If the clean-cut, pop music experience found on Swirl 360's debut album "Ask Anybody" seems rather Hanson-esque in some respects, it might be worthwhile to note that the two groups share more than just that sound.
Not only is the singing duo a twin brother team, but they are also signed to Hanson's label, Mercury Records, and were done so by the same man that discovered the pubescent musical sensation, Steve Greenberg.
Greenberg says that the similarity between the two groups is more about a love of great pop melodies, in addition to the fact they are able to harmonize well together because they are brothers. Other than that, Greenberg says that the two really aren't all that alike. Hanson is influenced by the '50s style of music and Swirl 360's sound is more in the same vein as that of the '70s. It is also a product of an alternative style of writing, in that some of the songs on the album were co-written by Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger, The Posies' Ken Stringfellow, and Eugenius' Eugene Kelly.
"Basically we did an acoustic showcase for Mercury in January, and then in March we went back to meet with him again and we went to his house and just listened to records all day long," Swirl 360's Denny Scott said of the group's first encounter with the successful A&R man.
"For like four hours we listened to records and we kind of discovered he has this great knowledge of pop music just like we do, and we found out we have a lot in common that we liked, like a lot of the 60s and 70s pop bands [600k QuickTime] like Badfinger and Cheap Trick. I mean, we were just listening to records all day long, and we were like, 'Let's make this record.' It was just really great."
One last not so ironic similarity is that both Hanson and Swirl 360 are managed by the same man, Christopher Sabec. While Hanson is currently out on the road in support of their album "3 Car Garage," Swirl 360 is expected to kick off a tour of their own in support of "Ask Anybody," in fall.
