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The Swingers
The Swingers
Origin	Auckland, New Zealand
Genres	Rock, new wave
Years active	1979–1982
Labels	Ripper, Mushroom
Past members	Phil Judd; Wayne Stevens; Mark Hough; Ian Gilroy; Andrew Snoid

The Swingers were a New Zealand rock band who were together from 1979 to 1982 and whose biggest single was the song "Counting the Beat".

Background

Formed out of the remnants of the Suburban Reptiles, the founding members were Phil Judd (guitar, vocals), Wayne Stevens (a.k.a. Bones Hillman) (bass), and Mark Hough (a.k.a. Buster Stiggs) (drums). Formed in 1979, the band released the single "One Good Reason", which was a top 20 hit in New Zealand. They also appeared on the Ripper Records sampler AK79 and established a large live following after a residency at Auckland's Liberty Stage club.

In 1980 the band moved to Australia and signed to Mushroom Records for that country, although their New Zealand releases remained on Ripper.^[1]

Success

After some band dissension, Ian Gilroy of the Crocodiles replaced Hough on drums. The band released the single "Counting the Beat", which became a No. 1 hit in Australia and New Zealand. A second single released in 1981, "It Ain't What You Dance, It's the Way That You Dance It" (which had the outro repeat line "oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah"), was also a Top 5 hit in New Zealand but only a minor hit in Australia (reaching #43). An album, Practical Jokers, produced by David Tickle, was released. The band also performed songs in the film Starstruck.

Breakup

The band underwent a couple more line-up changes, including the addition of Pop Mechanix and Coconut Rough vocalist Andrew Snoid, before it split up in March 1982. Phil Judd went on to pursue a solo career.

Discography

Albums

Title	Details	Peak chart positions
Title	Details	NZ ^[2]	AUS ^[3]
Practical Jokers^[4]	Released: September 1981 Label: Ripper, Mushroom Formats: CD, LP	2	70

Singles

Title	Year	Peak chart positions		Album
Title	Year	NZ	AUS	Album
"One Good Reason"	1979	19	—	non-album single
"Counting the Beat"	1981	1	1	Practical Jokers
"It Ain't What You Dance, It's The Way That You Dance It"		4	43
"One Track Mind"		27	—
"Punch and Judy"	1982	—	—	non-album single
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released.

References

^ "The Swingers Discography". Angelfire.com. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
^ Hung, Steffen. "charts.nz – The Swingers – Practical Jokers". charts.nz. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
^ Kent, David. Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, N.S.W. (1993). ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
^ In the United States, where it was issued with a modified track listing in 1982, the album was titled Counting the Beat.