So that you know what’s what, here’s an overview of who’s who at PCX…
BANDS
PCX is really all about the music, so we make it a real focus of the event to get top quality live music playing at as many events as possible! This year we have gone all out to bring you incredible music, bringing a top notch swing band across the ditch just for PCX, who are complemented by a great selection of local Christchurch musicians lined up to wow us!
Andrew Dickeson’s Blue Rhythm Band
Headlining at this year’s Pocket Change Exchange, playing multiple gigs for us, all the way from Sydney Australia, is the acclaimed Blue Rhythm Band!
Who is this band?!?!?
Andrew Dickeson’s “Blue Rhythm Band” is a band for dancers. They do what Basie did – they play 4 solid beats to the bar – and no cheating!
Australian lindy hoppers were looking for a band leader with one foot firmly in the Savoy Ballroom, and the other setting down a rock-solid beat. Andrew had a group of musicians who wanted to play for audiences who could dig what they were doing.
The Blue Rhythm Band is a swinging dance band – playing music created by jazz musicians for the ultimate jazz fans – dancers! Drawing upon the tradition of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Jimmy Lunceford and others – this band is the “real deal” for swing music.
The Blue Rhythm Band has impressed dancers at MLX, SLX, the Little Big Weekend, Jazz with Ramona, the Small Ball, Canberrang, Jumptown Jam, Jazz BANG etc – and is now, without a doubt, Australia’s most popular and in-demand band for swing dancers.
The Blue Rhythm Band is a rock-solid small band built from the rhythm section out – piano, bass and drums operating as a finely tuned unit. Add some sublime saxophone, clarinet and vocals, and you’ve got the cooking 4-piece band that has been “swinging dancers into bad health – then back again” in recent years.
THE RHYTHM SECTION: The most important part of any dance band -a swingin’ drummer who knows when to push and when to step back, a “cooking” bass player, and a pianist who can provide beautiful rhythm and melody. Drums – Mr Andrew Dickeson, Piano – Mr Peter Locke, Bass – Mr Ashley Turner
THE FRONT LINE: If the rhythm section is the engine that drives the band, the horns are the colour and light. Mr Brad Child’s soulful and energetic presence in the front row on sax and clarinet, as well as vocals, makes it clear that a great dance band needs to match rhythm with joyous melody.
Thursday 28 November (evening) – River City Jazzmen
One of our favourite local bands, these guys are a great fun six piece Dixie-swing jazz band who play high energy, world class jazz music that’s perfect for dancing to. We can promise you they are not to be missed!
Saturday 30th November (late night) – The Kitsch in Sync
‘The Kitsch in Sync’ is Christchurch’s newest and hottest Swing band, and draws its members from the region’s finest jazz players. The slick and swinging rhythm section – comprised of Nanako Sato (Keys), Tim Sellers (Drums) and Mike Kime (Bass) – ensures that every tune is finger-clicking good, and is guaranteed to get your toes tapping. The front line consists of a 3-piece brass section of Trumpet (Greg Knowles), Trombone (Charlotte Crone) and Saxophone (Matt Davis), and is spearheaded by the incredible Lisa Tui on vocals. Although it’s only a 7-piece band, their shared love of Big-Band music really shines through, and the sophisticated stylings of Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Glenn Miller can clearly be heard from the first count-in to the final coda.
Sunday 1 December (evening) – PCX Jammers!
The PCX Jammers are the most awesome Pocket Change tradition, that dates back to the first year of the exchange – a group of musically minded dancers decided to get together and make a swing band themselves! What could be better than dancers playing for dancers – they know just the type of music and style that is right for everyone to swing out to
!
This year the Jammers crew is captained by Bob Young, who along with a team of experienced and debutante jammers has put together a selection of songs just for this event! This is usually voted the highlight of PCX, so make sure you’re here!!
Friday 29th Nov (late night) – Special DJ feature – DJ Swayzeyhands and DJ Shortie G
Lots of fun on Friday late night! Never fear, the band may finish up but the party will keep going – with beatz in the bluez room being brought to you by Swingtown’s favourite vinyl DJ! DJ Swazeyhands himself will be bringing along his decks and spinning us some sweet blues tunes for you to groove to in a dedicated blues room from 11:30 pm. Then for a bit of a giggle, from 1-2 am DJ Shortie G will join him as back to back and do an out and out dance party! No blues, no lindy just dance floor bangers!!!!! These two crazy cats sure know how to make a party happen!
COMMITTEE
This four day dance party is brought to you by the Swingtown Rebels “Committee of Awesome Events”. Everyone wears multiple hats and pitches in with ideas, effort and enthusiasm to the whole event, but also gets to wear their own special hats (metaphorically speaking)!
Alicia Moggre – Team Captain, Saturday and Sunday daytime event manager, band/venue co-ordinator, hosting co-coordinator, general responder to emails
Nathan Allpress – Artist in Chief, Registrations and volunteer co-coordinator, Friday evening and Sunday late night event manager
Sandra Frank – Website guru, spreadsheet whiz, Thursday night event manager, back-up Sunday afternoon event manager, ice-cream connoisseur
Liz Horton – Promotion honcho, Sunday evening event manager, volunteer co-coordinator
Caroline Halliwell – Saturday late night event manager, design specialist
Rachael v Wichen – Quartermaster (i.e. food supplier), Saturday evening event manager, hosting co-coordinator
This is an enthusiastic, hardworking crew of folks who volunteer large amounts of their time, effort and love behind the scenes to bring this event to you, just for the love of swing dancing and the rewards of seeing so many people enjoying the festival!
If you’ve got a question on the weekend or are simply bubbling over with excitement, find one of these wonderful people, ask a question, have a dance or give them a high five! Equally if you have any concerns or observations regarding safety and happiness of people at the event please come and talk to them, or email swingtownrebels@gmail.com. We promise anything you raise will be taken seriously and treated confidentially. And check out our community guidelines – by attending our events you agree to abide by these,
