The first time the Adelaide-based Swiftly Covered performed in May 2021, lead singer Brittany Trueack says the 500 people in the venue roared the lyrics at such a volume that she and the band couldn’t hear over the foldbacks.

“Our band was just whaaaaat, because it was being shouted at us so loudly,” Brittany tells CityMag of the Fat Controller gig.

“I just had to trust that everybody was singing in pitch because I really felt it was that loud. I was not prepared for the sound of that.

“But I think that’s the energy and the spirit of Taylor Swift: screeching the words.”

Swiftly Covered comprises lead singer Brittany (of garage-pop group Rose Clouseau), guitarist Cahli Blakers (of pop-punk powerhouse Teenage Joans), violinist Thea Martin (of noise band Twine), Mia Neale (of indie-pop two-piece Mum Friends), pianist and scene stalwart Abby Faye, and drummer Drana (of Bec Stevens and Rose Clouseau).

The star-studded outfit will take to the stage for the second time on Saturday 26 August at North Terrace live music venue Lion Arts Factory for a night dedicated to worshipping the queen of folk and indie-pop, Taylor Swift.

“We are all going to be inherently having the time of our lives,” Brittany says. “They should expect costume changes, niche references, samples, choreography and more.”

The band will play an hour-and-a-half setlist of 13 songs, which according to Brittany and those educated in Swift lore, is a significant number of tracks.

“She writes the number 13 on her hand when she performs, [and] she’s quite superstitious,” Brittany explains.

Swifties go nuts for Swiftly Covered at their first gig.

The idea to start a Taylor Swift cover band was cooked up in the depths of the pandemic. The engineer of the cover band, Brittany, says she was living by herself, working from home and feeling “quite lonely”. She figured crooning the songs of ‘Love Story’ to other aficionados would save her.

“I was like, ‘What if I do a Taylor Swift cover night?’ And then I rang up the booking agent at Fat Controller, Rachie (Rachel) Whitford, and I asked her if I could do a night and she was like, ‘Do you want May 6?’” Brittany says.

“I just like rang everybody who is now in the band and they all immediately were like ‘Yes!’”

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, Taylor Swift, aka the queen of the acoustic guitar, ballads and tear-drops, has dominated the news cycle of late.

Tickets for her upcoming 2024 Eras global tour, with stops in Melbourne and Sydney, broke the internet. The Victorian state minister for tourism, sport and major events, Steve Dimopoulos, gave the Melbourne Cricket Ground concert “major status” to combat scalping.

Taylor Swift is not stopping in South Australia as part of Eras, but Brittany wants Swiftly Covered to fill that void, even for some of her Adelaide bandmates.

“Some people in my band got tickets to Eras but some didn’t so for them, so I think this is the closest thing they’re going to get [to it] for a while,” she says.

“But I see this show as a great chance for Swifties to get together.

“For me, it feels like I’m a part of a sporting club in a way and we are having a gathering – a big meeting – for the Swifties.”