SWA (band)

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SWA (pronounced swǒ) was an American band originally started as a concept defined by Chuck Dukowski, former bassist of Black Flag, while he was still a member of that band.^[1] The name (which is pronounced like "Swah" and not "S-W-A") was created by assigning an alphabetical value to numbers on a gaming die, then rolling the die three times. Dukowski would later claim that the name was offered up by Joe Carducci and was accepted by the rest of the band, despite Dukowski's own discomfort with it.^[2] SWA has had the dubious distinction of being considered the "worst" band to ever record for SST Records by many label aficionados^[3] and, in one fanzine article, Steve Albini claimed that among the worst things a person could do was "listen to SWA" and "be SWA".^[4] However, others have come to the band's defense.^[5] The band existed from the mid 1980s until 1992 and released five albums on SST Records, all of which are currently out of print.