Rig Rundowns

Will Swan has celebrated and elevated radical guitar music through the course of nine frenetic, volatile Dance Gavin Dance albums, a pair of releases with his psychedelic post-hardcore side project https://www.premierguitar.com/artists/sianvars-will-swan-beautiful-intensity (Sianvar), and the creation of his https://www.blueswanrecords.com/ (Blue Swan Records) label. The common thread is his hue of beautiful dysfunction and his ethos of pushing the instrument (and its sounds) forward. Make no mistake, Swan can play the guitar. His style is equal parts violence and grace, with pit stops at all points between. He terrorizes the frets as well as he tenderly dances on them—and the results can be chaotic or calming. But what most excites him about guitar is making it not sound like a guitar. "I really like those tones that take the guitar far away from its normal sounds," Swan explains. "I like to layer those with typical guitar tones, and to mix cool sounds with interesting-play