What a year it’s been for Swim Deep

Swim Deep’s lead singer Austin Williams is having a year most 21-year-olds only dream about.

Their debut album “Where The Heaven Are We” has just entered the charts, they played Swedish festival Way Out West on Friday, take on Reading and Leeds this August Bank Holiday and play Manchester Academy 3 on September 17th as part of their biggest tour to date.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” said Austin. “It’s nice to be doing lots of different things. It’s exciting now. We get to do whatever we want to do now. We can move on, tour and see what happens.”

Austin and guitarist Tom Higgins got talking about music and bands while working the aisles of Morrisons. It seems a long time go.

“Where The Heaven Are We” could have been forged on the beach. An album drenched in sunny, simple hooks, its easygoing style harks back to The Stone Roses and Ride while keeping its originality.

“When I think of summery music I think of cheesy pop music. We are pop music but with more thought around the song-writing,” said Austin. “I want to be something original. There’s bands like One Direction who shut down cities when they go there and they’re putting out fun songs but it’s not ground-breaking at all. I can’t see anything that compares to us.

“I want to have a massive influence on pop music. Not to be the biggest band necessarily - that can come too if it’s the right time and place - but I want to be the most influential. I want to be a band that someone wants to jam with, that someone looks up to.”

While touring is very much top of the agenda at the minute, writing is never far from the band’s thoughts.

“We’re always writing as a band. It’s what we do,” said Austin, who doesn’t expect a massive departure from the first album when the lads finally land back in a studio.

“You can’t go way out because then it’s not really you. I think it’s important to stick with who you are, not go trying out new genres.”

As hectic as life has become, Austin is loving every minute of it.

“I would like to go back to a year ago and somebody tell me that this is what we’re doing now. You kind of don’t really know what is happening because you’re in the eye of the storm. It’s all going on around us. I want to do it until I’m old. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to stop writing music.”

So, no aspirations to return to Morrisons.

“Not yet. This is exactly what I want to be doing. It not’s the worst way to be making a living, is it?”