Rob Swire facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Rob Swire
Rob Swire in 2017
Background information
Birth name	Robert Swire-Thompson
Also known as	Anscenic
Born	(1982-11-05) 5 November 1982 (age 42) Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Genres	Electronic drum and bass electronic rock alternative dance dubstep electro house breakbeat
Occupation(s)	Singer songwriter record producer disc jockey
Instruments	Vocals synthesizer guitar bass keyboards percussion drums piano
Years active	1998–present
Labels	Mushroom Group Warner Music Hardline Rekordingz Breakbeat Kaos Earstorm

Robert Swire-Thompson (born on November 5, 1982) is an Australian music producer, singer, songwriter, and DJ. He is best known as the founder and lead singer of the band Pendulum. This band plays a mix of drum and bass and electronic rock music. Rob Swire is also a DJ and co-founder of the electro house music duo Knife Party, which he started with Gareth McGrillen.

Rob Swire grew up in Perth, Western Australia. In 2003, he moved to the United Kingdom with his bandmates Gareth McGrillen and Paul "El Hornet" Harding. In Pendulum, Rob Swire writes songs, sings, and performs live. He uses a special guitar-like device called a MIDI controller, specifically a Starr Labs' Ztar Z6S-XPA. He also plays guitar, bass, keyboards, percussion, and piano. Sometimes, he uses the stage name Anscenic.

Early Life and Music Beginnings

Rob Swire was born and raised in Perth, Western Australia. When he was a child, his family lived in Harare, Zimbabwe, for five years. During that time, he created a song that was played on a local radio station in Zimbabwe.

He attended Scotch College in Swanbourne, and finished school in 1999. There, he first met his future bandmate, Gareth McGrillen. For the next three years, Rob worked as a record producer for different local bands. These bands played drum and bass, breakbeat, and metal music. During this time, he sometimes used the stage name "Anscenic."

He also released a few independent songs with a label called Hardline Rekordingz. One of these was a song called "Fat ... Bitchcore," which he made with the label's founder, Animal Intelligence. Only a small number of copies were made to promote a tour in New Zealand. Rob Swire also produced a song called "Electrodes on the Skull." This song was released with other tracks by artists from the same label.

Music Career

Pendulum

Pendulum performing live at the Electric Ballroom in London, England, in 2007.

In 2002, Rob Swire, Gareth McGrillen, and DJ Paul "El Hornet" Harding formed the drum and bass group Pendulum. The band moved to the United Kingdom in 2003. They quickly became well-known in the underground music scene for their songs "Vault" and "Trail of Sevens."

For the next two years, Rob Swire worked on songs for the band's first album, Hold Your Colour. He was mainly the songwriter and producer for the album, along with Gareth McGrillen. The album was released in 2005 and became very successful.

When Pendulum started performing live in October 2006, Rob Swire became the band's lead singer. He also played a Ztar, which is a guitar-like MIDI controller, during their live shows.

After their first tour, the band began working on their second album, In Silico. Rob Swire was the main singer on this album. He had also sung on earlier tracks like "Spiral" and "Hold Your Colour" to keep the band's sound consistent. He continued to write and produce songs. However, he let a professional mixing engineer handle the vocal mixing. Rob Swire was also very involved in creating promotional materials for the new album.

Pendulum released their third album, Immersion, in the UK on May 24, 2010. This album was a big hit and reached number one on the UK Albums Chart.

On June 19, 2012, Pendulum announced they were taking a break. Rob Swire explained that he and Gareth McGrillen were having more fun with their new project, Knife Party. He felt that Pendulum had started to feel like a duty, which made making music less enjoyable. He also mentioned that he dislikes the limits that a fan base can sometimes put on a band's music style.

However, on August 22, 2013, Rob Swire hinted that a new Pendulum album might be released in 2014. At that time, he said Pendulum would not perform live again. But, Pendulum did reunite for a performance at the 2016 Ultra Music Festival in Miami, Florida.

On January 9, 2017, Pendulum confirmed they would go on a world tour and possibly release a new album, with Rob Swire returning. They performed at several music festivals around the world throughout 2017.

On June 29, 2018, Pendulum released an album called "The Reworks." This album was made up entirely of remixes by other artists, including Skrillex, Moby, Pegboard Nerds, Noisia, and Knife Party. Some of these remixes were released as singles before the album came out.

On September 17, 2020, Pendulum released two new songs, "Driver" and "Nothing for Free." These were the first new songs from the band in ten years since Immersion. A music video was made for "Nothing for Free." The two songs were part of a live show performed by Pendulum at Spitbank Fort on October 2, 2020. Rob Swire said that Pendulum would continue to release new songs gradually, rather than waiting to release a full album. This continued into early 2021 with their EP called Elemental, which included these songs plus two new tracks.

Knife Party

Rob Swire performing with Knife Party in 2015.

In 2011, Rob Swire formed the electro house duo Knife Party with Pendulum co-founder Gareth McGrillen. Their first EP, 100% No Modern Talking, was released on December 12, 2011.

The group became much more popular when they released the song "Antidote" in collaboration with Swedish House Mafia. This song was released on December 16, 2011, and became a top 5 hit in the UK. It has been viewed over 22 million times on YouTube. "Internet Friends" was another single from their first EP.

Their second EP, Rage Valley, came out on May 27, 2012. It included three singles: "Rage Valley," "Bonfire," and "Centipede." All these songs reached the UK top 100 charts. "Bonfire" also reached number 18 on the Finnish Singles Chart.

The duo's third EP, Haunted House, was released on May 6, 2013. It featured four tracks: "Power Glove," "LRAD," "EDM Death Machine," and their own special mix of "Internet Friends." Knife Party has gained many fans for their unique style. They started with influences from electro house and dubstep. Now, their music includes sounds from other styles like moombahton (a mix of house and reggaeton music) and drumstep.

In late 2014, Knife Party released their 12-track album, Abandon Ship. It was accidentally released early on iTunes in October, though it was officially supposed to come out in November. The album features many different styles, from dubstep to house. It also includes some parody songs, like "EDM Trend Machine," which makes fun of common electronic dance music trends.

In November 2015, Knife Party released a 4-track EP called Trigger Warning. It had three new songs: "PLUR Police," "Kraken" (with Tom Staar), and "Parliament Funk." It also included a remix of "PLUR Police" by Jauz. The original songs were heavily influenced by different house music styles, while the Jauz remix had more dubstep influences.

Knife Party's song "Battle Sirens," made with Tom Morello, was released in September 2016. This song is part of Tom Morello's album, "The Atlas Underground." It was also remixed by Brillz and Ephwurd.

Knife Party released their own remix of the Pendulum song "Blood Sugar" on April 13, 2018. Their collaboration with Pegboard Nerds, "Harpoon," was released as a single on the Monstercat record label on July 26, 2018. This song was part of Pegboard Nerds' Full Hearts EP.

Their newest EP, Lost Souls, was released in July 2019. It featured remixes by both Muzzy and Annix.

Other Music Work

Rob Swire performing at Center Stage in Atlanta in 2009.

Rob Swire wrote the main melody and sang on Deadmau5's song, "Ghosts 'n' Stuff", which came out on November 25, 2008. This song has over 60 million views on YouTube. It reached number 1 on the U.S. dance music charts and was certified 3 times Platinum in Canada.

Rob Swire also helped write Rihanna's songs "Rude Boy" and "Roc Me Out". He played bass guitar and sang backing vocals on these songs. He has also released three other songs with different artists. In 2006, he was a mixer for "Nervous (Creep)" by DJ Fresh and Mary Byker. In 2009, he mixed "End Credits (Live)" for Chase & Status and Plan B. In 2010, he produced "Play" for Taio Cruz. More recently, he sang on Eric Prydz's song "Breathe." This song was on Prydz's first album, Opus, released in 2016.

Rob Swire also recorded vocals for Deadmau5's song, "Monophobia", which was released on July 13, 2018.

How Rob Swire Makes Music

Production

Rob Swire has been a record producer since 1999. He produced Pendulum's album In Silico. For this, he created demos, recorded the tracks, and mixed the album. He is responsible for mixing most of Pendulum's music. However, more recently, he has avoided mixing vocals himself. He explained that it's harder to be objective about the sound quality when he is also the singer.

To save time, Rob Swire made the first versions of the songs for In Silico using old Commodore 64 and Nintendo emulators. He also used basic synthesiser sounds. To record the album, the band went to different studios. There, live musicians, including Rob Swire, recorded acoustic drums, guitars, bass, and vocals.

Besides recording the different parts of each song, Rob Swire also recorded samples of the instruments. This way, if he wasn't happy with a part, he could play it himself using a keyboard sampler. Rob Swire used to use Pro Tools for recording and Steinberg's Cubase for production. Now, he mainly uses Steinberg's Nuendo for production and editing after recording. He records songs using both physical synthesizers and computer-based virtual instruments.

Performance

Rob Swire performing at Ultra Korea in 2017.

Rob Swire has played many different instruments when recording music for Pendulum. He played guitar and electric piano on Hold Your Colour. He played synthesiser, bass, and percussion on In Silico. He also played synthesizer and guitar on Immersion.

He has been the band's main singer since In Silico was released. This was done to make the album sound consistent. When performing live with the band, Rob Swire usually plays a guitar-like MIDI controller called a Starr Labs' Ztar Z6. He also sings the songs where his voice was used in the original recording. Rob Swire's favorite MIDI controller keyboards for live shows are the CME UF70 Master Keyboard and the Korg Kontrol 49 MIDI Keyboard.

Discography

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Guest appearances

Production credits

See also

In Spanish: Rob Swire para niños