Bruins who were around in 1997 may already be familiar with the
name Matt Swanson. That year, his last at UCLA, Swanson was crucial
in helping the men’s water polo team beat USC to win their
second consecutive national championship.
It has been a couple years, but Swanson wants to get
reacquainted with UCLA. He will no longer be known as the winning
water polo goalie. This time around he’s the frontman of the
San Francisco-based band West By God. Swanson is returning to his
old Westwood stomping grounds to play a show tonight at the
Westwood Brewing Company.
“I’m really excited to go back to Westwood,”
Swanson said. “I still have a ton of friends there, so I
can’t wait to come down and play.”
The whole scenario of a water polo star turned musician seems
rather unlikely, especially at a school where the stereotypical
jocks tend not to mix with the equally-predictable artsy music
students. Swanson managed to break that mold, however, during his
junior year, when he was seriously considering trying out for
either the European professional water polo league or the American
National team.
Something in his head clicked, he said, and Swanson switched his
main focus to music. Together with friend Thomas Jacquez, Bruin
baseball player and fellow guitarist, Swanson began working on his
new passion and wrote lots of music. The two formed the band
Levering and played in the Westwood area until graduation. By that
time, Swanson had music on the mind and was steering away from his
former dreams of playing professional water polo.
“Occasionally I’ll daydream about it, but I
don’t think it could ever happen,” Swanson said.
“Physically, I don’t think my body could handle
it.”
Right after graduating from UCLA, Swanson moved to the Bay Area
and went back to school for a year to get his teaching credentials.
He saw the practicality of having something to fall back on, in
case the professional musician thing didn’t pan out. Shortly
thereafter, he met Mike Damiani and formed his current band, West
By God.
While the band has been working to get their feet off the
ground, work as a substitute teacher, high school water polo coach
and referee have kept Swanson out of the poorhouse. He appreciates
the flexible hours and easy pay of jobs he actually enjoys. By not
getting in the way of his blossoming music career, the jobs have
ideally fit into his lifestyle.
The band has dubbed their style of music to be “dependent
rock” because they did not feel they fit into any of the
existing genres, especially not independent rock, which most people
expect out of college-aged bands.
“We’re dependent on people to like it and for people
to come see us and for people to buy our albums,” Swanson
said. “You can’t really do anything alone, you
know.”
Since recently signing on with a marketing firm, West By God has
been seeing the sunrays of success approach quicker and quicker.
They just agreed to let MTV use some of their music on the Real
World and Road Rules. Based on other MTV success stories, it may
not be long until they grace the Times Square studio of TRL and
answer to the screaming fans.
For now, though, Swanson and his friends will be happy with a
big turnout at tonight’s BrewCo show.
“I hope some fans will want to come and be a part of a
group that’s working as hard as we are to make something
happen,” Swanson said. “Hopefully they’ll get
behind it and support it.”