Washington-based indie-folk duo Dave McGraw & Mandy Fer started their musical partnership in 2010. Nine years later, new inspiration struck while on a sailing trip in the wilds of British Columbia that led to a new sound and a new name: Sway Wild.
After years of performing under their songwriting names, they duo rebranded themselves to Sway Wild to reflect the new sound and inspiration that was fueling them. "It's not like a wild and crazy thing, but more of our own inner wilderness was the thought of ourself changing our name," Fer says.
"[We] just kind of hit the reset button and then when we came back all the songs started pouring back out," McGraw adds. Through vocal harmonies, paired with Fer's electric guitar work and McGraw's drums, Sway Wild intersects rock, pop, funk, worldbeat, folk and more. Sway Wild has also shared stages with the likes of Iron & Wine, Lake Street Dive and Watchhouse in addition to touring on their own.
The Duo's musical journey began very early in their lives, with Fer growing up in a singing family and playing the piano from age six in a "less traditional style."
"I think the essence of fun was implanted in me really young with music so I was excited to practice," she recalls. At 15, she started playing guitar and started going to concerts as much as she could. It was while attending a show at Summerfest as a teenager that Fer says she found a new source of inspiration: "I saw a void with female electric guitar players on stage. So, that put a fire under me and since then—22 years later—I'm still at it."
When not performing with Sway Wild, Fer's career as a lead guitarist has her touring with Allison Russell alongside Milwaukee's own SistaStrings, recently performing with Brandi Carlile, and for Amos Lee. It was also on tour this year that Fer had a full-circle moment playing lead guitar for Lee on stage at Summerfest.
McGraw says he's grateful to his mom, who was a piano teacher and forced him to be in choir in high school. "Music has always been at the core," he recalls.
While the duo had a more acoustic set with their guitars in the Lake Effect performance studio, on stage McGraw switches between acoustic guitar and a full drum set — expanding and elevating their sound alongside Fer's guitar.
"Mandy will use an octave pedal for her electric guitar, which simulates a bass that can kind of get the subwoofers to make this big full sound. And I will tend to hit the kick drum and the floor tom a lot to get those low frequencies," McGraw explains.
Fer says experimenting with and dreaming up a new sound was part of an "artistic leap" for them. "We were like, imagine if we could play the rock and funky stuff? And sometimes ideas take years to percolate and somehow, I think it was giving ourselves permission to try something new," she says. "I think it's really fun these days when there's so much technology to be able to look and be like, no, what you're seeing is what you're getting."
“And it's the only way I can remotely keep up with Mandy musically, by playing the drums,” McGraw adds jokingly.
Now going on 14 years of playing music together, Fer and McGraw having grown to be "partners in everything" — in music and life. “Each song that Dave and I create kind of funnels through each other, so whether or not it's ‘his’ song or ‘my’ song we have a stamp on each other's stuff for sure,” Fer notes.
Fer says her experiences touring in support of other musicians as a lead guitarist also funnel back into Sway Wild, even though they're on such different scales.
"We're pretty DIY [as Sway Wild]," she notes. "Then when I show up at a gig where we're literally taken care of in every facet ... it feels like this whole support network just on the crew side of things. And then also I think my appreciation for showing up at Red Rocks and being able to walk out on that stage to play to, I don't know, 9,000 people, just feels like such a dream that I've been kind of carving at for 20 plus years since I picked up the guitar. [It] feels so immense and so just fulfilling in a way.”
"She's brought so much confidence back to the stage with Sway Wild and it's been so amazing to witness," adds McGraw.
Over the years, they've developed a deep understanding an artistic rapport, but there are still favorite elements that stick out to each partner: "I just think Mandy's such a great listener and so intuitive," says Mcgraw. "I still just get chills playing with her, and I just feel so, so fortunate."
Fer adds, "When Dave plays drums and loses his mind, he does this thing with his face—where he just kicks his face back and opens his mouth like he's about to eat a hoagie sandwich, and it's this thing that is just the purest joy that I ever see in him! What was cool was five years ago getting that joy back felt like, 'OK, we have to keep this,'" Fer says.
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