They have since released two full-length albums, I Wasn't Born to Lose You in 2015 and Future Ruins in 2019, with touring stand-ins drummer Mikey Jones and bassist Mick Quinn permanently joining the band.

In 1987, bass player Adrian "Adi" Vines, from Yorkshire, joined the band, and the following year they released their solitary single "Gimme Fever" through Notown Records.

They had meanwhile turned their attention to American alternative rock acts Hüsker Dü, Sonic Youth, and Dinosaur Jr., and subsequently were inspired "to push out the boundaries of electric guitar within a pop format.

[3][4] The former bandmates were impressed with his work and assembled at Union Street Studios in Oxford to record a demo,[1] with Adam Franklin shifting to lead vocals and his brother singing backup.

Growing tired of the local scene, the group had decided to head to London, and there they met drummer and Edinburgh-native Graham Bonnar, formerly of the post-punk band The Shattered Family.

Swervedriver's debut offering, Son of Mustang Ford, was released on 16 July 1990[6] and included the song "Kill the Superheroes", one of Franklin's first attempts at writing in an alternate tuning.

[3] Franklin stated in NME, "Son of Mustang Ford was based on the Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas idea – driving around, out of your box, over America's landscapes.

[10] Mary Anne Hobbs called its title track "a cyclone of wild, swollen riff machinery that sounds like it's been played with dislocated shoulder joints.

[2] The group began gaining popularity in the United States, and in early 1991 Swervedriver signed with American label A&M Records[1] and went on their first US tour, a brief run of shows in support of Ned's Atomic Dustbin that kicked off at the Marquee in New York City.

[4] Moulder met the band at Greenhouse studios and there they recorded Never Lose That Feeling,[11] Swervedriver's fourth EP, which featured the Raise outtake "The Watchmakers Hands" and the track "Scrawl and Scream", a slowed-down reworking of "Afterglow".

[16][deprecated source] Just as they started to experience a rise in success, Swervedriver would hit another roadblock—in addition to them losing their manager, following a performance at the Hultsfred Festival in Sweden on 8 August 1992, Vines left to form heavy metal-oriented Skyscraper.

"[11] The album debuted at number 55 in the UK[12] and was critically acclaimed[1]—NME asserted, "you are defied not to sit back, ride its massive cadences, revel in its classical form and sleek lines, and... fall helplessly in love.

[12] The band shot two videos for the single: a self-produced snowboarding excursion at Mount Hood and a big-budget MTV effort set in downtown Los Angeles, which included new bassist George.

[11] Swervedriver set off touring for the album in the UK and then moved to North America in late 1993 to join Shudder to Think and the Smashing Pumpkins,[21] solidifying a strong American following in the process.

Critics and fans alike were drawn to Hindmarsh's deeper, harder-hitting drumming and Franklin's stream-of-consciousness narrative,[2] describing it as "the height of alt-rock badassery ... with a monster guitar riff and chunky rhythm"[20] and a "menacing spaghetti western bite.

[2] Later that year Swervedriver would put out their first single with George on bass, the "limited edition export series, deleted on day of release" 8-track recording, "My Zephyr", on boutique label The Flower Shop.

[4] Initial promo pressings of the record including the additional track "It's All Happening Now" had to be withdrawn after permission to use lyrics lifted from Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" was denied.

[17][24] Ejector Seat Reservation did get some press in mainland Europe (specifically France and Germany)[4] and received significant support from licensee Sony Music in Australia, including an invitation for the group to tour the country at the end of the year,[23] but that did not prevent it from becoming Swervedriver's poorest selling album.

[17][25] During that time, the band also put out a pair of self-produced boutique label seven-inch singles, including the double split "Why Say Yeah" with indie collaboration act Sophia.

[2] Meanwhile, in December 1996 Swervedriver went back into the studio and re-recorded the album track "These Times," citing their growing dislike for the original's faster-paced, Oasis-like sound[27] and a bad experience with one of the label's reps during mixing.

[2][4][28] Considering the recent break with their third label in two years, Hindmarsh stated, "Someone from A&M once told us that it takes four or five listens to a Swervedriver album to see whether you like it or not, and in this marketplace, unless you can hit immediately it's not going to register with people.

[32] Tom Sinclair of Entertainment Weekly concurred: "The sheer heaviness of the old Swervies is much missed, but even on cruise control the band has a singular intensity, not to mention a sharp sense of songcraft.

"[30] Yet, not all reviews were favorable; NME lambasted the effort as an attempt "to bung some lazy-eyed melody swoons, Mexican twangs and comatose rock-outs over the trademark billowing whale flatulence,"[35] and Drop-D Magazine opined, "The slow, druggy pace and fascination with their own weird noises work against them.

The band performed a promo gig opening for Hum on 26 February 1998 at Irving Plaza in New York[29] and kicked off a North American stint in late May with acts such as Sianspheric,[4] The Dandy Warhols, and Beck.

[26][37] The 6 July 1998 single "Wrong Treats" ("These Times" in Australia) would be the band's last offering before their ultimate hiatus and featured the instrumental "Homeless Homecoming", a recording begun during a soundcheck at the Metro Club in Sydney, and a cover of T. Rex's "Château in Virginia Waters".

[29] The two-CD anthology featured four previously unreleased songs, including Shake Appeal's "Son of Mustang Ford" demo from 1989 and the remainder of Swervedriver's 1998 recordings, "Just Sometimes" and the orchestral string accompanied "Neon Lights Glow".

On the heels of the tour's success, remastered and extended editions of Raise, Mezcal Head, and Ejector Seat Reservation were reissued in the UK by Sony BMG on 13 October 2008.

[49] This first mini-tour culminated at the three-day All Tomorrow's Parties music festival at Butlin's holiday camp in Minehead from 4–6 December 2009, in which they shared a lineup with the likes of My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, Buzzcocks, and Bob Mould.

In mid-June 2011, the band hit the three major US cities and Toronto with Mikey Jones of Bolts of Melody and Brooklyn dream pop act Heaven filling in for Bonnar, who was unavailable.

[49] In preparation for an early 2012 American tour, Swervedriver appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on 26 March 2012, performing their debut single "Son of Mustang Ford" and premiering the song "Deep Wound", their first new material in 14 years, which was mixed and engineered by Albert Di Fiore.