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On this day, 8 January 1993, alternative rock band Headswim played Cardiff Bogey’s.
The band originally formed in 1989 in Essex, England under the name Blinder. The initial line-up was Daniel Glendining (guitar/vocals), his brother Tom Glendining (drums), Nick Watts (keyboards/backing vocals) and Matt Pegg (bass guitar).
The band's main influences were grunge and progressive rock and their most successful concerts were two support slots for It Bites in 1989 (one of which was to a capacity audience at the Hammersmith Odeon).
Following Pegg's departure Blinder rethought their approach, reducing the progressive rock elements in their music. Pegg was replaced as bass player by a friend of the band, Clovis Taylor and, by 1992, Blinder had changed their name to Headswim.
Headswim's first releases were two four-track EPs, Tense Nervous Head and Moment of Union, on their own Crush Records label (the eight songs from the two EPs would later be compiled and released as the mini-album Tense Moments). The EPs made enough of an impression for them to be signed by the Sony Music subsidiary Epic Records in an eight-album deal and they released their debut album Flood in 1994.
The album's third single "Crawl" made the UK Singles Chart and the band embarked on their first extensive tour of the UK and Europe. However, the death later that year of Dan and Tom's brother Matthew (who had created all of the band's album artwork up to this point) after a long battle with leukaemia had a profound effect on the group, who took time off to regroup.
