The Basement Swing shook the ears and walls of Bellingham's finest barrooms and basement cocktail parties from the fall of 1997 through the summer of 1999 . We also took the show on the road in Ivan's father's Winnebago and played the west coast from Ferndale to San Francisco. A thriving band in a dead period of the Bellingham music scene.

We played the Showbox in Seattle, The Century Ballroom in Portland, and Cafe du Nord in San Fracisco. Our hearts, however, were always with the non-swing dancing, swingdancers who liked our brand of Swing and strutted, hopped, swang, and swung though our sets with moves of there own-not learned in classes.

The Basement Swing called it quits before it stopped being fun, before everyone decided swing is dead, and perhaps before it's time.
It was a fun ride.

At our first show on Myrtle Street, the makeshift bar in the corner sold all you can drink cocktail cups for five dollars. Noah and Ryan's experimental funk band opened up the show, foreshadowing their eventual takeover of the rhythm section. Greg couldn't keep his bass upright because the ceiling was too low, Clay's friend poured beer down his throat while he struggled to remember the songs, Ivan furiously flipped through his notebook, Al encouraged everyone to 'raise the roof', I got lost in my own game -- playing my one chord solo in "Basin Street"; and ears accustomed to scratchy male vocals, fell head over heals for Sari's singing. One couple stood kissing throughout the whole set, Frank fell in love, and when a novice swing dancing team crashed through a window -- we knew it was working. We played all our songs including Ain't Misbehavin' twice.

The tracks are:

The Basement Swing - Demo is also available.
Recorded in an old dressmakers shop on Champion Street in Bellingham, by Orion, Jason, and Andy of The Reeks and the Wreaks -- the tracks are: