"West Side" Wayne Berwick's music clearly reflects his California roots...where Delta Blues, Chicago Blues, Jazz and Swing, all converged on the West Coast.
Berwick's professional career began at age 14, with the formation of The Leftovers...playing guitar and harmonica...covering the songs of the Rolling Stones, Animals, Yardbirds and any other group that played radio hits, which rang of blues. Their reputation as one of the premier Los Angeles frat party bands, kept them steadily "employed" throughout their high school stint.
With so many good guitar players on the scene, Berwick decided to put down the six string for awhile, and concentrate on harmonica. He was sharing an abandoned house in the San Fernando Valley, when he was asked to join three other "handpicked" musicians, comprising of what a particular manager considered to be the best blues musicians in the area. The guy had money...and the band Blues Blooded lived together for a year, rent free, in a house in the hills and got paid to rehearse. But with this combination of drugs, egos and attitudes, it was just a matter of time before the group imploded, and it all collapsed one Saturday night at Gazzari's on the Sunset Strip...with a backstage brawl...causing the owners to close down the club and send the packed house home.
With the threat of a lawsuit looming, and a tarnished reputation among club owners, Berwick left the country...landing in Amsterdam with 15 hundred dollars, an acoustic guitar, and his harmonicas...and for the next two and a half years he played in the streets, clubs, and cafes throughout Europe.
When he returned to Los Angeles, he assembled four of the five original Leftovers, and became The Hounds--a blues-based boogie band with mostly original songs Berwick had written while on the road. Playing regularly at Hollywood hot spots: The Troubadour, Whiskey A Go Go, the Ash Grove; becoming house band at Rick's Blues Bar in Venice; and recording 3 singles for Capitol Records; the band had a hedonistic run. But what goes up...etc.
Several years passed before Berwick called upon some of L.A.'s finest blues swingers; added the sassy, soulful vocal styling of "The Girls" and created West Side Wayne & The Boulevard Band. In addition to an intense performance schedule, they released two critically acclaimed albums; That'll Do and Jump Smooth, and provided music for the USA Network series The Huntress, in which Berwick was cast for the role as the band leader, at the nightclub owned by the lead character.
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Berwick's professional career began at age 14, with the formation of The Leftovers...playing guitar and harmonica...covering the songs of the Rolling Stones, Animals, Yardbirds and any other group that played radio hits, which rang of blues. Their reputation as one of the premier Los Angeles frat party bands, kept them steadily "employed" throughout their high school stint.
comprising of what a particular manager considered to be the best blues musicians in the area. The guy had money...and the band Blues Blooded lived together for a year, rent free, in a house in the hills and got paid to rehearse. But with this combination of drugs, egos and attitudes, it was just a matter of time before the group imploded, and it all collapsed one Saturday night at Gazzari's on the Sunset Strip...with a backstage brawl...causing the owners to close down the club and send the packed house home.
With the threat of a lawsuit looming, and a tarnished reputation among club owners, Berwick left the country...landing in Amsterdam with 15 hundred dollars, an acoustic guitar, and his harmonicas...and for the next two and a half years he played in the streets, clubs, and cafes throughout Europe.
When he returned to Los Angeles, he assembled four of the five original Leftovers, and became The Hounds--a blues-based boogie band with mostly original songs Berwick had written while on the road. Playing regularly at Hollywood hot spots: The Troubadour, Whiskey A Go Go, the Ash Grove; becoming house band at Rick's Blues Bar in Venice; and recording 3 singles for Capitol Records; the band had a hedonistic run. But what goes up...etc.
