Swamp Dawkins ~ Dust Your Boots Off!
Bushdances & Barndances, Hoedowns & Honkytonks, Country Dances & Wild West Nights, Iconic Australian Music & Classic American Roadhouse Country
We’ve been invited by SportsNet holidays to play for their guest several times and this one, on board the John Cadman II was fantastic. The cruise was part of the NRL Grand Final pre-game entertainment for the SportsNet guests… absolute pleasure to play for everyone on their way to the stadium.
Thanks to Donna and Paul Wallis for having us play at your combined 50th birthdays and 25h wedding anniversary! The band made a weekend roadtrip of it – staying at the Argyle Inn ,Taralaga just 10mins from Donna and Paul’s property.
The property had a beautiful sunset view from the marquis on the hill while we played some quiet music over dinner to settle everyone in before the tables were cleared for dancing.
After a few heart-pumping songs that got everyone on the dance floor we slipped into a couple of bushdances before having a break for the formalities. After a few speeches, we settled into the rest of the evening with anything and everything from our catalogue of songs that kept everyone on the dance floor.
We even got to roll out Mamma Mia by ABBA and Livin’ on a Prayer by Bon Jovi – surely we must be the only bushband around the traps who can start the night with Kenny Rogers before finishing with ABBA, AC/DC and Bon Jovi whilst fitting in bushdances in between!
One of the guest gave us a great compliment when he said “you guys can do everything” and another guest who said “there was something for everyone – no-one had an excuse not to dance!”. That’s what we love to hear – everyone, young and old, was up and at it!
TESTIMONIAL
We had a fantastic gig recently down at a beautiful property between Bundanoon and Exeter for a couple celebrating a 70th birthday and the unveiling of a completely restored historic barn!
We had a special request for music from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s and so the night was a mix of bushdancing and dance hits from the 60’s – She’s so fine (Easybeats), I saw her standing there (Beatles), Route 66 (Rolling Stones), Johnny B Good (Chuck Berry), Summertime Blues (Eddie Cochrane) just to name a few.
Our hosts put on a fantastic night – from the catering, to the setting, the support band performing music before dinner from a local couple, and then the night of endless dancing with Swamp Dawkins.
As far as parties go – we do a lot of 21sts, 30ths, 40ths and 50ths – but this was our first 70th and they definitely showed us you are as young as you feel! A very memorable night all round.
A memorable night aboard the MSC Orchestra playing to their passengers and guests to celebrate St Patrick’s Day and welcome everyone to beautiful Sydney.
Our brief was Australian music with a special request for “I still call Australia Home” and something worthy of St Patrick’s Day celebrations – many of the passengers were from Europe and wanted a taste of Australia, and the rest of the passengers were Australian and were in the mood for a taste of home.
We took a musical trip through Australian music – the Easybeats from the 60’s, AC/DC from the 70’s, Men at Work from the 80’s, Paul Kelly and INXS from the 90’s (give or take a few decades in that list!) and slipped in some bushdancing in the middle with an Irish jig to keep St Patrick smiling.
It’s proving to be a great formula – mixing well known songs done in our own Swampy style with bush, barn and square dancing to get everyone involved. When people book Swamp Dawkins for their events they have an idea or a theme in mind, but the key aim of the event is getting people on the dance floor and enjoying the party – that’s what we do!
Thanks to all the passengers and crew from the MSC Orchestra for having us look after you and welcome you to Sydney! Check out our photos in our gallery or on Facebook.
TESTIMONIAL
Thanks again to Sydney University’s Wesley College for having Swamp Dawkins play your annual bushdance during O-Week celebrations – what an awesome to top off the week!
Another great night of live music and bush, barn, and square dancing – and getting chaotic with a mix of great hits by Kenny Rogers, Johhny Cash, Paul Kelly and AC/DC just to name a few!
Look forward to doing it again next year!
I get interesting phone calls every other day from people wanting to book us, a bit like this one that I got one morning while having breakfast:
“We’d like to book your band”….. Sure
“For three hours of Australiana”……. Sure. Any dancing?
“Nope, just music, 4.30pm-7.30pm”…… Ok.
“It’s in relation to the Asian Cup”…….I see….<put down the newspaper>
“It’s for this Saturday”….ok <spill the coffee>
“It’s at Stadium Australia”…..No way! <standing up escaping the spilt coffee and almost choking on the bagel>
So that was it – after 30 seconds – we were booked to play to 80,000 people at Stadium Australia for three hours, to energise the crowd as they arrived to see our Socceroos take on South Korea!
We were set up at the main entrance to the Stadium on the concourse as part of the Spectator Activation – organised by the “Twenty3 Group”.
The Asian Cup organisers had engaged the Twenty3 Group to put on activities and entertainment for each game as part of the tournament and they wanted some Australian music to get everyone fired up and put some Australian culture on show.
And that we did!!
We played everything from Waltzing Matilda through to Paul Kelly, Men at Work and Jimmy Barnes and plenty in between – it was the day for Australian music to be played, along with greetings of “Anyong Haseyo!” for all the Korean supporters!
Having spent a few years in Seoul – some of it during the 2002 Soccer World Cup – I’d had plenty of time barracking for South Korea with the millions (yep- literally millions) of fans in red near Namdaemun gates and in the central square of Seoul during that tournament yelling “Dae Han Min Guk”.
It was a great opportunity to rustle up some of my Korean for the day to help everyone feel a little bit at home. Lots of great memories brought back for sure but this time with the Socceroos playing, and in our own backyard!
Fantastic day to say the least with such an epic game of football. Thanks to Sarah from the Twenty3 Group for booking us and also to Billy on the day for looking after us. Check out our photos which you can also share through the Swamp Dawkins Facebook page.