
Nicole Brice
Jun 2, 2025
Biff Swenson is helping to foster a community of independent creatives.
When I first discovered the Asbury Park music scene, I found it to be a vibrant mix of sounds and genres, offering something for everyone, and I wanted to learn more. However, I didn’t know much about the locals who make things happen. Enter Biff Swenson. Biff is a key player in this community of creatives, as he plays in eight different bands and organizes the Happy Mondays series at The Wonder Bar, a role he has maintained since a couple of years after the COVID-19 pandemic along with his fellow musician and co-conspirator Brian Erickson.

The Happy Mondays series is a showcase that offers a platform for local musicians, particularly at a time when many venues tend to focus primarily on cover bands and established artists. No particular format or genre rules are in place, as Biff is a multi-talented instrumentalist and vocalist himself, who fills various roles across his own projects, contributing whatever is needed. After a decade of being in existence, the Happy Mondays series has proven to be an excellent community outreach staple for the original music community of Asbury Park, New Jersey, and Biff is one of the guys that makes it happen.

Our favorite New Jersey photographer, Jeff Crespi, has echoed these sentiments about the Happy Mondays series and its impact on the scene:
“With all the smaller venues closing up, having Happy Mondays at a professional, well-known venue is incredibly essential. Professional audio and visual components on top of getting paid, and a stacked green room with snacks and drinks provided.”
When I first heard about Biff, I was intrigued to explore his music, but I was left wondering: which band should I check out to get me started? With so many options to choose from, it was overwhelming, but I managed to dive into at least three, and after completing this interview, I had many more to check out.

Biff Swenson is a genuine Renaissance man, dedicating his time to a diverse range of projects that span nearly every genre. His infectious enthusiasm makes him an invaluable asset to the Asbury Park music scene. Through an introduction from one of my favorite people, Jeff Crespi, I had the opportunity to learn more about Biff and his various endeavors. Although he initially presents as a typical alternative music enthusiast when you first meet him, our conversations revealed a much deeper and more complex personality. One full of laughter and wisdom. His creative passion is a driving force behind the Happy Mondays series, which he aims to keep inclusive and open to all styles and genres. If you ask him to book you, he will, regardless of whether he likes your music, as Happy Mondays is dedicated to fostering a community of independent creatives.
Biff is THE man with many plans, and they usually involve more people. Read on to learn more.
MaM: So, let’s dive in – I’ve heard you play in six bands. Tell me a little more about that.
Biff: It’s actually eight.
(laughter)
MaM: Wow … eight bands … tell me what the genres are and the differences between them all?
Biff: We have a very incestual crew.
(laughter)
There are four core guys, and between them, there are probably 15 or 16 bands total. We mostly just all play for each other. With Grasser, I write all the lyrics, but I’m not necessarily the lead singer. Dana Why is the singer of Grasser’s solo project, but we all play as his backing band. Bristler is Rudy’s band that he fronts, but then Dana and I are his rhythm section, so it’s like we’re aging.
(laughter)
We found the people who are willing to work hard and are not thrown off by the manner in which we carry ourselves. We jokingly say, at this point, it’s just mental illness.
(laughter)
Everytime we add a new band, we’re just unwell.
(laughter)
We found a really cool group of people, and this is our “golf”. What else are we gonna do? Sit around and watch TV? We spend most nights in our rehearsal space and studio. Some nights, we’re recording from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. for Bristler, and then from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., we have Grasser practice. After that, we’ll do a shoot for a Yawn Mower music video. So, it’s usually seven days a week, and we miss most holidays.
(laughter)

MaM: Sounds about right. So, what bands are we missing? You mentioned Grasser, Dana Why, Bristler, Yawn Mower, and what else?
Biff: Grasser is like a genre-less pop R&B hip-hop infused, but very punk rock ethos of DIY. We handle everything from engineering and mixing to mastering, artwork, photography, music videos, and more. The hardest thing to pull off with that band is live shows because it’s an eight-piece band. It began as a mostly recording project, which we eventually turned into a live band. It’s the most fun to do, but the most difficult to wrangle in and make happen. Yawn Mower is our most active band, and the one that I’ve been doing the longest. We hit ten years in August. That band started as a fuzzy rock two-piece, but at this point, members of all the other bands have joined, and it’s become a full band. We tour the most and even played at the Sea.Hear.Now.Festival a couple of years ago. It was the biggest thing we’ve ever done. Yawn Mower gets the most opportunities just based on how long we’ve been doing it. Bristler is a subdued indie rock band, reminiscent of Minus the Bear, Death Cab for Cutie, and Modest Mouse.
MaM: Hell yeah
Biff: Dana produces and sings for Grasser so that you would expect a lot of overlapping. He’s very introverted and maximalist, so most of his songs are pretty long, and they feel more cinematic than they do rock. It’s very ethereal, and you cannot passively listen to Dana’s music. If you’re not looking to hear an album, then it’s not for you.
MaM: Right?
Biff: So, some people find that one to be the most difficult to dive into, but it’s rewarding. He spends the most time on the most minute details that only a music fan is going to acknowledge or appreciate. Prop House is my newest band. I play bass in that band, whereas in my other bands, I typically play drums. It’s got like a 2000s emo revival sound, kind of like Thursday or Title Fight.

MaM: That’s awesome. I don’t know how you do it all. So, I have been told you are THE person to speak to about booking a show for Happy Mondays at the Wonder Bar in Asbury Park. Tell me a little more about how you got involved with that?
Biff: The series started in town over a decade ago, and it’s switched hands many times. I believe I may be the sixth person to take over this role. I do all this with Brian Erickson; he’s in a few bands around town. It was a staple here. We used to have a lot of smaller venues – 150-capacity rooms. There was a place called The Saint, and if you started a band, your first show was always at The Saint. It was never a “no”. Always allowed. We lost it after COVID, and so there are no real small rooms anymore, and the ones that are still out there don’t have sound, lights, or a stage. They’re all DIY. Post-COVID, Happy Mondays still hadn’t come back, and I reached out to see what I could do since we are an original music town. Ended up finding out that Brian had reached out before me, so they had the idea of us just doing it together. We took it back over, and this is our third year doing it. It’s community outreach. It does not make money, but it’s where new bands started. That’s what it always was. Have you heard of the band Separatr?
MaM: Yes! Love them! I actually got to interview them twice. They have had quite a journey.
Biff: The first week they were in town, they approached me about booking a show, and it was a no-brainer after they told me their story. I was like, done. You guys can play. Anyone who has committed their lives to music to move across the country, like them, deserves to play. Booking Happy Mondays for me is about building connections and networking. It’s not that I enjoy booking shows I’m not playing, but every week when I’m feeling down and out or burnt out, there’s always one person who comes up to me at a Happy Mondays show and says the right thing at the right time, and then it all makes sense. This is very affirming. This is why it exists. Since I’m a drummer and I live in town, I always seem to have a spare drum kit in my car.
(laugher)
Biff: So many weeks, though, someone will show up and not have a drum set, so I’m like, ‘You can use mine.’ Then they’ll ask me, ‘Are you playing tonight?’, and I’m like ‘no.’
(laughter)

MaM: Just gotta have that extra drum kit no matter what.
Biff: Sometimes, they’ll go, ‘I don’t have a bass amp.’ I’ll be like, ‘No problem. My rehearsal space is just down the street. I’ll be right back.’ It’s about community.
MaM: I’ve got a curveball for you, so we have a huge cover band scene down here. Sometimes, it can be overwhelming because a good majority of the venues will only book you if you play covers. What’s the cover band scene like up there in Jersey? Tell us a little more about the scene up there in general.
Biff: Well, New Jersey, in general, is like cover band central. Asbury is an original music city, but ya know. Well, once COVID was over, I actually was in a cover band for a couple of years, and did it for money, but left because it wasn’t what I wanted to play, and it wasn’t fulfilling. Playing ‘Flagpole Sitta’ every night just wasn’t doing it for me.
MaM: Throw a little Harvey Danger in there, why not …
(laughter)
Biff: The people I was in that cover band with were all guys from original bands, and after two years of not a single free weekend, we decided it was dumb. I think Asbury is Bruce country, and so there are a ton of classic Bruce-esque cover bands. People do respect you more for doing original music here, but nobody is shitting on cover bands. We have New Brunswick, which is about an hour away from here, and it is punk. 110% DIY punk. It’s where all the house shows are. If a band isn’t from Asbury, they are from New Brunswick. That would be the alternative. Then there is Jersey City, which is pretty much New York. It’s right at the top of the state, and you can see New York from there. They have a really cool music scene, but it’s really lo-fi. It’s punk in ethos, but dogshit in quality. People don’t mind out of tune guitars and piss drunk singers. Always a packed house. Jersey City has a place called Pet Shop, and it’s just a bar. No stage. No PA. No lights. But 100-150 people are going to be there every night. It’s one of the only hubs to see that type of stuff. Outside of those three scenes, though, it’s just cover bands.

MaM: When did you first discover your love for music, and what band made you want to play music?
Biff: There’s a couple of pillar points with this. Even today, I love hip-hop. I listen to more hip-hop than I do new bands because bands are getting worse.
(laughter)
Biff: At a young age, I got into rap, and then my sister, who is seven years older than me, brought home Green Day’s Dookie on cassette, knowing I was into hip-hop. She was like, ‘Yo, these guys curse a lot.’ I was like, ‘That’s pretty cool,’ so I listened to it, and that was the first time rock music seemed cool to me. It wasn’t all 80s hair metal. After a few more years, around sixth grade, I discovered Blink-182, and they are 100% the reason I started playing music. As a drummer, even today, my friends often tease me because I tend to overplay the drums. I’m always in the pocket. I’m always like, ‘We could put a ton of shit there! This song could use a little more. Travis Barker would put a fill right there.’
(laughter)

MaM: So, you become like Animal from Muppet Babies?
(laughter)
Biff: Exactly. I’ve been told that I look like Animal when I’m playing, but I don’t care about what I look like when I play. I only care about how it sounds. My first real concert was actually Green Day and Blink-182 together.
MaM: Wow, I think I remember that – what year was that?
Biff: 1999? Maybe? Around then.
MaM: I’ve never seen Blink live, but I saw Green Day in like 2003? Maybe?
Biff: It was The Pop Disaster Tour, if I remember, and Saves the Day opened.
MaM: I used to love Saves the Day. They just dropped off the face of the earth.
Biff: That day, though, I was watching Green Day pull kids on stage on the biggest stage in Jersey, in my eyes, and I was thinking about how I could do that and achieve that. Another thing, too, I was a church kid. Grew up around the church and even played in the church band. That’s how a lot of musicians cut their teeth playing music, though, because the church can’t exactly tell you no. After all, you’re doing it for the Lord. Oddly enough, the church influenced my music playing as much as Blink-182’s dick and fart jokes did.
(laughter)

MaM: So, do you only play bass and drums, or can you play guitar, too? What’s your favorite instrument to play?
Biff: I can play guitar, too, but I’m so bad in comparison to all of my friends. Drums are the one I am most comfortable on, and you can see the most of my personality in them. I’ve put in over 10,000 hours on the drums.
(laughter)
That’s the one where I’m reliable. I sing in Grasser, and that’s the most fun. I’ve been sitting down at my instrument for over 20 years, so any opportunity to stand at the front of the stage, and I’m like, ‘It’s really cool up here. You guys must have a lot of fun up here.’ I’m most able to serve a song on drums. When I play bass, it’s just like … tell me what to play. It’s so rare that I’m like, ‘What about this?’
(laughter)
Bass is just the rhythm section. I like to play the bass for the drummer, but I’m never playing to make people be like, ‘Yo, the bassist is really good!’
(laughter)
No, it’s like, the bassist made the drummer look really good.
(laughter)

MaM: When it comes to writing new music for one of your gazillion bands, how do you approach that?
Biff: It used to be compartmentalized, but in the last few years, it’s been more of an amalgamation of all of it. For Grasser, I'll demo the whole song, from soup to nuts, including bass, drums, vocals, and then I’ll send it to the group. Anything is up for change, so if the guitar part sucks, just delete it. Bristler is all Rudy. Dana Why is all him. Yawn Mower, the singer, Mike would write everything, and I’m just drumming on it. Since we became a full band, we have become a collective. Since the collective has been active as a group, it has been a collaborative writing process.

Our new album is coming out soon. On that, I started three of the songs on guitar, Dana began two, and Mike brought full fleshed out ideas, but was open to all of us. As a singer, that’s fun. Now, I can write a whole melody and a batch of lyrics I would not have come up with on my own. It started with Grasser. I love to free associate. I love to riff. Eventually, it becomes this Frankenstein sentence that means nothing to nobody, but that’s when I think it’s a great idea to use it. We spend so much time together that we have our own language. We’re slowly not using regular words anymore.
(laughter)
By November, the four of us will have put out twenty albums in two years.
Yes, you read that last line correctly. Biff Swenson is undoubtedly a seasoned artist and musician who will continue making music as long as he can. His dedication is truly inspiring, and I'm excited to see what he does next. I highly recommend that you create a list of the bands he has mentioned, look them up, and give their music a listen, and if you are in the Asbury Park area, stop in at the Wonderbar and discover some new talent.
Where to learn more about Biff and his gazillion bands:
*Photos by the one and only Jeff Crespi
Questions or comments? Reach out to us at mixedalternativemag@gmail.com.