Midnight Bowlers League

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[edit] History

Perennial Florida rockabilly favorites Midnight Bowlers League (MBL) was founded in 1998 by Tim Masters (guitar, vocals) and Nafa (guitar, vocals). Shortly after it's inception Mike Fluno (drums) and Chris Porth (upright bass) rounded out the line up. Most of the band weren't musicians before joining, and they all learned their craft as a group by listening to 1950s records and observing famous musicians of the genre.

MBL began as a rockabilly/surf music group, but soon dropped the Surf elements. Their popularity grew throughout Central Florida, and several small but wide reaching tours of the South followed. When opening for Rocket 88 many times during the summer of 2000, MBL became notorious for invading the stage during Rocket 88's closing song. It was also during this series of shows that MBL was joined on stage by Marshall Lytle of Bill Haley's Original Comets for songs such as Rock Around The Clock and Rock The Joint.

In early 2001 both Porth and Nafa left MBL. Porth moved on to Austin, Texas, and continues to be an active force in the Texas musical scene. Later in the year Nafa formed the Alt/Experimental group Ladies Of Death Row Swimsuit Calendar (LODRSC) with Richard Glenn Schmidt. LODRSC have produced over a dozen CDs on the Leprous Mongoose label and Fluno joined the band for a series of recordings shows in 2004 and 2005.

Keeping with the tradition of including musical neophytes, Scott Mattis (aka Scott The Knyfe) was brought in on upright bass and vocals. He learned the bass as he went along and in January 2001, and only weeks after touching a bass for the first time, Scott was playing the entire MBL repertoire', even adding his own suggestions to the set. The group continued as a 3-piece until midway through 2003 when Nafa rejoined the line up. MBL continues to be one of the major forces for Rockabilly and vintage music in the Southeast.

In 2004 Tim acquired an original Echosonic amplifier handmade by Ray Butts. Only 68 were ever made. They were the signature amplifers for early recordings by Chet Atkins, Scotty Moore, and more recently by Deke Dickerson. It was around this time that Tim began building several of his own Echosonics, exact replicas of the Ray Butts model, cabinet and all. The new Echosonic debuted at Rockabilly Ruckus III in February 2006, and was used by Tim, Mark Hannah of Skinny McGee And His Mahyem Makers, and Jeff Herring of the Two Timin' Three. Tim's next project (to be unveiled at Rockabilly Ruckus IV) is a remake of a vintage Standel Amplifier.

In late 2006 Scott dislocated and fractured his arm and was unable to play bass. For a short time in early 2007 MBL became a 5-piece with the edition of Nadeem 'Nads' Kahn of Orlando's Big Jef Special filling in on the bass.