The time that a band stays together can sometimes be akin to dog years. The more aged bands are truly impressive considering how many break up, often after a year or two.
One local group—the Swing Shift Band—has gone through plenty of personnel changes over the years, explained the band’s leader Bernie Espinoza, but the group has continually performed on the Central Coast for 25 years now.
Espinoza founded the Swing Shift Band when he moved to the area from Los Angeles in 1989, he explained, and the group has been dishing out fresh funk and rocking rhythms in one form or another ever since.
“We started out wanting to do classic rock primarily. But you know what? Once we started getting more gigs, I kind of liked playing a lot of different kinds of music, like R&B, funk, Latin rock, blues, a little bit of country, and a little bit of swing,” Espinoza said. “We incorporate all of that, and I think that’s why we’ve been getting all these gigs over the years.”
Espinoza is the lead vocalist for the Swing Shift Band. He also blows a mean harmonica, which comes in handy on bluesy songs. One of his “longest tenured” band members is drummer Jerry Watson, he explained. Other members include bassist Bob Goff and keyboard player Charles Forssi. The group’s guitarist is Tom Bennett, whom locals might recognize from behind the counter at Owen’s Music in Santa Maria.
Together, the group has performed gigs up and down the Central Coast, from their regular haunt at Shell Café in Pismo Beach to DJ’s Saloon in Lompoc. Their next gig is at the Gold Rush Cantina, which is a part of Rancho Nipomo just over the Santa Maria River Bridge.
“We’ve been playing at the Gold Rush before it was the Gold Rush, when we performed on the patio for Rancho Nipomo,” Espinoza said. “We’ve been playing there almost from when it started, and we’re always happy to play there and look forward to it.”
Back in those days the members of the Swing Shift Band were quite different, Espinoza said, but he’s on friendly terms with musicians who have played in the group throughout the years.
It also helps to have lots of friends when a band member can’t make a gig for whatever reason, he said.
“The lineup changes sometimes, because sometimes the guys aren’t available,” he said, “but I’ve just been blessed with the ability to always find guys who want to play and love to play.”
The Swing Shift Band is a cover group, Espinoza explained, and their mission is always to provide a good time with familiar tunes.
Whether audiences want to dance or not, he said, the group is always at the top of their game with rhythm and style.
“I have a saying in the band, and that’s, ‘It’s only a party.’ I don’t mean that in a knock-down, drag-out, rowdy person party, I mean it in a way of old friends and new friends getting together,” he said. “So, whether we’re there and they’re dancing or whether we are just background music to a good conversation, it’s all good in that regard.”
Arts Editor Joe Payne has jammed with the Swing Shift Band on one occasion. Contact him at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Mar 3-10, 2016.
