Clinton Swan

Clinton Swan played bass for Bwa da Riddim and organised a number of Hamilton music events. He was heavily involved with Contact 89FM from 1991 - 1996/7 and was the Activities Manager at the WSU/University of Waikato from 1995 to 1997.

Hamapalooza was organised and promoted by Swan and Damien Fenton, and was held at the Wailing Bongo in 1993. Swan used the event to launch his own band Bwa da Riddim to a decent sized audience. This event and others provided Swan with the springboard to become Activities Manager at the WSU, running a heavy schedule of gigs and events with a strong focus on making local bands visible, as well as re-vamping the annual Orientation festival in 1996 and 1997. Through the Activities Manager role he was a member of NZCAN (NZ Campus Arts Network) and was instrumental in pushing through and co-ordinating a number of national university tours for Hamilton bands such as Mobile Stud Unit. In this role he was also involved with booking international acts to tour for the Orientation festival.

Swan's involement with Contact 89FM was across a variety of roles, including as an announcer (1991 - 1996), newsreader (1997), creative & copywriting, one of several music directors (in this case looking after the 'retro' playlist) and event management. He also co-managed the 1994 Contact Battle of the Bands - at the time the biggest event Contact had run. Notable regular hosting slots included the Wednesday Morning 'Lose yer Breakfast Show' with Kevin Jones over 1991/92, a subsequent solo breakfast show, the Top 13 for six months/a year(?) in the early /mid 1990s, a long-term mid-week drive show, and semi-regular 'fill-in' hosting of the reggae, hip hop and punk shows.