PERSONNEL

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The Nettles	Laura & Kevin	Laura	Nettles Trio

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. The Nettles play progressive and exciting Celtic music at festivals, concerts, bars and dances in the Pacific Northwest of the USA and get radio airplay worldwide.

On fiddle, saxophone, pennywhistle, guitar, bass and percussion, they play acoustic improvisational music based on traditional tunes, a sort of acoustic Celtic jam band.

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.

Laura Brophy is known throughout the West for her fiery fiddling and improvisational talent. 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."

Kevin Johnsrude plays both guitar and bass. He 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.”

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.

Drummer 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.

In addition to The Nettles quintet with the personnel above, The Nettles are also a Celtic worldbeat power trio with Kevin, Laura and award-winning Indian tabla player Ankush Vimawala.

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

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.