By Kelsey Knott • Photos Shot with analog film by Aaron Tyler @broad_arrow_
Before The Monarch was The Monarch as we know it, it was Bearno’s Pizza where Sydney Sleadd performed her first open mic night. Shakily playing her three original songs then, it’s a full circle moment for the Middletown native to enter the building and find creative companionship.
With a light-up keyboard her mother gifted her, Sleadd trained her musical ear from an early age, pursuing the country genre at first: “For whatever reason, I could only write country songs. I’m a storyteller by nature.” Under the stage name Alabama Brown and the Inside Outlaws, twenty-year-old Sydney met some success, landing a small record label. When the band broke up, it was time for her to “grow up,” she says: “I had a daughter, and I’m very open about this part of my story, but I needed to get sober.” Fast forward to 18 months ago, and musicians from her Alabama Brown days reconnected to become her current act, Sydney Sleadd and The Swarm.
When making music, Sleadd believes in collaboration and play: “It’s almost childlike. It’s like playing–tapping in and making weird sounds… We’re going to create and not judge it, have fun, and make weird noises–let the magic fill the room. It’s been a beautiful and healing experience for me.” With J Mitchell on electric guitar, Kolby Tatom on drums, and Keith Sampson on bass, The Swarm is a powerhouse force that lends their years of individual musical experience to this project.
The Swarm is genre-fluid, but they still lean Americana. Influenced by traditional country storytellers like Cash, Cline, Jennings, Parsons, and Prine who have long been known for songs with complex characters struggling through addiction, sex, and loss. Sleadd & The Swarm finally create a space for complicated female characters to exist as well. “One of my favorite songwriters is John Prine. He writes about the human experience, whether in an overarching sense or by creating a character and exploring their story…There might be people who don’t want to hear about some girl getting high and hitchhiking. Good. Be uncomfortable with it. People like me exist; you know?” Female protagonists causing trouble helps work to remove a double standard in a way that artists of the past couldn’t.
Sydney’s powerful voice on Creature Untamed can instantly hook listeners, but her vulnerable songwriting shouldn’t be overlooked: “Compliments around my songwriting are much more personal because I feel like I’ve earned it. I spent time cultivating that.” She emphasizes that there’s no wrong way to write a song and an artist’s process is individual and personal: “I usually write the entire song in one sitting and sometimes I won’t even tweak it. It’s almost coming through me, not from me.” When she’s called to write, she stops, drops, and writes, hoping listeners feel seen and less alone. “I wrote as a means of survival for a long time, especially pre-sobriety to process emotions and make sense of the world. I want people to feel something, whether that’s joy, connection, or grief.”
Sleadd & The Swarm know that the “everybody can win” mentality makes The Monarch special. Sydney says, “You can’t talk about Louisville without talking about The Monarch. Artists who don’t live here say they feel isolation from fear of competitiveness… here, there’s one record label, and they’re great, but we’re not all trying to get the same prize. We’ll allmake it–whatever that looks like to us.” They also commend Mark Roberts’s commitment to making artists in the communityknown. “Mark is a gem in this city. He will speak my name in every room full of opportunities, and any of these artists he’s gotten to know here. He’s dedicated so much time, love, and passion…This place doesn’t exist anywhere else. We have a listening room where people aren’t screaming ‘Free Bird!’ or talking amongst themselves.” The music industry is a grind and “spits people out,” so Sleadd and The Swarm are grateful to have found what works for them as a band.
Performing live is where Sleadd & The Swarm have the most fun. “The hope is whoever feels alone hears the song and feels a little less alone, especially in live performances. I’m spilling my guts out on the floor, and I can see you crying relating to my gut-spilling. In that moment, you’re a stranger, but here we are together. That’s the coolest part. …You need the people to create the energy.”
Sydney Sleadd and The Swarm swept the 2024 LEO Weekly awards: Best Band of the Year, Best Album of the Year, and Best Song of the Year. Beyond Louisville, fans exist as far as Australia and Brazil. Listen to Creature Untamed now, and stay tuned for the release of new singles!