About the Band

Band Bios

Dave Orban

Guitar and vocals

Based in Trenton, NJ, Gypsies founder Dave Orban fronts the band on guitar and vocals, and is the principal songwriter for the group.

In addition to his love for music, Orban is a retired B2B technology marketing executive and an accomplished artist. Orban’s main gigging guitar is a P90-equipped ’53 Gibson ES-175 (blonde, of course!), followed closely by a recent-vintage Collings SoCo. He also regularly uses a collection of custom-built parts Teles, usually with a P90 in the neck position. All are typically plugged straight into a ’96 Matchless Chieftain 1×12 combo or a Bartel Starwood combo, among others.

Mike Scott

Tenor sax

Mike Scott‘s musical journey point has taken some wild turns down some very weird roads. For the purposes of brevity and levity, the trip began at Mansfield University where he formed a jazz fusion band called “Mister Hyde” with Jeff Michael, aka “Flourtown Fats.”

Mike graduated in 1991 with a Music Education degree, and went on to teach music and drama in Wilmington. In ’95, he left Wilmington for Boston where he earned his Master of Music degree in Saxophone Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music.

In ’97, he returned to Philly taking a day gig at a local school district teaching Music, Drama and of all things, History. Since he’s been back, he has published three books related to music performance and jazz theory. He even got a Ph.D. in Education (with an emphasis on music… of course) in 2004.

Mark Shewchuk

Drums

Philly-based Mark Shewchuk, a graduate of Temple University, is a bonafide musical triple-threat: playing guitar, bass, and drums in a slew of area musical projects, including James Day and the Fish Fry; Shakey Lyman; and of course, the Mojo Gypsies.

Mike Cruse

Bass

Another Philly-based musical mainstay, Mike Cruse holds down the bottom end with the Mojo Gypsies.