THE SWALLOWS Awkward Situation cds are available on bluerodeo.com.
Also, the cd is available at the following record stores in Toronto:
Rotate This (620 Queen St W) Soundscapes (572 College St) Criminal Records (493 Queen St W) She Said Boom (372 College St)
EYE MAGAZINE Rating: 
THE SWALLOWS Awkward Situation (Magnetic Angel)
...it's precisely (and passionately) executed, without ever sounding derivative or over-thought-about. A winning effort.
The Globe & Mail Rating: ½
THE SWALLOWS Awkward Situation (Magnetic Angel)
You're having a bad week, and that's Glenn Milchem at the end of the bar with a light. "Might as well keep shining on," sings Milchem, the Blue Rodeo drummer who heads the side-project Swallows. "Might as well be glorious." Jerry Garcia couldn't have put it better. Lead track Glorious is jammy, but the rest of the splendid, light-and-dark themed record is marked by power pop and blade-sharp lyrics, with some new wave and Police thrown in. Hear Vicariously, which imagines a chance meeting between Luke Doucet and Coldplay. Hear the Crazy Horse of Soft Bomb, in which Milchem flickers as things continue to crash down. Hear it all. ~ Brad Wheeler
NOW MAGAZINE Rating: NNN
THE SWALLOWS Awkward Situation (Magnetic Angel)
Frontmen, beware of your drummer. Just because someone's relegated to the skins doesn't mean he's suppressed his rock star ambitions. Take Glenn Milchem, drummer for Canrock heroes Blue Rodeo and electro-rock stalwarts Holy Fuck and guitarist/ vocalist for his own band, the Swallows. Though the Swallows are definitely a side project, it gives Milchem the chance to prove he can do more than just bang shit. While there's nothing groundbreaking here, the band's third disc is still an impressive release. Most notable is the guitar work. Milchem and Jonny James have clearly taken pride in the axe-manship. The plethora of well-planned solos and fast-fingered rhythm guitar is reason enough to listen. The rest isn't bad either, although a few vocal melodies could've been reworked. ~ Bryan Borzykowski
CHARTattack.com
THE SWALLOWS Awkward Situation (Magnetic Angel)
Glenn Milchem is a busy man. Like so many of his contemporaries he's not happy to simply devote his energy to any one band. He drums for Blue Rodeo, he's involved in Holy Fuck and, to top it all off, his band The Swallows have just dropped their third album. The slightly nuanced rock effort plays in the same league as Big Sugar or C'Mon. Tracks are awash in riffs, and occasionally the guitars wander into opulent solos, piling note upon note, then hovering around a sound that could tip towards dated but is snatched back from the brink through some miracle of musicianship. The slowed down "Vicariously" has Milchem indulging in pseudo-falsetto yelps and slower, more deliberate strumming. Awkward Situation is a good record for a long open road drive. ~ Matt Littlefair
The Swallows finally have a release date set for their latest CD, "Awkward Situation":
Friday, December 8th, 2006. The release party will be held at The Cameron House (408 Queen St. W., Toronto,On.), and will feature a set
by The Swallows at 11:30 pm., preceded by an opening set from local singer/songwriter Julie Fader ( a.k.a. Sarah Harmer's backing vocalist) at 10:30 pm.
Replacing departing drummer Randy Curnew will be Andrew Innanen of local faves The Old Soul and The Dirty Hearts.
The album's delayed release (it was completed in February 2005) has been due to several factors, the most predominant one being member's
commitments with other bands. Glenn has been working extensively with Blue Rodeo and Holy Fuck, Randy with C'mon, Jonny James with Gentleman
Reg, and John Borra with The John Borra Band, The Screwed, and The Viletones. Randy's sudden decision to leave town in August, combined
with our management being swamped with releases by other artists in their "stable" - Jim Cuddy, Greg Keelor, and The Sadies - further
contributed to the delay. A clearer schedule is briefly in view, however, and more dates will be announced in the wake of the release party.
In the meantime, Glenn has continued writing while on the road and during his brief sojourns at home. He's commenced work on a fourth
Swallows release, working with engineer/producer Carl Petzelt at Carl's studio Twang Recordings. At the time of this writing, four
songs have been completed. Glenn will be handling almost all the vocals and instruments, with a few special guests along for the ride,
much like The Swallows' first release, Turning Blue.
Speaking of "Turning Blue", an instrumental version of the title track from that CD will be featured on the soundtrack to the upcoming
movie "Catch and Release", which stars Jennifer Garner and is due in theatres in the new year.
The Swallows are in a temporary hiatus while Glenn is on tour with Blue Rodeo in the waking release of their new record "Are You Ready." We played a hand full of enjoyable gigs in early '05 in
Toronto and Hamilton, and Glenn played a solo acoustic gig at the Alex P. Keaton Pub in London, Ontario (a portion of which is downloadable on this site).
Glenn was also busy playing drums with several other Toronto bands, and played gigs around the city with Mousekiss, Groovey Religion, The Remains of Brian Borcherdt, and Holy Fuck.
The Remains and Holy Fuck, both projects headed by the prodigious Brian Borcherdt, were particularly active these last few months, with gigs at NXNE, recording sessions at Dave Newfeld's
Stars and Sons studio, and a trip down to Austin, Texas for Holy Fuck to perform at this year's South By Southwest Music festival.
Some of the Bands Glenn saw at the festival and would recommend you check out are Minibosses (from Phoenix), D.M.B.Q. (from Japan), Oxes (Baltimore), Eluvium, Royal Space Forces, The Grates (Australia),
Hella, Sleater-Kinney, and The Warlocks.
The Swallows will be back in late summer / early fall. Watch this space for news about gigs and when the new album will drop. Talk to you soon.
(March 29/05)
The Swallows have recently completed their 3rd full length studio recording, titled "Awkward Situation." It was recorded at irregular intervals throughout 2004 at Blue Rodeo's Woodshed Studios in Toronto,
and was produced by Glenn Milchem and Chris Shreen-Dyck, and mixed by Glenn and Chris.
The album has 11 songs, most of which are tried and tested numbers from the band's live repertoire, with a couple of studio "concoctions" thrown into the mix. The general
flavour is in-your-face rock with melodic pop moments and the occasional detour into ambient/noise experimentation.
Due to Glenn's upcoming tour commitments with Blue Rodeo, and drummer Randy Curnew's obligations with C'Mon, a release date for "Awkward Situation" is not expected until fall 2005.
Please watch this site for developments.(Feb 15/05)
