What do you get when you put two rock artists and a gospel singer together in a room? You get a swing band. Local musicians Graeme Watkins, Nathan Ro and Loyiso Bala have teamed up to record a swing album titled Well Swung. Together the three make up the band Swing City.Each are household names with Watkins and Ro being South African Music Award nominees and Bala having won awards. Watkins was first introduced to audiences in 2009 as the Idols SA runner up and then subsequently formed the band The Graeme Watkins Project. Ro’s introduction was similar, he also formed a band, Lonehill Estate but soapie fans will recognise him from his two year stint on Isidingo. Watkins said: “It’s an unlikely genre for us. People struggle to see us in a swing band. But once they see us, they’re blown away.”Adding his full bodied melodic sound into the mix, Bala is the unofficial jack of all trades having first entered the industry as an R ‘n B artist. While Swing music seems dated, the three men are adding a sophisticated fresh and sexy feel to an “old” sound. Their album, which will be launched later this month, will feature classic songs like Mack the Knife, Mr Bojangles and I’ve Got You Under My Skin.Nathan Ro said: “Adaptability is everything. There’s a passion in the old that modern music misses, nostalgia is a wonderful thing.” But not completely doing away with modern pop, they have also added some of their hit singles and reworked popular songs like Taylor Swift’s Shake it Off and Pharrell William’s Happy.Bala said: “What we set out was to present an alternative to the bands we currently have. It doesn’t mean we’re a recording act; it [Swing City] is an extension of what we do. We took songs that have stood the test of time, I believe with this albums life span, people will listen to it for generations to come.” ..