About Hawker Heights
Neil Boland’s Hawker Heights hath returned.
And there’s a refreshed lineup to bring you vintage late 60s-early 70s (and beyond) R&B material by the likes of Dr John, Earl King, Lee Dorsey and The Meters, Jon Cleary and more. The aim is to bring the NOLA vibes from the South to the South of Australia (and hey, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth etc, if you want us to come, just ask).
And honestly, if there’s a groove from other States worth covering, it’s in.
The main HH unit:
Neil Boland – vocals, guitar
Anthony Stanislavski – drums
Joel Smithard – Hammond/keys
Craig Strain – bass
Lineup MAY vary; we’re mostly dudes with kids and commitments now. Luckily, I have some great deps in my ‘Hawker Heights community’ to let the good groove times roll.
Hawker Heights Origin Story
Since 2017, Neil Boland has been performing classic and original jazz and country-influenced blues under the moniker of Hawker Heights, with a bit of a hiatus for focus on other projects and other low key personal adventures.
The project has enjoyed several gigs around Melbourne and Victoria—including the Wangaratta Jazz Festival as featured blues artist in 2017—in various configurations of the outfit, from what is now the main 4/5-piece funk unit to Hawker Heights Hammond Combo and the jumbo-sized Hawker Heights and The Hurricane Horns.
The debut album ‘South By East’, soon after release in 2017, reached #2 in the Australian Blues And Roots Airplay Chart (ABARAC) and has been well-received by lovers of a more ‘uptown’ style blues across the world.
Since reformation, return gigs in 2024 at 303 Northcote and The BEAST East Brunswick were a great success, and Neil continues to find places to spread the soul, funk, blues and R&B gospel of Louisiana and related places of American music worship.
About Neil Boland, the Hawker Heights Guy
Neil is a Melbourne-based guitarist and vocalist who has played and continues to play gigs in several genres—modern R&B, straight up blues, jazz and even some 80s metal.
Hawker Heights is his band, put together solely for the purpose of playing blues that many others weren’t doing.
Read more about Neil Boland, the muso in Melbourne here.