SWA

About

SWA was formed in the mid 1980's by bassist Chuck Dukowski and drummer Greg Cameron. The band was initially set to include Ted Falconi of Flipper, and the trio jammed a few times, but Ted's schedule with Flipper would not allow him to work with SWA full-time. After that, Cameron invited his high school friend Ray Cooper to join as guitarist. Vocalist Merrill Ward and 2nd guitarist Rich Ford rounded out the group. After the recording of their first album, "You're Future If You Have One", Cooper departed for the Descendents and was not replaced. Ford departed after the 2nd album, as his job as label manager of SST Records was taking up all of his time. He was replaced by Sylvia Juncosa, who would only stick around for one album. Her replacement was Phil Van Duyne for 1989's "Winter". Again, the line-up would change as Merrill Ward departed and Chuck took over lead vocals for 1991's "Volume", which ended up being the band's final release.