The Nettles

The Band

Acoustic. Celtic. Folkadelic. The Nettles are a Celtic acoustic band that play at dances, festivals, concerts and clubs in the Pacific Northwest of the USA. Irish music, Scottish music, American Oldtime, The Nettles put it all through their folkadelic kaleidoscope. From Corvallis, Oregon, United States.

Acoustic Celtic music that’s progressive, exciting and a little bit dangerous. This band ignites audiences with fiery music that blends traditional music with modern spices. On fiddle, guitar, upright bass and percussion, they play acoustic improvisational music based on traditional tunes, a sort of acoustic Celtic jam band.

The Nettles play fiery music that blends traditional Irish and American music with modern spices. Laura Brophy’s powerful fiddling forms strong yet lyrical melodies punctuated by wild improvisation. The Nettles are propelled by the mighty rhythm engine of Kevin Johnsrude on guitar, Michael Proctor on bass and drummers Brian Bucolo, Doug Narry or Ankush Vimawala.

The Nettles play for festivals, dances, bars, and weddings on the West Coast. Their music retains the driving energy of its roots but The Nettles’ unique interpretations add new excitement to the tradition with every performance.

The Nettles joke that "We never play the same tune once."

The Nettles formed in 1996 from a living room jam session. Since then they have played in every sort of venue, ranging from the Wintergrass Bluegrass Festival to the Oregon Bach Festival to a wedding in the Opal Creek Wilderness Area to the opening ceremony for the Oregon Senate.

The Nettles list as influences: Afro-Celt Sound System, Alisdair Fraser, Bill Monroe, Bill Frisell, Bill Laswell, Clark Kessinger, Don Messer, Eileen Ivers, Fuzzy Mountain String Band, Garaj Mahal, Grateful Dead, Harv, Hoven Droven, It’s a Beautiful Day, James Brown, JP Fraley, Jerry Garcia, Kenny Baker, Kevin Burke, Kila, Lunasa, Larry Unger, Miles Davis, Moby, moe., Phish, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Shooglenifty, Solas, Swap, Tartan Amoebas, The Dubliners, The Kells, Thelonious Monk, Tommy Jarrell, Vasen, Wild Asparagus and many, many more.

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Reviews

• There is enough of a twist on the traditional to keep it interesting for the people who prefer a little something new, but not so much that those who are looking for their beloved sounds will feel cheated. Indeed, this is truly a Celtic CD that many people would enjoy.

  Catherine L. Tully, Celtic MP3s Music Magazine

• We have a rating system for CD’s we receive so that DJ’s in other genres have some guidelines when they play a CD they may not be familiar with. We rate 1 the worst and 7 the best. I rated The Nettles a 7. All music sent to WVUD is catalogued into the station music library. I had a hard time giving this one up. I found The Nettles CD to be exciting, fresh and alive. Very enjoyable listening

  Ellen Ellis, The Green Willow;, WVUD, Newark, DE

• This album is really very nice. . . . A marvelous get-up-and-go album to play first thing in the morning

  Victory Review, June, 2000

• Rimheach! [Gaelic: ‘Superb!’] The combination of musical talent, expertise of the instrumentation and the musical feeling, Celtic spirit, makes it impossible to sit still. Everyone at the station was tapping their feet, wiggling in their seats or dancing, and some were doing all three.

  Dave MacLean, Radio Scotland

• Outstanding! A perfect fit for the sound of our programs of Celtic music....It’s in heavy rotation right now.

  Marty Scarborough, KASU-FM program director

• ...this CD truly shines as a Celtic album! From the opening set...you’ll think you’ve wandered into some small, crowded bar where the beer is cheap and the music ever so sweet. Just make sure you put your soft-soled dancing shoes on

  The Green Man Review0

• [The Nettles’ CD is] A delightful collection of energetic tunes. I’ll be playing it again

  Jan Vanderhorst, Just Us Folk;, CKPC 92.1 FM, Brantford, Ontario,Canada

• Your CD arrived this week and I enjoyed it so much I made it the featured album on today’s program. I reckon The Nettles would be great fun at pub gigs and the like. There’s a lot of energy and I really like the direct approach you take with the music. You mix up American and Irish tunes delightfully through the album, as well as tossing in a couple of tunes of ‘other parentage’ sitting very well with the rest. The album works well for my taste. It gives a strong indication of your ‘live’ sound...I would love to see you guys live on stage...Thanks for sending me a copy--it will continue to get airplay.

  Bruce Cameron, Come All Ye; (longest-running folk program on Australian radio), 2MCE-FM, Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia

• Excellent, all-around. Great arrangements and musicianship!

  Steve Jerrett, Sunday Morning Coffeehouse, KOPN, Columbia, MO.

• The Nettles are well-known on the West Coast for their original approach to contra dance music. Playing traditional music from all over the world, The Nettles create a strong rhythmic groove under soaring improvisations. Rhythmic drive and melodic fluidity allow The Nettles to propel contra dances into the stratosphere.

  Eugene Folklore Society newsletter

• The best time I’ve had at Folklife in the 20 years I’ve been coming!... Definitely on my list of top 10 dances ever!... This is what I came to Folklife for... Folklife just started!

  Comments from dancers at The Nettles dance at Northwest Folklife

• This progressive Celtic group takes traditional Irish and American music and sets it ablaze with wild improvisation and driving rhythm. Their music has delighted audiences from Ashland to Seattle at festivals, dances, bars, coffeehouses and live radio shows

  Corvallis [Oregon] Gazette-Times, 6 August 1999

• This inventive crew has taken the festive traditions of Celtic music and then added elements of jazz, funk and rock to create a new fusion that sounds delightful and warms the spirit. The instrumentation is that of a classic ensemble (pipes, fiddle, guitar, bass, tin whistle, drums and percussion), but the playing is a thoroughly invigorating mix of improvisation and exploration

  Riffage.com (now defunct)

• This four-piece band from Oregon isn’t just another Celtic knockoff band playing ‘Ireland’s Greatest Hits.’ No, The Nettles expand upon the theme, mixing newer tunes in with obscure traditional ones, and adding in touches of music from other areas, like the Balkans and Quebec...They play their traditional music with a great deal of energy and mix in touches of jazz and rock to keep things interesting and fresh

  Dirty Linen, #90, October/November 2000

• The Nettles lead a double life: by turns a kickin’ and innovative concert band, and a vigorous but reliable contra dance band.

  Frank Gosar, The Saturday Cafe, KLCC 89.7 FM, Eugene.

• Wow!...I’m loving this! This is one of the best evenings we’ve had in a long, long, long time.

  Pete Lavelle, The Back Porch, KLCC 89.7 FM, Eugene.

• Portland dancers were wildly enthusiastic over the Nettles at their Portland debut. Dancers were coming up at the end of the evening raving and asking when they’d be playing again. Much hooting and hollering was heard throughout the evening....vigorous, passionate playing among folks who very clearly are having fun.

  Judith Swinney, Portland Country Dance Community board member

• The Nettles have developed a strong following of dancers and Celtic music fans in their home towns of Corvallis and Eugene...They play neo-Celtic music that blends Irish roots with blues and jazz influences. The music is strong, layered and expressive. The band sets a tune in place, gives dancers the strong rhythm they need and then plays with improvisation. Brophy’s fiddle occasionally soars over the tune with a free flowing invention quite unlike most contradance music.

  Footnotes, Jan/Feb 1999

• Laura Brophy of The Nettles keeps the spirit of the contra dance alive..

  Corvallis Gazette-Times, 23 October, 1998

Members

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  Improvisational fiddler Laura Brophy is known throughout the West for her fiery playing. She first picked up a fiddle at the age of 11 and hasn’t put it down since. Laura’s distinctive technique combines lyrical melodies and rhythmic innovation to give each tune a new twist. Her fiddling first enlivened street jams in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After coming to Oregon in 1986 she began playing for dancers and developed the exciting style that fills the house and raises the roof at festivals and dance events throughout the region.

  Laura loves to jam with friends onstage or off. "The excitement of a musical conversation is a real high for me. Our energy goes out to the dancers and comes back to us tenfold."

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  Kevin Johnsrude, polyrhythmic guitarist and singer, is The Nettles’ Rhythm Monster, using elements of Celtic music, American Oldtime, world music, rock, jazz and funk to “drive the band wherever it wants to go.”

  Kevin proves that for guitar-players there is life beyond boom-chuck. Originally trained in classical piano, Kevin fell in love with the guitar and developed a distinctive guitar style influenced by traditional music, jazz, funk, rock, world music, soul and even techno. While willing and able to treat sweet traditional tunes with the gentle respect that they deserve, Kevin can drive a raucous fiddle tune into total dance frenzy. Kevin’s playing runs the gamut from fast and hard-driving to wistful and spacious. And when the jamming starts, a polyrhythmic guitar style combined with keen harmonic intuition propels the improvisation of Laura and company into the stratosphere.

  “I like The Nettles,” says Kevin, “because we play traditional music from Ireland and around the world but we keep the music fresh. Our music remains true to its roots but we add something new to the music each time we play it. Traditional musicians can and should improvise to keep the tradition alive.”

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  John Light began his musical career inauspiciously by starting piano lessons at age 5, and quitting them at age 6. One might have thus guessed he was destined to become an accordion player and, indeed, in late middle age, after stints as rock guitarist, blues keyboardist, and bluegrass guitar/lead singer, his true calling finally caught up with him. Should you run into John at a gig, and tell him an Accordion Joke he has not heard and that is, in addition, actually funny, he will pay you a dollar.

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  Michael Proctor cut his musical teeth on the violin, and began playing double bass a few years later. Guitar, harmonica and other instruments came along soon after, as he began playing folk music and rock.

  In the seventies Michael went from Willamette University’s Pit orchestra to being principal bassist in the OSU Symphony and playing in the Stage Band. From there, he went on to play with regional groups American Beauty and Lip Service.

  In the eighties, Michael was based in the Boulder-Denver area, touring with The Roadmasters (R & B) and working regionally with the Predictors (Folk & Bluegrass).

  In the nineties, he was based in Portland and worked with Ellen Whyte, before moving to Corvallis.

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  Brian Bucolo is the heartbeat of The Nettles. In a previous life, Brian toured the West Coast with Calobo for six years before he decided that "viewing the world through a windshield of a van and meeting inebriated strangers at 2am may not be the road to greater fulfillment." Brian is now King of the Groove in The Nettles.

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  Ankush Vimawala is an award-winning Indian tabla player who plays in a Celtic worldbeat power trio with Kevin and Laura.

  Ankush has been studying the tabla since the age of six and holds a BA in tabla, has won many awards for his playing and has performed on All-India Radio.

  With Ankush, the trio performs improvisational music in local clubs that combines East and West in a fusion that enthralls audiences. The Nettles trio travels from Dublin to New Delhi and visits many interesting places along the way. It really has to be heard to believed. And enjoyed.