Pat Speer- lead vocals _____________________________________________________________________________
John Hurley- guitar, mandolin, vocals _____________________________________________________________________________
Jim O'Donnell- harmony vocals _____________________________________________________________________________
MorganEve Swain- fiddle, vocals _____________________________________________________________________________
Chuck O'Donnell- guitar, bass _____________________________________________________________________________
Fred McKay- bass ______________________________________________________________________
Influences
Auntie Katie O'Conner, the Clancy Brothers, the Dubliners, Mick Maloney, Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Vassar Clements, Old & In the Way, Jorma Kaukonen, Tom Waits, the Rolling Stones, The Band, Johnny Cash, Skip Rasta, Ray Kelly...
Sounds Like
what would happen if the Grateful Dead kidknapped Bob Dylan and took him to Ireland.
Once Removed formed eighteen years ago a short time after first cousins "once
removed" Pat Speer and John Hurley both moved back to the Bridgeport, Connecticut
area from separate lives. John had been, among other things, following the Grateful
Dead around and playing in several bands across the country. Pat had been working
in the D.C. area, singing mostly at marches, rallies, demonstrations, and coffee houses.
After they met one night at a traditional Irish concert in Bridgeport at Skip Rastas'
restaurant, The Merry Widow, they started to get together at the Gaelic American
Club to play sessions. John brought Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia Band influences;
Pat brought mostly Irish folk he had learned as young teenager in his home. Bob
Dylan was one influence they held in common.
The duo went public with their first gig on St. Patrick's Day, 1988, at a rundown,
now-boarded up joint in Bridgeport called the Club TipToe. That was with one
acoustic guitar and two vocals. Some time after, good friend Jim O'Donnell started
to jump up to sing harmonies, and then about eight years into it the band ran
into Fred McKay, bass player, who showed up after a gig for a nightcap in a bar
the duo was playing. Pitying them, he enlisted in the band to add his smooth bass
lines. A short time later, Hurley brought in an old friend and bandmate, Chuck O'Donnell,
who added his own splendid guitar work along with harmonica and his vocals.
This foursome and occasional fivesome always felt incomplete, and wanted two
things: a fiddler; and an underage squirt we could pick on. We never dreamed we'd
get both in the same package, but with Ms. MorganEve Swain's addition, over three
years ago now, the band got a fiddler superb far beyond her age and the sound it had
been looking for. In a good Irish session, everyone should sing, and it wasn't long
before MorganEve added her graceful, beautiful vocals, too. Once Removed was
once described as "The Grateful Dead and The Band getting drunk, kidnapping Bob Dylan,
and going to Ireland."
Hey Guys...I was going to post our banner, and then decided it was a little cheesy, considering we know you. So...I'll just say thanks for the add...see you soon.
