On Friday the 24th of June, the company MelodicRock Classics will release the album “Strum” with the singer Rik Swinn. This is a record to check out a little extra if you like names like Henry Lee Summer, John Mellencamp and Little America. How to read a press release:
The name RIK SWINN is going to be a new one to most followers of the MelodicRock Classics label.
Aussie fans will be more familiar, but even then, Rik’s name should have been known to a much wider audience. Rik was frontman for the very popular Australian pop rock act VENETIANS, who between 1982 and 1988 made big waves on the Aussie touring circuit and enjoyed chart success, releasing three albums which produced six Top 40 singles in Australia. The Band was noticed by Chrysalis Records in the US who signed them in 1986 for their biggest selling album ‘Calling In The Lions’ and their Top 5 Australian single ‘So Much For Love’, also reaching number one in the Chicago dance charts.
After Venetians split up in 1988, Rik Swinn signed a solo album deal with Trutone Records who were distributed by EMI. The album was rehearsed and recorded over two weeks at EMI studios in Sydney and produced by famed Australian producer Peter Blyton (Avion, Dear Enemy, Candy Harlots, Choirboys), who incidentally worked with Rik and the Venetians previously on the ‘Calling In The Lions’ album.
Unfortunately, the Album’s release got caught up in an upheaval at EMI records which resulted in funding being stopped for Trutone so the album has been lying dormant for 30 years! Rik recently made the album available as a digital stream from his personal website, which lead to MRC’s Andrew McNeice enquiring about partnering up for a physical release.
Delving into the past to give great artists their due is what the label is all about and this time around, MRC is pleased to team with Rik for a first ever release of his 1989 unreleased solo album ‘Strum’.
British born Rik Swinn started out signed to EMI publishing in 1978 as a songwriter. After joining several live bands that didn’t amount to anything, he eventually met record producer Vic Coppersmith-Heaven (The Jam), who quickly took him into the Townhouse Studio to record. In 1981 he left for Australia armed with a master tape of the song “Sound on Sound” and within a few months he formed VENETIANS, scored a recording deal with Parole Records Australia, signing with Warner Music for publishing.
In 1988 Rik dissolved the band and after his solo album was shelved, left the industry.He travelled around the world for six months ending up in Los Angeles where he fell in love and became a father and still resides today.
01. Loving Kind
02. Burn Love
03. Only Takes A Second
04. Big Boys Never Cry
05. Piece Of Heaven
06. Change Of Heart
07. Come Back And Haunt Me
08. Garden Of Eden
09. Maybe Someday
10. So Long The Night
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