Traditional American Rockabilly, straight out of Tampa! Since 1998 Midnight Bowlers League has been a staple on the Florida Rockabilly scene and beyond.
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Midnight Bowlers League was started by Tim Masters and Nafa, both employees of a university library. One day Tim brought to work a vintage guitar he had restored and asked Nafa to show him a few chords. From there they decided to get together and figure out some old Rockabilly songs and try to create some of their own. Soon they found themselves getting together regularly and Tim's roommate, Mike Fluno, began joining in on rhythm by drumming with brushes on cookie sheets. Chris Porth, Mike's friend from the local club scene, also started sitting in with his 3/4 upright bass, and the first incarnation of MBL took root.
After several months of practice and home tape demos, MBL played a series of weekly live shows in the Fall of 1999 at Zion in Ybor City, Florida. These shows were punctuated with original songs like Drinkin' Lincoln, Bettie, and Rockabilly Gal, and songs that would become set standards like Jitterbop, Ball 'n' Keen, and That's Alright Mama. MBL's first major show came in October 1999 at the Sapphire Supper Club in Orlando, Florida, for the Orlando Weekly's Orlando Music Awards program. (It's of note that this quartet from Tampa had to drive through and play in Hurricane Irene to make it to their first major show.)
From that point and through all of 2000 MBL cut their musical teeth in the Central Florida music scene, playing with acts such as Rocket 88, The Paladins, The Frantic Flattops, and supporting Cigar Store Indians at several of their Florida shows, and their first headlining show at Frankie's Patio in Ybor City. And at a show in Tampa they were joined on stage by Marshall Lytle, the original bassist for Bill Haley's Comets. However, December 2000 saw the departure of both Porth, who moved to Austin to further his musical career, and Nafa, who went on to form the Ladies Of Death Row Swimsuit Calendar with Richard Glenn Schmidt.
But Tim and Mike did not miss a beat, figuratively and literally, when wunderkind Scott the Knyfe stepped in to take up the bass position and fill in with vocals. Though he had never played bass before joining, within three weeks after the departure of Porth and Nafa MBL were back on the scene playing live shows. Their hard work paid off and their popularity grew, and as a trio they were able to shake some of the distractions in the music and create and hone a traditional Rockabilly sound that would become their signature. Soon they were playing much higher profile shows with Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys, another circuit with Cigar Store Indians, WMNF radio, and others. It was also during this time that their much lauded appearance at the annual Tropical Heatwave took place. With the amicable parting Nafa would occasionally turn up to sing That's Alright Mama with the band, but he would not return to full time duty until July 2003.
During a WMNF Rolling Stones tribute concert MBL asked Nafa to help arrange and sing some Stones songs with them during the show. That night they asked if he would like to rejoin the band full time and with that they were a quartet once more. The boys pushed hard and made great leaps in progress, playing up and down the Florida Suncoast and all points east, heralded in print for their keen ear for traditional Rockabilly ways, opening and subsequently filling in for the great Link Wray when he did not appear for a scheduled show, performing live concerts on the radio, and, as of 2008, being the only band to play all five of the Rockabilly Ruckus concerts (which have included Los Straight Jackets, Wanda Jackson, Slim Jim Phantom, Unknown Hinson, and many others through the years).
And that's pretty much their story so far. Midnight Bowlers League are still going strong and rockin' better than they ever have and keeping the torch of original traditional Rockabilly burning!
-C. Ericsson, 2008
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By request, here is a brief time line of the incarnations of MBL:
late 1998 - December 2000:
Tim Masters, guitar & vocals
Mike Fluno, drums
Chris Porth, bass
Nafa, guitar & vocals
January 2001 - June 2003:
Tim Masters, guitar & vocals
Mike Fluno, drums
Scott the Knyfe, bass & vocals
July 2003 - present:
Tim Masters, guitar & vocals
Mike Fluno, drums
Scott the Knyfe, bass & vocals
Nafa, guitar & vocals
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Thank you Al (GatorRock786)!
