Boogaloosa Prayer
Toledo, Ohio, United States | SELF
Music
Press
Boogaloosa Prayer is no stranger to Toledo rock fans. In fact, they are probably one of the most well-known, revered, and respected bands in town. Er, well, sometimes in town. The Boogaloosa is composed of three Maumee rock legends (though, Toledo proudly claims them our own). Formed from the split of four youngsters who called themselves Henry & June, half the band moved on up to Detroit to become (with Oliver Henry) the now world-renowned Soledad Brothers (and White Stripes co-conspirators/roommates). The other half of the band looked right to their hometown roots and that's when virtuoso slide blues guitar player Dooley Wilson and rhythm guitarist Jimmy Danger hooked up with punk legend and former Necros (once Misfits) drummer, Todd Swalla. Since, it's been a freaky match made in Heaven. The Church of the Boogaloosa Prayer these days is limited to just a handful of masses a year when Swalla come home to roost from his new home on the sunny West Coast. There are a couple of dates this holiday season (see below), but this is the show you'll want to catch. www.myspace.com/boogaloosaprayer - Toledo.com
When you see Boogaloosa Prayer listed on a bill, you should always plan to attend.
The band's rocked-up version of the deep down Delta blues is as good as it gets, and frontman Dooley Wilson's slide-guitar skills are the hottest this side of the Mason-Dixon.
Playing a set of obscure blues covers and searing originals, Boogaloosa Prayer is best-known for their cult classic tune, "Going Back to Memphis." Wilson and bandmate Jimmy Danger composed the tune just out of high school in their former outfit Henry & June (later divided into the Soledad Brothers and Boogaloosa Prayer). The driving track reached wide acclaim when it was covered by The White Stripes on Conan O'Brien and on the DVD, Under Blackpool Lights.
Boogaloosa Prayer exists as sort of a Maumee-Toledo supergroup, rounded out with hardcore punk legend Todd Swalla on drums, formerly of The Necros and Laughing Hyenas, and Matt Ruch on bass (of WEe, Sangsara).
- Toledo.com
Boogaloosa Prayer is a Northwest Ohio supergroup of sorts. At the helm of the outfit is the voodoo Delta blues disciple Dooley Wilson. The guitar player — a phrase that far from captures the artist’s craftsmanship — began his career at Maumee High School where he and Boogaloosa rhythm guitarist Jimmy Danger formed the group Henry and June, whose rhythm section went on to form Detroit’s famous Soledad Brothers. Henry and June’s Soledad connection lead to hob knobing with the White Stripes in the early days of the grungy blues rock scene they lead in Detroit. Later, white face Dooley Wilson destroyed the Toledo rock scene with MC5-meets Stooges-meets atom bomb quintet, The Young Lords. Eventually though, he continued his tutelage down south, following Highway 61 into the heart of the Delta and finally perfecting his chops as a New Orleans street musician. Wilson’s signature
style— more of a cosmic sex romp with the guitar than just playing it — is best when supported by his old friend Danger and another Maumee legend, Todd Swalla. There aren’t a lot of people that can say they played drums for the Misfits at the very last gig Glenn Danzig did with the band — in fact, there’s only one guy that can say that, and that’s Todd Swalla. The drummer made a name for himself in the ‘80s punk underground with the now internationally revered band The Necros. As a Misfits little brother band of sorts, The Necros were the first band ever to record for infamous underground label Touch and Go Records. The fruit of that session was a four song EP produced by Minor Threat/Fugazi vocalist Ian MacKaye, whose own label (co-owned with Toledo’s Jeff Nelson) Dischord Records split the release. Later, Swalla continued his punk cred with the punk-blues outfit Laughing Hyenas who carried on a ten-year career. Finally, before he split Toledo for the West Coast, Swalla was part of Toledo’s super cool ethereal space rock group Muschi. In short, this trio is one the realist, badass group of musicians you’ll see on a stage. - Toledo City Paper
Discography
Boogaloosa Prayer, Self-titled 2005
"Live 'R' Than You'll Ever Be, the Picciuto Sessions" 2010
Both are available through Danger Limited Sound Recording Company and can be purchased at live shows or on our website, www.dangerlimitedsound.com
Photos
Bio
If the late blues great Fred McDowell rose from the grave, plugged into a tube-driven amp cabinet soaked in Lucifers nut-sweat, and hired Union Carbide Productions for his backing band, the resultant sound might not be all-too dissimilar from Boogaloosa Prayer. The thinking mans Blues-Hammer, a self-deprecating allusion to the Steve Buscemi film, Ghost World, is how founding member and frontman Dooley Wilson summarily describes the band and its sound. White guys from the suburbs in the present day giving a loud, rock-infused treatment to traditional Southern Blues and Gospel. While hardly an original formula, in the hands of The Prayer, the results are engaging and distinctive.
Conceived in a South Toledo basement in 2003, guitarists Jimmy Danger and Dooley Wilson settled very comfortably into a soundscape they had established almost a decade earlier as the founders of Henry and June, now a celebrated cult phenomenon whose only single produced a White Stripes cover favorite, Goin Back To Memphis. The years in between afforded the two a measurable accumulation of virtuosity, not the least being Wilsons signature artistry on the slide guitar, which serves as a centrifugal element to the groups driving sound. Danger is the irreplaceable rock-&-roll Yin to Wilsons bluesitatious Yang, securing the firmament with an unmatched and understated sensitivity, not unlike a John Paul Jones of the six-string. Just as irreplaceable to The Prayer, legendary rock drummer Todd Swalla, formerly of Laughing Hyenas and Necros fame, brings nothing less than an infernal maelstrom of rock percussion to the lineup, which is rounded out by the bass talents of The Ruckus, a.k.a. Matt Ruch, a well-established and ultra-capable stalwart of the Glasstown music scene. On occasion, the band is additionally joined by Toledos premiere street busker John Roundcity on the harmonica. The Prayers initial (and thus far, sole) self titled studio effort, is representative of their sound as a trio, before adding bass.
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