The Louisville Sluggers
The Louisville Sluggers, also known as The Sluggers, were an Australian Swing Revival band from Sydney formed in the late '90s by Glenn 'Nugget' Scott and his sister, 'The Boss'.
Their vision was of a swingin' show with a big band sound, stylin' threads, and songs everyone could dance to. The band took their name from the popular baseball bat commonly known as a "Louisville Slugger" because what does one do with a baseball bat? – you swing it. This flash of inspiration took place outside the doors of the beautiful "art deco" Enmore Theatre located in Sydney, after the band's very first photo shoot.
Bandleader and drummer 'Nugget' was rapping in hip-hop clubs at 16, drumming in the hardcore band "Pitbull Attack", and skating professionally as well, until his constantly recurring injuries forced him off the ice. With some influence from his sister, 'The Boss' and her musical tastes in Ska, Swing, Rockabilly, and anything retro from their parents' era, they set out to find others with the same passion. Six months later they had found enough members for their first rehearsal.This included the boss also meeting Gil Morgan working at the well known Darlinghurst store Route 66 who would become the band's first guitarist and one of the principal songwriters penning the songs Masterplan and the solid crowd favourite Delores (The Unstoppable) the first lineup included the singing talents of Ms Julijani Vasilkov who also contributed lyrics to several compositions as well, eventually they were fronted by Miss Melanie Alexander.
Within one month of their first rehearsal and with only five songs down, 'The Boss' had them booked on the Vans Warped Tour. The Louisville Sluggers success continued on with many live shows and extensive touring. They scored stints as the house band on the Nine Network's short-lived programs Sam and The Fatman and Our Place.
The band gained international attention, most notably making it to number one on the American swing website SwingTop40.com with the song "Time For Swingin'" they also made it to number three twice with the tracks "Well Swung" and "Hey Honey, Please".
After seven years of performance, the band played their final show at Sydney's The Basement in October 2005.
Former members
(in alphabetical order)
- Gil Morgan Guitar and songwriter
- Al Lew aka "Big Al" – Bass and double bass
- Brook Ayrton – Trumpet
- Chris Brasche aka "Slugger" – Trumpet
- Daniel Strong – Percussion
- Glenn Scott aka "Boo-Boo" a.k.a. "Nugget" – Drums
- Grant Cummerford aka "Fingers" – Bass and double bass
- Jake Matthews aka "Jnr" – Tenor Saxophone
- Julijana Vasilkov aka "Miss Velvet Vass" – Vocals
- Matt Dwyer aka "Mr. Showbiz" – Guitar
- Melanie Alexander aka "Miss Mel" – Vocals
- Michelle Scott aka "The Boss" – Manager, percussion and backing vocals
- Nick Bowd – Baritone Saxophone
- Peter Wood – Bass and double bass
- Richard Brus – Tenor Saxophone
- Serge Stanley aka "Power" – Saxophone
- Warren Collier aka "Waza" – Guitar
- Will Grahame aka "Scarface" – Keyboards and piano
- Andrew G – Guest Theremin player on the "‘Bout Time" album
Discography
- Time For Swinging (1999)
Tracks: 1) Time for swinging 2) Masterplan 3) Rockford 4) Blow it baby
- Hey Honey Please (2000)
Tracks: 1) Hey honey, please 2) Well swung 3) Delores the unstoppable 4) Pop the hood!
- All She Had On Was The Radio (2003)
Tracks: 1) All she had on was the radio 2) Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps 3) Multimedia track "Sluggers studio sessions"
- 'Bout Time (2004)
Tracks: 1) Reverend Rumble 2) Radio (All she had on...) 3) Don't boss me 4) Night time 5) Miss Mirradell (The ghost of...) 6)One for my baby 7) Doin' time 8) Sands of time 9) Snake Johnny 10) Number of love 11) Heat 12) Hightime 13) Walk don't run + Well swung (Hidden track)
Appearances:
- Punk stars (2000)
Track: - Masterplan
- Spare shells (A tribute to The Specials) (2001)
Track: - Gangsters
References
- http://www.amo.org.au/artist.asp?id=1187
- http://www.musicaustralia.org/
- http://15min.org/articles/2002/january/16/ootm_1.html
- http://15min.org/articles/2001/january/10/ootm_3.html
- http://www.jumptown.org/Newsletters/jumptown_news_05oct05.txt
External links
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