SWIG History

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The history of SWIG goes back almost as far as the history of beer. Ok, maybe that's a bit of a stretch. It all began in 1994 with four brave souls, Mark, Roger, Chris, and Steve. The tale is long, so it has a whole page devoted to it's telling. Click here to read the full story of SWIG.

Mark Roberts

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Mark Roberts' first ‘gig’ was playing guitar in a garage band at a grade 7 variety show. He distinctly remembers playing Proud Mary, and the guitar riff from Smoke on the Water. Not the song, just the riff, over and over and over ... Since then he has played bass in local bands Morning Express, Transit, Copper Creek and Rebel Angels. Guitarist/keyboardist in Crossfire and Crossover bands and on trumpet in Combo #5, The Magical Juicebox Kings and Queen, Men Will be Boys, The Liquor Lads, Millennium Swing Band and the Downtown Swing Band. In SWIG Mark sings lead and harmony vocals and plays mandolin.

Mark's Gear

  • Regent Mandolin/shadow pickup
  • Feadog penny whistle in D
  • Generation whistle in G
  • Clark whistle in C
  • LR Baggs preamp
  • Volumn Pedal
  • Audio Technica Wireless

Bill Doucet

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Bill Doucet is a veteran musician originally from Amherst. A high school tech teacher by day Bill plays acoustic guitar and handles lead and harmony vocal duties in SWIG. Bill’s musical influences definitely lean to the folk side and he brings a great sense of traditional and contemporary folk styles to the table. He has played as a soloist for open mic nights at the Wick pub in Berwick and has jammed with many of the great musicians that are part of the Deep Roots Music Co Op. Check out his website 57.ca for his extremely popular series of house concerts featuring some great Canadian musicians.

Bill's Gear

  • Yamaha Guitar

Sara Sponagle

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Sara Sponagle is the newest member of SWIG joining the Band full time in March of 2009. Previously she had been a fill in for us when she wasn't off saving the world. Sara was raised by wolves and learned to play bass to scare away the pythons that stalked her adopted pack.

Sara's Gear

  • Daisy Rock Daisy Bass
  • Yamaha Bass amp