Swagger

Artist Information

Biography

Swagger - High Energy Irish Rock:
Swagger has an impressive success story with a proven track record for delivering high energy entertainment. Their onstage antics can really get a crowd bouncing to their music. 2009 Festival season put these lads in front of thousands of new fans across Midwest. Swagger is the ideal band for any venue that wants to deliver a quality show & make a profit as well. Access Film Hollywood hired Swagger to headline their Sundance Film Festival party as well as well as prime showcases in front of industry music directors.
Swagger's sound can be described as a mixture of Irish music given a modern rock twist with a bit of ska thrown in the mix. Their Original material is spot on with great storytelling & clever lyrics. The music is exciting & enviting to the environment of concertgoers & promoters in the Festival arena. Swagger has performed to stellar crowds at the Las Vegas Renaissance Fair, Rampart/Marriott Casino, The RIO, Orleans Casino, Hennessey's Fremont street Experience, Boise Highland Games, Beaver Dam Jam, Deer Valley Concert Series (2007 - 2010) & the Sundance Film Festivals (2007 - 2010). Swagger organized & produced Utah;s 1st. Irish Music Festival at Deer Valley Resort on August 1st. 2011. Fellow rockers "The Young Dubliners" were asked to headline the all day festival with Swagger & several local groups.
Swagger has opened for such artists as The Young Dubliners, Dusty Rhodes River Band, Dweezil Zappa, Citizen Cane & The Prodigals.
Since their 2009 tour, Swagger has garnered many more appearances including the prestigious 2009 G2E Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, the Sundance Film Festival & tour dates with The Young Dubliners in March 2011. Swagger can be found on their annual rotations through Park City, Salt Lake, Reno, Las Vegas, Boise, Sun Valley, Jackson Hole & Denver.
Swagger released (Trouble on the Green) in 2008 which was followed up by their 2nd release "The Grave" in 2011. Their music can be heard in Utah on X96 & KCPW, as well as on the MIX 94.1 Las Vegas & on www.paddyrock.com (Online Internet Radio).
The members of Swagger have enstilled themselves with a goal to bring a quality show that is entertaining with enthusiasm and conviction. Making the audience part of the show & interacting with them in person is the key to their success. Put these lads in front of your next festival & watch them go. They guarantee everyone a great time.

Instrumentation

Rick Butler - Singer/Songwriter, Mandolin & Guitars (801) 550-1140
Dennis Harrington - Singer & Fiddle player
Sam Cottrell - Singer & Guitars
Stephan Wallace - Singer & Bass player
Mark Mottonen - Drums

Eric Slaymaker - Tins Whistle
Michael Gibbs - Bagpipes
Kenny Gordon - Keyboard & Accordion
David Morris - Tour Manager

Discography

"Trouble on the Green" Released March 2008
The Cd is accompanied by a full length DVD Concert filmed at Deer Valley in Park City, Utah.

"The Grave" Released August 1, 2010

Tracks can be heard at :
www.swaggertheband.com
www.myspace.com/swaggertheband
www.paddyrock.com

Official Website

http://swaggertheband.com

Links

• MySpace
• Swagger Photos
• Swagger Video
• Swagger Website
• Swagger Tour

Audio

• Morrison's Jig
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• Whiskey on the floor
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• Paddys in America
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• Piper Down
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• Drunken Sailor
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• Black-n-Tans
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• Mrs. Myrtle's Daughter
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• Miner's Code
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• Trouble On The Green
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• Next time I see her
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Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• Swagger IN Utah [+ Show ]
  

  Written by Amanda Chamberlain for IN Utah This Week Read this article on their site. Cover Story...Written by Amanda Chamberlain for IN Utah This Week
  Read this article on their site.
  
  Cover Story: Sham-rock
  Tired of seeing the same old bands? Switch it up with Swagger’s party-prone Irish rock show.
  
  
  Sam Cottrell is used to being violated in public. He’s no stranger to women feeling him up, or people asking him what kind of underwear he’s wearing.
  
  “When you wear a kilt, people naturally want to see what’s under it,” says Cottrell, who bares his legs in one every time he plays guitar for local Irish rock band, Swagger.
  
  “It’s true,” says mandolin player and lead vocalist Richard Butler. “People try to look up our kilts all the time. That’s the kind of crowd we have.”
  
  Butler adds that Swagger’s crowd -- no matter if it’s during a show at Piper Down or an outdoor slot at Deer Valley -- always responds well to the quintet’s beer-swilling, boot-stomping, string-plucking performances.
  
  “It’s not like other shows where people are sitting down, talking, ignoring the band,” says Butler. “When we play, the crowd is right up around the stage, paying attention to us and the storylines of our songs.”
  
  And in return for the Irish-infused entertainment, the crowd keeps the band boozed up all night, every night.
  
  “The biggest challenge is not becoming an alcoholic!” Butler says, laughing at the fact that he and the other band members “never pay for drinks.”
  
  Aside from partying, Swagger’s pipers mean business. In less than two years of existence, Swagger has established a loyal fanbase and built a reputation that not only affords them decent pay (they claim a minimum of $100 per player, per show), but also repeat gigs. Swagger regularly stirs up Utah’s ski resorts, Park City’s bars and Salt Lake’s Piper Down, and often books new shows -- sometimes without lifting a finger.
  
  “Flanagan’s booked us for their grand opening in Park City on word of mouth alone,” says Butler.
  
  The word is spreading about Irish rock. Butler and Cottrell go as far as to say it’s the next big thing in music. But there’s validity in that, judging by the popularity of Irish punk (Dropkick Murphys, Flogging Molly) and even the formation of a new club night at The Trapp Door, Irish Swagger, where DJs Dustin Dean and Joe Phono spin a mix of Irish and American rock ’n’ roll. Citing the genre’s apparent growth in popularity, Butler says he’s trying to launch a whole festival centered on it.
  
  “I’ve got most everything set up for a Utah Irish festival already,” he says, passion resonating through his voice. “All I really need is an underwriter, and it could happen around St. Patrick’s Day.”
  
  Ambition ever-apparent in Swagger’s pursuits, the band will play at least one show a week through March, starting with five performances at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. This will be the band’s second year playing venues and busking (performing on the street for money) at Sundance, and they hope to gather a turnout similar to the ones they’ve enjoyed in prior years.
  
  “Last year we beat out P. Diddy,” chimes Cottrell. “People were waiting outside in a line to see him. We were playing across the street at JB Mulligans, and soon, a lot of them got tired of waiting and left to come see us!”
  
  Festival-goers who tire of stargazing can trade it for bar-gazing and experience a Swagger show for themselves. And why not? After all, the band says they’ll wait up for you.
  
  Says Butler, “It’s not last call till we’re done!”
  
  

• The Park Record [+ Show ]
  

  Written by Anna Bloom for ParkRecord.com Read this article on their site. Swagger down to Mulliga...Written by Anna Bloom for ParkRecord.com
  Read this article on their site.
  Swagger down to Mulligans' Pub
  Celtic punk band serenades Park City with feverish Irish folk
  ANNA BLOOM, Of the Record staff
  The kilt-clad members of the new Irish rock band Swagger rarely stand still when they perform. They have fiddles and mandolins and guitars made to travel, attached wirelessly to speakers on stage. They regularly cross that sacred line where the stage abuts the dance floor, weaving between a dancing audience, hopping and jigging alongside them.
  
  On a Friday night two weeks ago, Dennis Harrington, fiddle nestled between chest and chin led a charge outside to J.B. Mulligans' deck, where several patrons were enjoying mid-June's evening breeze.
  
  "It's really different than anything you might hear on the radio," explains lead vocalist and mandolin player "Texas" Rick Butler. "It makes you jump up and down and it can make you go crazy."
  
  It's post-punk and it's Celtic folk transcribed into fast-paced rock, and it's the kind of pub music that tends to get people to clap or jig. And finally: "It's the kind of stuff that kids listen to when they want to get away from their parents' music," Butler says. "The college crowd really gets into it."
  
  The songs they sing have names like "Black and Tans," "Trouble on the Green" and "Tell Me Ma," and when Swagger band members sing, they take on rough, Irish matter-of-fact accents, and listeners often find themselves singing along with the refrains.
  
  Butler assembled the band in April after he left the U.S. Mecca for Irish punk rock music in Southern California, where bands like Flogging Molly, the Young Dubliners made their mark. Butler was playing for a band called the Limericks there.
  
  He's visited Ireland and Scotland and fell in love with the traditional culture and folk ballads, though he sticks to the upbeat renditions for the stage.
  
  He likes to say he has spent "the last 13 years playing bouncy pub songs for pint-yielding patrons".
  
  It took a while for Butler to select his Utah band mates after he and his wife, Melanie, moved to Salt Lake in 2006. He realized fairly quickly that while there may be plenty of opportunities to fly fish (one of his passions), there isn't much of a scene for Celtic Rock in the state yet.
  
  Most of Swagger's members hail from Salt Lake, though Harrington works at four Park City middle schools as an orchestra teacher. Harrington, along with Butler, are the only two who have a background in the Irish folk music, playing with Celtic and bluegrass bands since 1998.
  
  Mark Mottonen plays drums for the band and has rock roots, but says it's jazz music that "drives his musical heart, "though he does find the high-energy of Celtic Rock "speaks to his primitive upbringing."
  
  Bassist Stephan Wallace has played at the 2002 Olympics, the Utah State Fair and the Whisky A-Go-Go in Hollywood, Calif., as part of hard rock bands.
  
  Sam Cottrell, Swagger's lead guitarist, calls himself a lifelong "musical sojourner," and a student of jazz, classical, rock, funk and progressive rock music. With Harrington, he joined American Idol star Carmen Rasmussen, to help her record a country-rock album.
  
  
  Though playing the Irish music is somewhat new to him, Cottrell can recall his brother listening to the Irish-English Celtic punk bands the Pogues and the Water Boys in the 1980s. He's also comfortable around kilts.
  "I work for Verizon Wireless and there's this guy at work who wears a kilt," he says.
  It may be the fashion in some circles, but for now the members of the band Swagger save their Irish skirts for the stage.
  
  Catch Swagger live this Saturday, June 30, at 9 p.m. at the private club J.B. Mulligans at 804 Main St. and again every other weekend this summer.
  The band is also slated to perform before Mary Beth Maziars on August 22 at the Wednesday night local concert series at Deer Valley.
  

• New Band Swagger [+ Show ]
  

  Written by Pax Rasmussen in the May 2007 issue of Catalyst Magazine New band: Swagger On Satur...Written by Pax Rasmussen in the May 2007 issue of Catalyst Magazine
  
  
  New band: Swagger
  On Saturday April 21st, a large crowd gathered at Piper Down (1492 S. State St.) for the club's 4th Anniversary. Owner Dave Morris had booked the recently formed Swagger, a group of local musicians fronted by California newcomer Rick Butler. Swagger plays a mix of traditional pub songs with an American style Rock beat, and some originals.
  
  It worked. The crowd stood on their feet shouting the words, & jumping up and down to the infectious music. By the end of the evening most everyone in the pub that night looked like they had been playing in a Rugby match.
  
  Swagger is: Rick Butler-mandolin, guitars & lead vocals; Dennis Harrington--fiddle, keyboards & vocals; Mark Mottonen-drums & percussion; Sam Cottrell-guitars & vocals; Stephan Wallace-bass & vocals. May 11, J B Mulligans Club & Pub, P.C.; May 17 Piper Down, 1492 S. State, SLC. Look for club schedules on their website swaggertheband.com
  

Setlist

A typical set runs 45-50 minutes long or a straight 1 1/2 hr. set. We can play 3 hours of music without repeating material. We do play many favorite traditional pub tunes. We have 2 hours of original material. A typical set list will look like this.

Morrison's Jig
Trouble on the Green - Original
Whiskey in the Jar
Mrs. Myrtles Daughter - Original
Piper Down - Original
Whiskey on the Floor - Original
Galway Girl - Steve Earle
Selfish Man - Flogging Molly
Miner's Code - Orginal
Black Velvet Band
Paddy's in America - Original
The Grave - Original
The Old Grey Wall - Original

Basic Requirements

Calendar