A punk rock band from Oakland, California with a taste for vintage West Coast pop-punk and a melodic sense akin to indie rock, SWMRS (pronounced "swimmers") began when they were too young to drive, but have matured into a sound and style of their own. The SWMRS story begins in 2004, when Cole Becker and Joey Armstrong were inspired to form a band after watching the movie School of Rock; both were just nine years old at the time, but youthful inexperience wasn't about to stop them. Armstrong had a bit more knowledge of how life in a rock band works than the average kid, since his father is Billie Joe Armstrong, leader of Green Day, but he opted to play drums rather than guitar, with Cole Becker playing guitar and handling lead vocals, and Cole's brother Max Becker (the old man of the group at 11) filling out the original lineup on bass and vocals.
The trio was originally known as the Raining Souls; when they found that name was already in use, they switched to the Clocks, and after they learned that name was also taken, they decided on Emily's Army, in honor of Cole and Max's cousin Emily, who was living with cystic fibrosis. In 2008, Emily's Army released a handful of recordings on their MySpace page, and despite their youth they began playing shows at small venues and festivals around California. In 2009, they released their debut EP, Goody Two Shoes, and that same year they expanded to a quartet with the addition of guitarist Travis Neumann. In 2011, Emily's Army released their first full-length album, Don't Be a Dick!, with Billie Joe Armstrong producing the sessions. Armstrong also produced the group's second album, Lost at Seventeen, which was released in 2013.
By this time, the group had mounted East and West Coast tours, played a string of dates in the U.K., and hit the road with the Vans Warped Tour. In 2014, the band released an EP called Swim, but while the record featured the lineup that had been together since 2009, by the time it was released Travis Neumann had left the band, Max Becker moved from bass to guitar, and Seb Mueller became the new bassist. With the new lineup, Emily's Army went through some stylistic changes, and they became reluctant to play their older material. In 2014, they were booked to play some festival dates in England, but discovered their contract precluded them from playing shows of their own during their downtime. To get around the contract, they booked a short U.K. club tour under the name Swimmers, and made SWMRS their official new handle once they returned to America.
In 2015, SWMRS released a single, "Miley" b/w "Uncool," and launched a short tour in the spring of that year, though Mueller was unable to make the dates as he was finishing exams at college, and Joey's brother Jakob Armstrong took over on bass until Mueller was free of his academic obligations. In February 2016, SWMRS released their first album under their new name, Drive North; the album was produced by Zac Carper of the band FIDLAR, and was released through the band's own Uncool Records label.
