Chattanooga Times Free Press entertainment reporter Casey Phillips spoke with Hugh Swaso, lead singer of Swaso and 1999: A Prince Tribute, about juggling tribute music with original work and how he pulls off a convincing imitation of Prince’s persona.
CP: Why Prince? What is it about his music that speaks to you or that you thought would speak to others?
HS: (Laughs.) Musically, he’s extremely challenging, and as musicians, we all really love doing his stuff because it’s bad ass. The way it came to me is that I actually played in the Michael Jackson tribute band, Who’s Bad, and their booking agent came to me and said, “It would be great to have a Prince tribute band. You’re the one to do it.” I declined the offer. Then, another band from the same booking agent asked if I wanted to do a Prince tribute thing, and I said I didn’t know. Finally, a couple months later, he came to me personally and said, “We would really love for you to do this thing.” That was the process.
CP: What do you appreciate about his music? Have you come to like him better?
HS: His music is incredible. It’s just absolutely fantastic. Even before the tribute band, it was just like Prince was incredible. The New Power Generation is funky as hell. Prince is a musical phenomenon, a force to be reckoned with. That’s coming from one musician to another musician. He’s just incredible. I enjoyed listening to it. There’s not really anything bad you can say about Prince’s music. It’s pretty bad ass.