Neil Boland’s Hawker Heights was born out of the blues in 2017, that in 2024 has phoenix-ed from the brink of extinction as a groove unit mostly dedicated to the grease and grind of NOLA funk and soul.
Less chin-scratching, more arse moving. That’s the motto for Hawker Heights now, complete with a new lineup of:
Joel Smithard — orgue Hammond/claviers
Craig Strain — basse Fender
Anthony Stanislavski — batterie
Neil Boland — chant/guitare
Door admission from 7:30pm, show kicks off at 8pm.
SEP 19 | Tickets $20 online beforehand, $25 at the door. ALSO, working with Humanitix to donate part proceeds to homelessness charity StreetSmart Australia: https://events.humanitix.com/hawker-heights-at-303-northcote
Neil Boland has been gigging around Melbourne and beyond in various projects and genres for a lot longer than he’d care to admit (since moving here in 2003, good lawd). He’s played a lot of blues, including recording a debut album of Robben Ford-y stuff in 2017, and for 8+ years was guitar player in legendary jazz funk outfit Pickpocket. Neil has also been perpetual sideman for several Melbourne funk and r&b acts such as Deep Street Soul (will they ever return?), Urban Praise, Women of Soul, LISA Faithfull, Fade to Black, Big & Horny, Off The Leash, and Chelsea Wilson, with whom he played at the 2015 Glastonbury festival. And he’s recently revived his own project, Hawker Heights, reducing the blues side of the blues:soul ratio to cover legendary NOLA funk and soul artists such as Professor Longhair, The Meters, Earl King, Jon Cleary, King Floyd and more.
Have a quick listen: https://www.hawkerheights.com/music
Tickets cheaper online than at the door, so get on it: https://events.humanitix.com/hawker-heights-at-303-northcote