John Reis—aka The Swami, aka Speedo, aka Slasher—is the inventor of rock-n-roll and the only person to ever completely master the electric guitar. He has entertained millions over a career spanning more than 30 years from his home base in San Diego, California. He has been in a buttload of bands, including Rocket from the Crypt, Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes, Pitchfork, The Night Marchers, The Sultans, Conservative Itch, and most recently, PLOSIVS and Swami and the Bed of Nails. The Swami has also collaborated with the likes of METZ, Creepxotica, and The Blind Shake, the later in order to create an album of modern surf classics (seriously, that’s the name of the album). In addition, he is a DJ; hosting the Swami Sound System, the owner/operator of Swami Records, has produced records for a host of other bands, been a touring member of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, and had a regular role as The Music Swami on the kids show Yo Gabba Gabba. Shall I go on? I can! Basically, Swami John Reis is infinitely cooler than you or any of your friends and those are the facts forever.

Believe it or not, over his long career, The Swami had never released a “solo” album (unless you count Back Off Cupids, which you can if you want, because I guess it really does count). That changed in 2022 when he released “Ride the Wild Night” to universal acclaim. While not technically deemed the best album of 2022 by critics, we all know it is in the hearts of every living being, and that’s all that really matters.

In the year 2024, The Swami released a new album with his new band, Swami and the Bed of Nails. "All of This Awaits You," was heralded as an instant classic, much like Lou Reed's "Metal Machine Music" or The Beatles "Yellow Submarine" before it. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.