Soulard
Blues Band
 After
25 years and many incarnations, the Soulard Blues Band
arguably the hardest working band in town - still tears
up the town one show at a time.
It is not every band you run
across that has a mission beyond just steady giggin',
but then again, as one of the longest-lasting acts around
- and with nine straight wins in the "Best Blues
Band" category in a popular local poll - the Soulard
Blues Band is not just any band. As bassist and sole remaining
founder Art Dwyer will tell you, "Our mission always
is just to leave things around a little better than we
found 'em." That ethic applies equally to song arrangements,
the mood of the audience and the entire musical scene
in this city that birthed such towering talents as Miles
Davis, Johnny Johnson, Henry Townsend, Oliver Sain and
many more.
And from all appearances, the mojo is working: the blues
landscape in St.Louis now is "better than it's ever
been since we started out, playing in the intersection
of Menard and Geyer with absolutely no cars or people
coming by to cause us to have to move," Dwyer says.
He formed the Soulard Blues Band in 1978, "just a
long-haired guy in blue jeans and sandals," motivated
in part by memories of the St. Louis of his childhood,
when clubs with names like Shalimar and Oasis and the
Peppermint Lounge and Sadie's Personality Bar jumped with
live music and people "dressed up looking flashy"
any night of the week, and fifty cents' cover got you
in to Ike and Tina Turner's set at the Club Imperial.
"This town has always been alive with world-class
players in neighborhoods all over the city," Dwyer
says, and the rest of his band's roster bears him out.
Guitarist/vocalist John Mondin, guitarist Bob "Bumblebee"
Kamoske, trombonist John "Wolfman" Wolf and
drummer Kirk Grice create music from both originals and
standards that manages to let each player shine without
sacrificing the song to overblown solos. Indeed, that's
one of the goals in group's frequent rehearsals, says
Dwyer:"We are in the business of supporting each
other in playing, to play in unison with each other."
And in so doing, blending seamlessly into the fabric of
a city with a deep history in the blues.
Amanda E. Doyle, Where Magazine
St. Louis, January 2003 |
