Bio:

The Box Spring Hogs are a Tom Waits tribute band residing in Austin Texas. Originally the band had three members: Ellen Bartel, Victor Salazar and Dave Woods. The band was formed by accident* back in early 2004 for no other reason than for the love of Tom Waits' music (and adult beverages). Originally their only goal was to play for fun in their basement and maybe entertain a few friends from time to time. It turns out, however, that there are a lot of people in Austin that really appreciate Tom Waits and would come out to hear his songs played live. So the Hogs decided to give a it go at the Austin club scene. In May of 2004 they cut a self produced, five song demo called "God is a Tom Waits Fan". They passed the demo around to a handful of clubs to a very positive response, and the band has been playing regularly around Austin ever since. By the way, if you're wondering about our name, check out track 14 of Tom Waits' 1999 album, Mule Variations.

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Updates:

April 2007: Ralph White of The Bad Livers and Gulf Coast Playboys sat in with the Hogs the other night playing his Kalimbas. It sounded really cool and Ralph said he had a great time playing with us. I told him he has an open invitation to sit in with the Hogs and he said he would be taking us up on that in the future. So don't be surprised it you see one more swine on the stage every now and then.

March 2007: We've recently recorded three songs as the backing band for Possessed By Paul James' new album. We have been admirers of his music for a while now, so it was great for us to get to be a part of his record. The album is due for release later this year on Voodoo Rhythm Records.

October 2006: Another new member! Grub Dog Mitchell has joined up with us. Grub moved to Austin from Sacramento as part of the witness protection program. He will be providing some extra percussion and general noise to the mix. That's is about the best description I can come up with so you will just have to come out to hear what this all will sound like. You may also know Grub from his other bands including Grub Dog and the Modestos, and Jame Rider's 420 Turnaround. Now we are seven.

September 2006: New member alert! We dun found ourselves a fiddler!! Her name is Miss Darlene. That's all we know, she is very mysterious. Miss Darlene sat in with us at a show at Ego's one night and we signed her up on the spot. She sounded so good that we forewent our usual background check and put her on the pay role immediately. Her first real show with us was on September, 21 at the Continental club. That was a killer show. Now we are six.

August, 2006: Ok, we got some T-shirts made up from Action Screen Graphics here in Austin. They did a really good job. So we will be selling T-Shirts at our shows for $12.00 while supplies last. We also have stickers, shot glasses and other crap.

July, 2006: Well, we bought one of the BSH t-shirts (see below) from Cafepress to see what they looked like. It turns out that they kind of suck. They certainly aren't worth the $18.99 that they are charging. The bumper stickers are pretty good but they want $2.99 plus shipping for them! So we're going to stop using Cafepress and go with a local printing company. Hopefully we will have some t-shirts made up soon to sell at our shows at a reasonable price.

July, 2006: We've got merch to sell! For now we have T-Shirts and Bumper-stickers. We're going to wait and see how they sell before we come out with the BSH lunch boxes and action figures. We're selling the stuff through Cafepress but we set the prices at the lowest level that they would let us. Therefore, we don't make a dime but at least we get to spread that BSH love around. So we hope to see all of you out there at our next show in your brand new Box Spring Hogs T-Shirt. If you do we will give you a free CD and commemorative BSH shot glass (see photo above).

July, 2006: Laura makes her lead vocal debut at Headhunters with her rendition of "O'l '55" off of the Closing Time album.

May, 2006: James makes his lead vocal debut at Beerland with our rendition of "I Hope That I don't Fall In Love With You" off of the Closing Time album.

March, 2006: James Rider is now our new harmonica player! He played his first two shows with us on March 31st and a good time was had by all. Some of you may know James from his other bands: James Rider and the 420 Turnaround and the Yarmigos. We are also looking forward to getting James to play a little mandolin (most monoclines are little) for us.

March, 2006: Laura will now be playing keyboards for us in addition to vibes and vocals.

January, 2006: We've added a new member! Renowned vibraphone player/multi-instumentalist Laura Phelan is now on board. 2006 is destined be the year of the Hog!

We will also be playing a regular happy hour show at Beerland on the last Friday of every month. So come on down and you will be able to say that you used to go see us "back in the day" when we were still cool.

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Lineup:

Ellen Bartel: Drums, Percussion
Laura Phelan: Keyboards, Vibraphone, Vocals, Percussion
Victor Salazar: Vocals, Bass
Dave Woods: Guitar, Banjo
James Rider: Harmonica, Vocals, Kazoo, Mouth Harp
Miss Darlene : Violin, Fiddle, "Vocals"
Grub Dog : Percussion, "Guitar", Toys, Noises

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Song list (as of January 2007):

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* The rest of the story:

Victor and Dave were both members of a band called Puthy which rehearsed in Dave and Ellen's basement studio. One night after a Puthy rehearsal Ellen came downstairs to help Dave and Victor finish the refreshments they had bought. After enjoying the refreshments for a while, the three decided to play some songs with Ellen on the drums, Victor on the bass and Dave on guitar. They butchered some classic rock and pop songs from the 80's for a while when Victor mentioned that he knew how to play "Sixteen Shells" by Tom Waits. Since he also was the one who knew the words, he had be the one to sing it. Well, it turned out that Victor sounds a lot like ol' Tommy when he is properly refreshed. They all thought that was funny but never considered starting a band because of it. After that, the three would get together periodically after Puthy practices and play Tom Waits songs just for fun. One night they played a handful of songs for some of their friends who encouraged them to start playing live in the Austin clubs. So they did.

Just read these testimonials!

From http://ausmuston.blogspot.com/2005_10_01_ausmuston_archive.html

Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Unbelievable! The Box Spring Hogs, South Austin's Finest Tom Waits Tribute Band, just might be better than the original. Got to Beerland around 10p and BSH were already on stage. I listened to the song they were playing and when it was over, I pulled out the camera and set to recording. I thought I was late and might get only 15 or 20 minutes but in fact, I was on time, for once, and managed to capture almost their whole set, about 45 minutes. What kind of music is it, you ask? As I was filming, I was asking the same question of myself: self? what kind of music is this? The answer? I don't know...Strong guitar, subtle and steady bass, lively drums and keyboards that fill in the small parts. The singer, though, is key. His voice, low, guttural, deep, yet soothing, is the linchpin of the band. His voice takes you places, providing a mood and setting a tone for the show. It takes passion and confidence to sing like that, on key, yet bassy. It's not easy. Besides the entertainment factor of the live performance, it's always a thrill for me to see the band members enjoying themselves on stage. These four in this band were having a great time, cracking jokes between songs, having fun. Live music is such a wonderful forum for expression, especially for a tribute band. Why? These guys aren't doing it for money, as the songs are not theirs. They're doing it because...well, hell, I don't know exactly why they do it, but I can imagine they do it cuz they love the music. That simple. And they do it very well. So, Box Spring Hogs, a great time at a cool place. What's up for tonight? I'll let you know, after these important messages...(roll commercial)

From Myspace group: "people who love tom waits who love people who love tom waits. "

Posted: May 5, 2005 3:06 PM

Oh mah' gawd!! The other night I was at Headhunters, a local bar here(in Austin) and was about to leave...not drunk enough to stay and try to have a good time...But then a beautiful scruffy voice comes a 'floating over the rail and smacks me in the eardrum.."..on a downtown train.." A frickin' Tom cover band, people!! Have you ever heard of such a glorious thing?! The singer sounds quite a lot like Tommy and they've got a chick drummer. They do a superb job and even take requests...Are any of you people lucky enough to live in Austin and go to these shows with me? Also, they have a page on myspace. Check that shit out..

Posted: May 12, 2005 1:22 PM

Fucking shit, I wish I lived in Austin (kinda)! Is this band ever going to tour Southern California?!?!?!?!? I must know!