emmet swimming OFFICIALLY RE-UNITES WITH PLANS TO RELEASE NEW AND EXISTING CATALOG DIGITALLY

New Deal with Redeye Distribution Marks Comeback With First Release Set for July 21

After releasing three albums on Epic Records and touring nationwide for the better part of seven years, legendary Fairfax-based rock band emmet swimming took a long look at each other and at the van that they had largely called home for so many years, and decided to take a break to focus on non-musical interests. That was in the early part of the new millennium, and though the band had sold over 150,000 units between the Epic releases and two other independent efforts, the toils of the road and the all-consuming nature of the music industry had left long unfulfilled promises and prospects back at home. And so emmet swimming dispersed to pursue families and other careers.

But In 2007, the band began playing shows again, including a sold out performance at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC with original drummer Tamer Eid and longtime friend and collaborator Scott Brotemarkle on bass. The chemistry was undeniable. After a number of successful festival and club dates along with some early Sunday morning writing sessions, emmet swimming collectively decided to once again record and release new music. They will also release rarities and previous work on their own label, Screaming Goddess Records, with those tracks being made available digitally for the first time. In addition, emmet swimming will celebrate the release with a special performance at the 9:30 Club on Saturday, July 18th (details at www.930.com).

The first offering (released via Redeye Distribution on Tuesday July 21st) will be a re-release of 2003's Bathing in the New Economy EP with a brand new bonus track, “Door 2,” and that will be a July 21 release via Redeye Distribution. The EP, which will be available on iTunes, Amazon and eMusic, among others, will include “The Dance,” “Don't Call Her” (with lead guitarist Erik Wenberg on lead vocals), “Johanna at the Door” (recorded by the Legendary Don Dixon) and “Heart Like an Eskimo.”

Lead singer Todd Watts expressed his excitement about the band reuniting. "We are excited to be back and working,” he said. “After years of playing the occasional show without a lot of direction or defined purpose, we’ve established that this band and the music that we’ve created over the years is something that we strongly believe in. I think that our rudderless approach over the last few years has validated our respect for the music and each other. Now we are trying to take a more calculated approach to how we create and release our music. We are trying to figure out how to fit this thing that we’ve created over so many years back into our lives in a meaningful way. It’s kind of exciting."

emmet swimming is one of the most successful national touring bands to come out of Virginia, having sold out venues from Boston to Atlanta to Chicago to the West Coast. They performed on the HORDE tour as well as national tours opening for many of the ‘90’s biggest acts such as Barenaked Ladies, Dave Mathews, WallFlowers, and Sheryl Crow. Their song, “Arlington,” was named a Top 5 track of the year by Billboard, and the band has also received 14 Washington Area Music Association Awards (WAMMIES) including Artist of the Year and Album of the Year. emmet swimming's music has been placed in TV programs including the Winter and Summer Olympics, ESPN, Monday Night Football, MTV, VH-1, ABC's "All my Children," and numerous films.

The virtual collapse of the record industry, coupled with the rise of digital collaboration and online promotional channels have provided emmet swimming with renewed vigor. They are planning to record and release new material this fall, and will also re-released their first album, Dark When the Snow Falls, and their live album, Ear Plugs 50¢, which will both contain previously unreleased bonus tracks.

"Few bands in America today can get under one's skin as effectively as Fairfax, Virginia's emmet swimming. Tied to neither trends nor movements, emmet swimming specialize in an effortless sort of transcendence creating music equally suited for providing one-to-one connection or filling stadiums." – Creative Loafing