Celtic music is not the first thing that comes to mind when Bakersfield music is brought up, but at the Lengthwise Brewing Company on the night of March 13, Whiskey Galore, a four-piece Celtic band from Bakersfield, had the crowd singing along all night.
Whiskey Galore came together in 1997 through percussionist Mike Bowen’s and bagpiper Kevin Briley’s appreciation for Celtic music and as the years passed, guitarist Jeff Davis and bassist Rich Spencer were added to the lineup.
“We started out as a duo, Kevin and I. I went to Kevin for piping lessons. Jeff did, too. Jeff did for a number of years and Kevin and I formed a duo. Years went by and Jeff came up one day and said, ‘I can play a little guitar,’ and he was able to become our third member,” said Bowen.
“Then we added Rich on bass, who is a childhood friend of Kevin’s, also. We all came from musical roots. We all had the love for the pipes. It really helps in our type of music for the other musicians to know how piping music in structured because it’s different than most things. We know where the stops and starts are,” added Bowen.
Briley added about the band’s longevity.
“There’s no way out. Once you join, you’re family.”
Bassist Spencer described the band’s sound.
“I would describe it as Celtic music with a real edge to it. We play everything very traditional, as far as instrument choices we use and songs we pick, but we like to bring out our own flair.”
However, Spencer added about their influences. “We’re really influenced by things other than Irish traditional music. Personally, I don’t listen to a lot of Irish music. I’m more into thrash metal and punk and funk, alternative music. None of us listen to the same music.”
Spencer talked about his personal influences, as he said, “My favorite band in the world is probably Nuclear Rabbit, which is a very obscure band from the Bay Area back when I was in college [UC Berkley, 1990s]. They have an amazing bass player (Jean Baudin) and he’s influenced my style a lot.”
One Bay area band also caught Spencer’s attention.
“Green Day was the band back there. I saw them live a zillion times. I’m influenced by them, love them a lot.”
Spencer used to work at Bakersfield College in job placement in the 1990s and he explained, “I worked with a program getting unemployment for people with disabilities. That was back in ’94, ’95, I think, at least ten years ago.”
Bowen talked about the audience that Whiskey Galore reaches.
“What’s cool is the type of music we do, we have people in their nineties that like it, and we have teenagers with mohawks and nose rings. Everybody can get into it. It’s an old feel to it but you can rock it up a little bit and tone it down.”
Davis added, “It’s medieval heavy metal.”
Kevin talked about the differences with Celtic rock bands and his own Celtic traditional band.
“I’ve learned that Flogging Molly, Dropkick Murphys, bands like that are outstanding, but the difference between what we do, is we keep it traditional, mostly through Mike [Bowen] because he plays a hand-held drum. There’s no drum kit. It seems like when you go from Celtic to Celtic rock, it’s when you add a full drum kit.”
Davis has had experience with music most of his life, as with the other members. Davis also mentioned how he got into Whiskey Galore.
“I played in the San Diego youth symphony and various jazz bands. The way I got into [Whiskey Galore], I said, ‘I need to learn to play bagpipes.’ I finally hooked up with Kevin and he taught me to play and here I am. I’ve always loved this style of music, it makes you stand up and say hey.”
Davis described Whiskey Galore’s fan-base outside of Bakersfield, such as in Las Vegas on Fremont Street, where the band has played the past seven years consecutively.
“It’s huge. Most of the people haven’t seen us before, stumble upon us and then they don’t leave and we have a crowd of 5,000 people.”
Briley added that, “For family reasons we’re not doing it this year.”
Yet, Briley is proud that the band has toured and played outside of Bakersfield successfully, but Whiskey Galore does not stray too far from home.
“One of the coolest ones we’ve done is the Lucky Strike in Hollywood. That was the bowling alley from ‘The Big Lebowski,'” Briley said.
“We do a lot of private weddings; we’ve done stuff in Fresno, Pismo Beach, Cambria and L.A.,” he said. “We don’t tour too much. We have a great fan base here and are certainly blessed with that.”
Briley added, “And everybody has children and eight to fives.”
Briley attended BC from 1993-1996 and has also attended Cal State Bakersfield.
Bowen said when asked what it means to him to be in Whiskey Galore is because “It’s a release, that’s for sure.”
Davis added, “If it wasn’t fun, I don’t think we’d be doing it.”
Whiskey Galore’s plans for the rest of the year include a new record coming out next St. Patrick’s Day, and Bowen explained their plans in detail.
“We’re going to take the whole summer off and work on the fifth untitled record. We’ll resurface in September for the beer festival. If not, we’ll resurface at Lengthwise in October.”