Gary James' Interview With Boogie Cindy Of
Boogie Wonder Band



They've shared the stage with Kool And The Gang, Village People, Rick James, War, Chic, KC And The Sunshine Band, Gloria Gaynor, Maxine Nightingale, The Trammps, Paul Shaffer, The Pointer Sisters, Styx and Foreigner just to name a few. They've performed in Canada, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Cuba, China, Macao, Italy, Ecuador, Hawaii, Monaco, France, Japan, India and over one hundred cities in the U.S. from casinos to theatres to festivals and clubs like The Cutting Room in New York City, The Whisky A Go Go in Los Angeles and The Brooklyn Bowl in Las Vegas. They were Entertainer Of The Year at the Canadian Event Industry Award in 2015. In 2016 they were named one of the Top Five Hottest Canadian Event And Party Bands. They are the only '70s cover band to be featured in Biz Bash Retro Entertainment. In 2017 they made it to page six of The New York Post. Boogie Cindy, who plays bass in the Boogie Wonder Band, spoke to us about the group.

Q - This is some group you've put together here Cindy, and you are the founder of the group, aren't you?

A - Yeah.

Q - You couldn't possibly have started out playing in small bars or nightclubs because of the production you have. Did you have a financial backer or investor in this band?

A - No, not at all. We started in smaller venues and we just built the show over the years. We started in 1996 and there was not many bands with that many musicians in it (the Boogie Wonder Band has ten members). (laughs) So, we had to fight for having some stage dimensions that fit us. Eventually we made a name for ourselves pretty quickly, so that problem got solved.

Q - Did you hand pick each of the members of the band?

A - Yeah, I did. But it's a long time, so unfortunately over the years we had to have some changes. Some people I knew. Some people were word of mouth. I guess it's an interesting process. It's not something that's backed by an investor where you just hire musicians. It's really a band. People have to fit in. We have to travel together. We have to share lots of nights of sleepless nights. So there needs to be some sort of chemistry I guess.

Q - Do you have a choreographer? Those dance steps of the band are pretty impressive.

A - Oh, thank you. I guess now it comes from many, many years of being together. We worked with some choreographers over the years. There's things we keep. There's things we don't keep. And the show still evolves. I think that's the beauty of live shows. We do a show, we try stuff. It doesn't work, we scratch it. Sometimes we just create stuff on the spot. So, it's a big mixture of that I guess.

Q - You must rehearse quite a bit then.

A - No. We actually play.

Q - You don't have to rehearse. You're playing all the time.

A - Well, that's it. I mean, the last three years have been special, but usually we do over a hundred shows a year.

Q - Were you in any bands before Boogie Wonder?

A - No.

Q - You just picked up the bass?

A - I studied music and everything, but it's my first professional band if you want to call it like that.

Q - How did you know that Boogie Wonder would be successful?

A - I had no idea. I play the bass and I like the music and I thought it would be a great thing to do. We just put the band together and things fell into place pretty quickly. It was just a good time, a good place.

Q - Yes, it was! Were you always interested in Disco music?

A - I guess so, yeah. Because of my instrument, it's all the groove on the bass. It was very special and unique. So, it made it very appealing for a bass player to listen to all this music and learn all the grooves. It's one of the fun musics to play on the bass.

Q - Did you know that Dick Clark was once asked what his favorite type of music was and he said "Disco."

A - Oh, no. I did not know that.

Q - Have you ever tried to sit down and write your own Disco songs?

A - Well, we have made over the years an original album. It's hard when you're known to do something and then you try to do something else. I guess it was not as easy as we thought it would be.

Q - When you ask some songwriters how long did it take you to write such and such a song, they'll say five minutes.

A - Yeah, pretty talented people in that bunch. (laughs)

Q - On one of your CDs there's a photo of a plane with your band's name on it. Do you have your own private plane?

A - No.

Q - You probably wish you did.

A - Yeah. We wish we did. That would be awesome!

Q - Since you perform on these Disco cruises with so many of the original Disco recording artists, do they watch your group and what do they say to you?

A - Over the years we had the chance to play alongside quite a few of those artists because we are invited on festival and special Disco parties. We played ten, twelve years ago with Evelyn "Champagne" King, Yvonne Elliman and Tavares. Over the years we see them. We played a lot of times with Kool And The Gang. So, for us to go on the cruise, they have no choice but to watch us. We've been doing these sail away parties for the last two months and everybody's there on the deck. I guess they can see the quality and effort we put into it, not making it laughing at Disco, but more of paying tribute to them and the greatness of their music. So, I think they appreciate that.

Q - But do they ever come up to you and say anything to you, compliment you?

A - Sometimes, yeah. It depends. It's never the same. Sometimes a musician will say, "Oh, you're a great bass player," or "The band is great. We love the energy."

Q - The energy is great. How long are you onstage with that show?

A - Usually we either, if we do a festival, it would be like an hour and half performance plus and encore. Sometimes we present it in like two 60 minute (sets) with a break and we change outfits when we do things like that.

Q - How often do you perform on these Disco cruises?

A - Once a year. It's not a typical cruise. It's a very unique cruise once a year that Star Vista Lines puts these cruises together. They do "Soul Train". They have different themes. This is our third time doing the Disco cruise.

Q - Could the Boogie Wonder Band do a cruise on their own? Do you need to be a part of a star studded cast?

A - We never looked into that kind of work to tell you the truth. It is very unique because it's forty shows in one week. It's not just about us doing a cruise. It's about the whole experience and the quality of the entertainers onboard.

Q - Forty shows a week?

A - Yeah, five days.

Q - That's eight shows a day.

A - Approximately, yeah. The shows are overlapping. You have to make choices. (laughs) There's many venues onboard that cruise. As I said, it's really a musical cruise. There's no kids. There's no family. It's people that specifically go for that week.

Q - How many shows are you doing in those five days?

A - Three.

Q - What are you doing when you're not performing?

A - I guess we watch other bands and enjoy ourselves. (laughs)

Q - So, it's more or less like a paid vacation then?

A - Well, we do three shows. (laughs) Next year (2023) we will be doing the Rock And Romance that will be targeting a very different audience. It will be more '70s Rock and we will be bringing Disco to that cruise.

Q - Let's hope that no one shouts out, "Disco sucks!"

A - That's why a lot of times we never know when we play in different places how people are going to react. Like we played in South Dakota last summer (2021) in Deadwood and we had no idea. Are people going to actually enjoy our show or are we going to get booed off the stage? People ended up dancing and going crazy. (laughs) Because it's live, it's more energetic. It's not just like their souvenir of a Disco song they don't like. It's more performing for them. They kind of get a liking to it.

Official Website: BoogieWonderBand.com

© Gary James. All rights reserved.

The views and opinions expressed by individuals interviewed for this web site are the sole responsibility of the individual making the comment and / or appearing in interviews and do not necessarily represent the opinions of anyone associated with the website ClassicBands.com.