We’ve got a fantastic gig coming up at Melross Farm in Kangaroo Valley– check it out!
http://melrossfarm.com.au/barn-dance-at-melross#barn-dance
Community Dance @ Melross Farm, Kangaroo Valley
Honkytonk Team Building @ Pinnacle Events
We’re excited to announce that we’ve teamed up with Pinnacle Events who to launch “Honky Tonk”! Pinnacle are one of the leading staff engagements & team building businesses in Sydney and provide a fantastic array of activities for bringing people together and Honky Tonk is hot of the press for anyone looking for something unique and different for their staff conferences or celebrations!
“An evening event that is sure to get the party started. Honkey Tonk presents a post dinner band formed to host corporate functions and get delegates on the dance floor. The band specialise in Country and Western whole group dances bringing to life Barn, Line, Square and Bush Dancing. The band has an extensive repertoire of Iconic Australian and Americana music performed with musicians of the highest quality and professionalism to deliver a night that your staff or guests will be talking about for years to come.”
Check it out at https://www.pinnacleteamevents.com.au/honkey-tonk.html
Country Dance @ Barcaldine, Queensland
We’ve just got back from an amazing weekend playing up at Barcaldine, Queensland. The amazing Amanda from St Joseph’s school- with 36 students- wanted to get everyone from the school and the community out to enjoy a night together and she arranged the whole night, and with the support of the local council, the school, local businesses and the Queensland Regional Arts Development Fund, she flew us up to do a dance for them as well as a fantastic song-writing workshop with the kids.
Brilliant weekend!
Happy Birthday Tracy!
Thanks to Tracy for inviting us to be part of your 40th birthday hoedown! That Footlose moment was brilliant and thanks to the special guest singers who let go of the shyness (?) at the end of the night!
On the Radio again!
Thanks to 2BS Bathurst for taking the time to interview me to talk about our upcoming gig at the O’Connell Pub! We can’t wait to get back to O’Connell again– we played there last year for their 150th Anniversary and it was a cracking night— looking forward to another one like it! Thanks to Michelle from the pub for inviting us back! And thanks to 2BS for supporting the event and especially for playing my song on your show!
CCCC NSW Conference at Glenworth Valley
We play for a many difference groups in many different settings– indoors, outdoors, barns, boats, bars and everything in between. But last Saturday was close to unbeatable as far as a serene setting goes with a wonderful group of people to match.
Community Child Care Co-operative of NSW invited us to play at their “Ignite” conference. Set in beautiful Glenwoth Valley (Horse Riding) centre, the program was aimed at introducing outdoor elements to child care programs and we were invited to entertain everyone on Saturday night and to get everyone who came– from NZ and up North- Nelson Bay- to the South Coast and Central West of NSW mixing with each other.
The setting of the open paddock, bonfire, tents, and mountains around the base of the valley was a perfect backdrop for us to play and everyone had a fantastic night.
Thanks to CCCC NSW for inviting us to play– it was a very memorable night!
New video!
Hot off the press is this new video– set to the tune of “Even though Paul Kelly”– that introduces Swamp Dawkins, tells you what we do, takes a look at some of the gigs over the past 12months and let’s you know what some of our clients have had to say about us! Click here!
Return to O’Connell Pub
After a cracking weekend earlier in the year to help celebrate the 150th birthday of the Historic O’Connell Pub, Swamp Dawkins have been asked to come back on November 14th for another night of letting loose. Looking forward to being back in O’Connell— and to warmer weather! Thanks to Michelle for hosting us and inviting us back!
Swamp Dawkins at the Dungog Festival
Swamp Dawkins has been invited to play at the upcoming Dungog Festival on Friday 23rd October!
The festival is running from Thursday 22nd-Sunday 25th October and includes short films aswell as music and local food and wine. The full program for the festival will be out in September and go to www.dungogfestival.com.au for moire information where you can subscribe to their newsletter.
Residency at the Garden Tap/ Cooks Garden North Turramurra
We’ve been playing semi-regularly at the Garden Tap North Turramurra– our local! Many people who saw us there would ask when we were playing there next and now we can give you a simple answer! The last Sunday of every month!
Yep– that’s it:
Last Sunday of Every Month
4:00pm onwards
The Garden Tap, North Turramurra
The Garden Tap is the pub associated with the Cooks Garden– come and enjoy the afternoon! Great beers on tap (not your usual suspects), wines by the glass, the world’s best Japanese whisky (if it hasn’t been all drunk by now) and great bar food or book into the restaurant for dinner. Hope to see you there!
Sunday at the Garden Tap
Thanks to Rick and Elizabeth and the crew from the Garden Tap/ Cook’s Garden for having us play again last Sunday– and thanks to everyone who came along to enjoy Rick’s hospitality aswell! It was a packed house and a little rowdier than usual- maybe the stormy weather had wired everyone– we’re not sure but either way it was a great afternoon for everyone. Rememebr– last Sunday of every month from 4pm!
Two 50th’s and a 25th all in one go!
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
A belated birthday and barn opening celebration
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 night by the Harbour Bridge on the MSC Orchestra Cruise Ship
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
Wesley College O-Week Bushdance/Hoedown
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!
Asian Cup Final at Stadium Australia
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.