The 23rd annual Forest City London Music Awards (FCLMA) are coming up this summer and you can once again vote for your favourite musicians to win. Local cover band Swagger has clinched their ninth straight nomination—this time for Fan Favourite. The lead singer of the band is the Fanshawe Student Union’s very own Darla Stratton, who works in the Publications Office as a graphic designer.

“Being nominated is a huge honour,” she said. “Obviously it’s great to win, but just being included is a win in itself.”

Swagger has been nominated every year since 2017 in either the Fan Favourite or Cover Band categories, winning the latter award in the first year. Stratton said that the band plays a range of music genres from the 70s to now, but they have one simple rule: “If you can’t dance to it, we don’t play it.”

“If a song doesn’t get the reaction we want after a show or two, it’s gone,” Stratton added. “We don’t just play what we like—we play what works.”

Swagger only plays about one show a month, rotating venues around the London area. Stratton says this approach has helped to develop a fanbase and draw in big crowds—something that makes them a strong contender for the Fan Favourite award.

“To me, Fan Favourite is just like it says,” she explained. “It’s about having a good following, a good social media presence, and getting people to come to your shows.”

The awards are taking place the week of June 1 to 8, and the event’s founder and chair, Mario Circelli is excited to bring the community together again.

“It stitches together all genres and styles and for one night, one week we are a united community pulling together,” he said.

Looking at the nominations list, “all genres and styles” is not an exaggeration, either. There are awards for almost every genre you could think of, from jazz, blues, and classical, to pop, world, electronic and more, with new awards being added periodically. Last year, for the first time, they included categories for Latin and R&B/Soul—both of which are back this year.

“Both are special additions to the awards program as we strive to be as inclusive and diverse as possible,” Circelli said. “London has a wonderful Hispanic community and we acknowledge that. We also have a great community of artists that work in the R&B/Soul genre and we’ve captured that as well.”

The FCLMAs are not just for established musicians, either. Circelli said they also do work in the community to help young musicians find their footing–encouraging them to “start playing, keep playing, and aspire.”

“The Battle of the High School Bands is one way we encourage and support young musicians,” he explained. “The FCLMA Ken Palmer Music Bursary is another way we encourage young high school students to pursue music at a post secondary institution.”

As always, it is the London community who decides the winners of the FCLMAs, and if you want to take part, you can vote on their website until April 24.

In the meantime, if you’re in the mood to dance, Stratton said that Swagger’s next show is happening at 9 p.m. on April 5 at the Wortley Roadhouse.