|
|
|
| Hip-Shakin' West Coast & Chicago Blues | |
| Get Uptown . . . It’s Automatic! | |
| Since the dawn of the millennium, Uptown Hustlers have been upsetting regional clubs 150 nights a year. Crowds respond in delight to the hip-shakin' sounds flowing from the stage, causing them to get off their duffs and strut their stuff! Uptown Hustlers lay down upbeat West Coast blues, and get right to business when it comes to post-war Chicago blues. Uptown Hustlers are the only pure blues band in Utah. They pride themselves on the fact that they DO NOT mix their blues with Top 40 hits from Funk, Rock, Contemporary R&B, or Soul. Rather, they focus on their passion of mixing a variety of blues styles—mainly West Coast and post-war Chicago blues, while including gems from Delta, New Orleans and Kansas City style blues in the show. Two key principles guide, the members of this band: 1) play great music, and 2) have a good time. The theory being if the band is having fun and putting out great music, the audience will respond in kind. So far, the formula has proven absolutely true. "We understand that no matter where we play, we're responsible for making certain the crowd has a good time," says founder and front man Chris Condie. "Connecting with the audience is equally as important to us as playing barn-burning music! Our goal is to have fun. When that happens, the crowd has fun too." After being selected to host the weekly blues jam at The Dead Goat Saloon (Salt Lake's only, and now defunct blues club) Uptown Hustlers pushed hard to expose more people to their brand of blues and quickly secured shows at numerous regional festivals. Moving beyond the borders of the local circuit, they began to tour Southern and Northern Utah, as well as Idaho. Uptown Hustlers were recruited by local clubs to provide entertainment during the 2002 Winter Olympics, hosted by Salt Lake City, as well as each continuing year of the Sundance Film Festival. Toward the end of 2002, just one-year old, the band was performing almost every other day! Most recently, Uptown Hustlers were selected to play the Snowbird Jazz & Blues festival-the longest running jazz & blues festival in Utah. Condie has continued to feature blues in Salt Lake City by producing and hosting two standing-room-only Blues Harmonica Blowouts-the most recent featuring blues legend Junior Watson on guitar. The lineup of the band has changed over the years, as Condie searched for musicians who shared his vision for the band as well as his passion for the West Coast blues sound. With the latest lineup, Condie feels he's found the guys who are both capable and passionate about blues. With Josh Fulero on guitar and vocals, Rob Wilson on drums, and Doug Wright on upright bass the band has hit full stride. With an impressive jump-start like this, one can only sit back and enjoy the ride as the band continues to grow and move "uptown." |
|
||||||||||