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Well, that may be a BIT much, but when this band is hopping, and the crowd is with us, it's definitely a party! With the music jumping, and the horns blasting out, the energy is almost too much. This may be as close as I'll ever get to playing in a Big Band, and since I grew up on hot Jazz and Big Band, I'm really in my element here. I guess by now the Jivewires have become a bit of an Ottawa institution, having been formed in 1989 by trombonist / singer Steve Berndt from the remains of the old BCP swing band (trombonists don't get too many gigs, so keeping one going is a good idea). I took over the drum chair in Sept. '94, and 3 weeks later the band recorded its second CD, Jive-O-Matic. Talk about trial by fire! With the release of our newest CD "Laughin in the Poorhouse" we now have four recordings under our belt. And with this CD I make my songwriting debut with the band. And I've been pleasantly suprised to find that one of my two songs even received some radio airplay! The one good thing that came of the recent now-it's-here, now-it's-gone Swing revival was that many people learned how to Jive and Swing-dance. The Jives aren't really a Swing band (that is, we don't play any Glenn Miller tunes if we don't have to), but we do have fun playing to good crowds on the dance circuit and in nightclubs all over the Northeast States, including Albany, Boston, New York City, and Washington, DC. (In the past the band even did three tours of the British Isles.) To get the whole scoop you should visit our website at Jivewires.com, where you'll also find a few mp3s. New for 10/05: Here's a an mp3 for your enjoyment. It's a tune I wrote that's on the band's most recent CD, and it's called My Eggs are Getting Cold |