History of The Blues Box

For those who are interested in the origins of the current line-up we can offer the following:

• Early 2004 - The Bluetones was formed in Newcastle, NSW. Comprising Andrew King (vocals), Shane Homan (drums), John Jenkins (bass), Kevin Lyons (harmonica) and and Bill Mitchell (guitar). This lineup played until August 2005.
• August 2005 until early 2006 - The second generation Bluetones replaced Andrew King with a new vocalist. Andrew had gone west for work.
• Early 2007 - Bill Mitchell and Kevin Lyons decided they wanted to play more swing blues and less blues rock and decided to form the Cross-Eyed Cats. They were joined by John Jenkins (bass) and Andrew King (vocals) with David Woolford (drums) being the only non-original Bluetones muso in the band. James Juniper temporarily joined as a second vocalist and we also tried a saxophone. Andrew had returned to Newcastle, temporarily. Soon after this line-up starting rehearsing, John left (to go north for work) and was replaced by Andrew Nadolny (bass). This line-up played one gig in October 2007. Andrew went south for work in December 2007 and the band had to find a new vocalist.
• February 2008 - The original Bluetones line-up does a farewell gig for Shane, Andrew and John. By this time Andrew and John had already left Newcastle but came back for the final gig. The pretext was that Shane was about to go south for work. The original band came back for one last show at the Wickham Park Hotel. It was a great night.
• Meanwhile, the Blues Box was nearing completion - with Pat O'Brien joining the band as lead vocalist.
• May 2, 2008 - Debut gig for the Blues Box lineup which is now stable and looking forward to life together.
• June 2008 - Ben Ewald joins the band on sax.
• July 2008 - Drummer David Woolford leaves the band and Pat O'Brien takes over as drummer.
• April 2009 - The band parts company with Pat O'Brien.
• September 2009 - Drummer David Marshall joins the band.
• October 2009 - Vocalist Alexandria Baldwin joins the band.
• December 2009 - The band parts company with Alexandria Baldwin after one live performance.
• January 2010 - Foundation member Kevin Lyons leaves the band to pursue further musical studies.
• March 2010 - The band parts company with Ben Ewald.
• April 2010 - Natalie Dalton joins the band as lead vocals.
• June 2010 - Mick E joins the band as harmonica, percussion and backing vocals.