By George L. O'Brien (Arizona Irish Music Society)
This January at O'Connor's gave Irish music fans an opportunity to see the successful pub debuts of two bands: The Bringers and Shanachie. While quite different in style, both showed they have what it takes to perform successfully in pubs.
The primary distinction in the Arizona Irish music scene is between the pub bands/performers and those who rarely work at the pubs. Playing at Irish pubs imposes requirements on performers that are quite different from those at concerts, coffee houses, and private parties. In many ways The Bringers performance was more remarkable than that of Shanachie, because Shanachie was put together as a pub band with experienced pub performers Kenny Mulqueen and Steve Colby. By contrast, The Bringers are an established traditional band with a strong following in the folk community but their standard performance style would not work at the pubs.
The best bands can play in both worlds but they have to make accommodations. The Bringers were successful because they were willing to make the necessary changes and had the right people to pull it off.
Playing pubs is difficult. Pub performers generally have to play for three or more hours, which is much longer than the typical concert performance, under trying conditions. When the Bringers had their excellent solo concert at Fiddler's Dream in December, the audience was completely quiet during the performance and acoustics were very good. People generally remained seated and they paid very close attention to the performers. The challenge in such an environment is technical -- because the audience is hanging on every note.
Pubs are very, very different. They are loud and smoky. The audience is rarely doing more than half paying attention to the musicians. The sound of the pool table, dart player, and just loud conversation of somewhat intoxicated people competes with the music. People are constantly wandering around. It can be terribly distracting. Unless the band/performer is careful, it is possible to completely lose the audience entirely and become nothing more than a live juke box. A balance must be achieved so that it does not become a contest between the performers and the audience. I suspect that this is a problem for everyone playing bars. Rock bands can get the attention of the audience by playing really loud but this is not what someone is looking for who comes to an "Irish" pub. None the less, it was necessary for The Bringers to substantially increase the power of the sound system they were using to accommodate the requirements of playing a pub. Equally important, The Bringers radically altered their "play list" to accommodate the requirements of playing pubs.
There are no "hard and fast rules" about play lists. I have found there are certain general rules of thumb that successful pub bands seem to follow:
1. No more than 33.3% of the selections be instrumental. Most pub bands do less than 25% instrumental. The primary exception is when there are step dancers available begging for fiddle tunes. Pure traditional bands such as Crossbow, Round the House, and New Potatoes will do over 75% instrumental. Before the Bringers added vocalists, Catherine Rustenbeck and Nichelle Scott, they were predominately an instrumental group built around the dynamite fiddle player,Michi Regier
2. The play list should be upwards of 50% up tempo selections. As a general rule, even three slow pieces in a row will lose almost any pub audience. The primary exception is certain very popular "cover" songs (see below). The problem facing most traditional groups is that singers tend to do ballads and the up tempo material is instrumental. This creates a conflict between rule #1 and rule #2. To overcome this it is necessary to add new material to their play list. For the Bringers, this meant that folk music legend Joe Bethancourt, who knows a huge number of songs, did a lot more singing than he has during usually does at their concert performances. For Shanachie, this was less of a problem because their band was designed do pub performances and the members have experience with the dynamics of these venues.
3. The vocal play list should include at least 20% to 25% "cover songs." These are songs that are part of the standard "Irish" repertoire. These are the usual favorites such as Whiskey in the Jar, Black Velvet Band, Irish Rover, Wild Rover, Star of the County Down, etc. These are the songs that people are inclined to clap and sing along with. Performers get tired of doing these songs, but the audiences rarely get tired of hearing them. The Bringers did enough cover songs to keep the audience "with them." Shanachie follows the McMorrows pattern of doing an extremely large proportion of "cover" songs.
4. The band should be able to perform in a wide variety of styles. For Shanachie, this involves having Steve Colby and Dennis McMorrow each do solos as well as doing songs with Steve, Dennis and Kenny Mulqueen singing in unison. They have three "lead instruments" in the fiddle, guitar (or banjo or bazouki), and the accordion. For the Bringers, they can alternate duets by Catherine and Nichelle with solos by Joe Bethancourt and Vash. They even have a few songs where Michi Regier and Byron Miller sing with Catherine and Nichelle. Michi on the fiddle and Joe Bethancourt on various stringed instruments can alternate as lead melody instruments, with Vash on the Bodhran and Byron Miller on the dijeridoo providing rhythm.
Neither Shanachie nor the Bringers are as smooth as they will be. For example, the Clare Voyants have been together for two years and they are still getting better.
Shanachie is almost certain to become a top pub band based on their talent and the extensive pub experience brought by Steve Colby, formerly of the Rambling Rovers, and Kenny Mulqueen, formerly of the McMorrows. Many people were surprised at how good a vocalist Dennis McMorrow is. He has a strong vocal presence that will improve and become more refined with experience. It seems likely they will eventually add another performer to enrich the mix in order to attain the sound they eventually hope to achieve and to provide greater diversity in their repetoire. None the less, they sound very good even now.
It is not clear that the Bringers aspire to become a regular pub band. They certainly have the ability to make the transition. They may be successful in both contexts which, for some musicians, is the best of both worlds. In any case, they are excellent performers and I am sure their soon to be released CD will help to increase their already strong following.
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