The Swell Maps were a British punk band. Despite existing in various forms since 1972, the Swell Maps only really came together as a musical entity after the birth of British punk rock.

Consisting of the brothers Kevin Godfrey (AKA Epic Soundtracks) and Nicholas Godfrey (AKA Nikki Sudden) plus whoever else might happen to be around (most famously Richard Earl (AKA Biggles Books) on guitar and Jowe Head on bass), the band cut the single "Read About Seymour" as their debut in 1977. It is one of the classic punk era singles. On the basis of this and other singles, the band managed to sign to Rough Trade records and cut their first album "A Trip to Marineville" in 1979. With hard rocking punk numbers interspersed by ambient instrumentals and other experimental interludes, the album marked the band out as innovative musicians, but sales were poor.

The band cut one more album ("The Swell Maps in 'Jane From Occupied Europe'") in 1980, which pushed further into post-punk territory, before splitting.

Since their split the legend of the Swell Maps has grown, through their influence on the C86 bands, lo-fi, and other pioneers like Sonic Youth. Individual members of the band (especially Nikki Sudden, Epic Soundtracks and Jowe Head) have gone on to have reasonably succesful solo careers.

External links

• Swell Maps Complete Discography
• Nikki Sudden's Homepage
• Epic Soundtrack's Homepage
• Jowe Head's Yahoo Group