans of, and it worked out really well in the end. The writing process was different this time as well considering we were all sober. We all just hunkered down and got it done. It also really helped to have Matt Goodwin on keys. Since the recording process was a way different dynamic than before, it’s no shock the album turned out way different.
You guys are no strangers to the road, and are on your way to Santa Cruz right now on a nationwide tour. What do you usually do to stay sane on the road? How are you guys traveling right now?
Well, it’s crazy. Like I said, normally in the past years, we were a wreck. I was drunk 24 hours a day. I would forget whole days in a row, and it’s insane I even made it through that. Now we’re all super calmed down and old, and the main thing is we’re taking our career seriously this time, and touring is part of that. We’re making it easy for ourselves. We’ll van to the hotel room the night before the show, relax and get some dinner and feel the vibe of the town out. The next day we load in and relax. We just try to stay healthy, eat well, and take in our surroundings. We’ve been on the road for like two weeks, and normally by this time I’m like, Get me home! But I really feel like I just left at this point. I love traveling. We’re in Idaho right now and it’s gorgeous, and we’ve got Oregon coming up, then we’re gonna make our way down to you guys. It’s nice to be present for it this time.
What do you say to that person who’s on the fence between a couch-side Netflix binge and coming to your show?
I think with most bands that have been around as long as us when they make a brand new record or songs after awhile, they might be over it, but we’re really just hitting our stride. We want people to realize how excited we are about this stuff. Like we are more excited about playing this new stuff than our fans are. No other band is as stoked as us on this record right now, and we want you to come out and participate in our passion with us.
The Movement play The Catalyst on Saturday, April 30. Tickets $12 in advance and $15 at the door.
