| In 2001, when the Swingaraiders Bigand was founded by former members of the EGF Bigband, things were a lot different from the way they are now.
|
| At the very beginning we neither had a place to rehearse nor were our numbers yet complete. We didn´t even have a name. However a place to rehearse in was quickly found.
|
2001 - ceremonial act of the two grammar schools in Forchheim
|
2002 - Altstadtfest in Forcheim
|
After several successful rehearsals in a basement in Hausen, which still is our weekly meeting place, we had our first performance at a ball of a college in Forchheim in july 2001.
|
| Finally our band was completed by a piano player and baritone saxophonist, so there was only a name for the band missing. Several creative but useless suggestions were made but at last we agreed on a suitable name: The Swingaraiders Bigband.
|
2003 - Annafest at "Forchheimer Keller"
|
2003 - Jazz Band Ball at "Heinrich-Lades-Halle" in Erlangen
|
Our first public performance was at the "offene Podium" in the "Junge Theater " in Forchheim, where we surprised the audience with our vocalist David Lugert. But unfortunately David left the band again in 2002 to concentrate on his studies in singing. So we had to look for a new vocalist, male or female, to make our bigband sound complete again.
|
| Together with our new female vocalist Barbara "Babsi" Kraft, who was already theatrically experienced, we were able to enrich our repertoire with some musical highlights like "All that Jazz", "Think" , or "Over the Rainbow".
|
2004 - prohibition-party in Hoyerswerda (Saxony)
|
2004 - morning pint in Volkach ("Schloss Hallburg")
|
With this complement of players we performed at the "Jazz Band Ball" 2003 in Erlangen and delighted the audience with classical bigband sound and retro-Swing.
|
| The newest and at the same time oldest member of our band is Björn "Butz" Kettler. As our new male vocalist he had his debut at a "prohibiton party" in Hoyerswerda.
|
2004 - concert at "Rathaussaal Forchheim"
|
| So the Swingaraiders are now a fullsized bigband, which is more than suitable for dances or as a musical supporting programme. |
