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swinger eight
Swinger Eight began in a basement apartment one winter's night in 2000 during a 4-track recording session between Chris Mis and Christopher Medrano, some beer, and two packs of cigarette's.
One year later the band was formed after inviting NYC punk dragon Ozzie Martinez in as drummer.
Swinger Eight is based out of Greenpoint, Brooklyn. All three members are native New Yorkers.
In 2002 Swinger Eight self released a six song EP entitled; The Swinger Eight EP. The song "On and On" was used in the 2003 Sundance Jury Award Winning Film, What Alice Found.
In 2003 Swinger Eight self released a 15 song acoustic album entitled; A Division. The content of this record was based on the original 4-track recordings from 2000.
In 2004 the band began recording the basic tracks for 2:22 AM. The record is due out this fall.
Material for S8's follow up record entitled "Menace" is currently being demo'ed.
chris mis chris mis was born in brooklyn and has continued to live there ever since. by all rights, with the amount of education that he's received, he should be a sheet metal worker, or loading crates down at the docks. but instead, he's found a way to support himself by living off of unemployment checks. in swinger eight, he holds the position of singing and playing guitar. he originally started playing at age seventeen, to attempt to get his poetry heard through songs, thinking of his music as "poem songs" more than anything else.
besides being in swinger eight, chris spends most of his time eating from a jar of peanut butter with a spoon, while currently writing through a new novel. he has written several, which will never be shown, and live happily in his desk drawers. but his ultimate goal is to someday write and publish a comic book series entitled "calorie kid" which was initially started when he was fifteen, and is now almost completely written. beginning to end. (see www.caloriekid.com for more information.) chris can be seen riding through greenpoint, brooklyn on his bicycle, mumbling to himself about the comic, or, sitting up late at night, with candles around him, looking out the window of his second floor apartment, with a guitar in hand, and his dog nicky, howling at his side.
christopher medrano christopher medrano was born into this world in the lovely city known as New York. he spent most of his youth unable to read, but capable of doing the hardest calculus problems, while occasionally leaving his desk to play on the school's piano. noticing this, the teachers told his parents that music lessons might be a good idea, and he has played ever since. now he spends most of his days hiding from the sun, living in a basement in williamsburg, smoking cigarettes in his pajamas, while pitching tin foil balls at the back of a chair or batting with his baseball bat and tinfoil balls and watching the yankee game.
christopher's other hobbies include smoking cigarettes in his pajamas while cooking. sitting late at night on his stoop in his pajamas, while smoking, and walking through rooms of his apartment in his pajamas, with a cigarette in his hand, thinking about cooking and smoking. he is also playing with the idea of starting his own late night cooking show, which incorporates the themes of smoking, baseball, and sitting, and blends them all together into a tasty dish.
besides singing, playing bass and other instruments in swinger eight, he can be found sleeping in bed, or sitting on his stoop watching people walk by, thinking about going back to bed. if you see someone who looks like they fit this description, then yeah, he's that guy.
ozzie martinez ozzie martinez is a true punk rock new yorker. he was born in cuba, raised in the bronx, and has followed in the footsteps of his father, osvaldo "chihuahua" martinez in playing the drums, doing so now for over thirty years of his life. he has been in over twenty nyc punk rock bands, has played in almost every club in manhattan and for those he hasn't, there is a story about how he passed out in them. he currently lives in greenpoint, brooklyn with his wife, emma, and dog, pearl, who also happens to be the reason why swinger eight exists. pearl met chris mis's dog in the park one day, and started up a conversation. besides playing drums, ozzie likes to talk. he can talk about anything. he'll even tell you about it if you ask. he'd love to. just ask him. really. he will. someday, ozzie hopes to publish a book of punk rock cuban poetry, and have a photography exhibit for a group of pictures that he hasn't taken yet. but he intends to, and he'll tell you about them if you ask. really. he will.
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