Blue Collar

The Band

Blue-collar Florida rock and blues. Music for the working person — year-round outdoor music, southern rock pride, deep and soulful playing.

Lineup

Stephen Wentworth · Dave the Drummer · Pete Brill

Blue-collar Florida rock and blues. Music for the working person — year-round outdoor music, southern rock pride, deep and soulful playing.

Stephen Wentworth

Stephen Wentworth Kondi

Front man · Vocals · guitar · Lake Wales, Florida

First guitar in the military. Obsession ever since. A passing thought, pen and paper, lines that flow, then he organizes them until they make sense.

Southern rock, to him, is pride you can hear: deep, dedicated, soulful musicians. Florida means year-round outdoor music.

Cold at Night ran in Fireworks magazine, edition 74, out of England. Good and Bad played on WDEV with Artie Lavigne and WIZN with Charlie Frazier in Vermont.

A first-time listener should find parallels in their own life. A typical show night is 80% work, 20% play.

Born: August 22, 1957
Influences: B.B. King · Stevie Ray Vaughan · Jimi Hendrix · Neil Young · Johnny Cash · Eric Clapton
Songs that stay with him: Smiles and Tears · Dream · Free My Soul · Watcha Lookin For · Bootleg Whiskey · Daisies in the Field · Good and Bad
Gear: Fender Strat and Telecaster, Gibson Les Paul, Fender and Marshall amps, Boulder Creek and Ovation acoustics, Seymour Duncan pickups.
Off the clock: Motorcycles, skiing, hunting, fishing.

Dave the Drummer

David Baylor Hilton

Music maker · Percussion · vocals · Gainesville, Florida

One year with SWB. Came in through a cover-band audition. He loves the originals and the sheer talent of the other members — and he wants the room to feel some relief from the real world.

Favorite part of a night is when the whole band is in the groove. Best memory: the sound and light man almost took the guitar player’s head off with pyro.

“Stay calm and groove on.”

Born: July 4, 1958
Influences: His pop · His brother Mike Hilton · Buddy Rich
Gear: Yamaha Birch Custom Absolute and Yamaha Recording Custom 20th Anniversary (Made in Japan), Zildjian and Sabian cymbals, EV microphones.
Off the clock: Motorcycles and crazy cats. Ford trucks. Victory, Indian, and Kawasaki bikes. He wrote self-defense protocols.

Pete Brill

Bass player · Bass · vocals · Gibsonton, Florida

Dave the Drummer met Pete at a practice studio and called him into the band. He is here for the energy — and for the audience.

He loves to play all the time. When he is not playing, he is gaming. He also plays in a cover band.

“Where words fail, music speaks.”

Born: February 7, 1968
Influences: Black Sabbath · Ozzy · AC/DC · Jazz
Gear: Fender bass.
Off the clock: Gaming, a Shih Tzu, trucks, and sports cars.

Good and Bad was tracked at Pepperbox Studio and released on Thunder Ridge Records. Half Past Late followed in 2017. The longer story and photos live in the Archives.