Erik "Slugger O'Toole" Rieder (vocals, guitar)
Michael "Angry McGee" Brown (mandolin, guitar)
John "Johnny McGirk" Lynch (bass, vocals)
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Chris "Doak Dugen" Herrington (lead vocals)
Mike "Ol'Mickey Coote" Crawford (harmonica)
Sara "Tubbs O'Toole" Rieder-Bennett (accordion)
Alex "Flex/Sparky/Gung Hogan" Baker (drums)
Rock & Roll storytelling with an acoustic agenda. The band blends traditional Irish songs with their own tales of heartache, high adventure, and hard drink. From shipwrecks to barstools, the Cardoons will delight you with their deceptively laid-back tunes chock full of memorable lyrics and catchy hooks.
Their melodies are straight-forward and energetic enough to drive you straight from you seat to the dance floor. Expect a driving rhythm pounded out on six battered guitar strings and slapped down from an upright bass. Melodies come pouring out of that same bass to complement Brown's tickling the stings of his guitar or mandolin. Harmonica runs accentuate the players' talents and give the sound a high cap to play around under. Rieder Bennett's accordion provides an accenting harmony to the often fantastic, sometimes mournful, always exciting tales given out by "Doak" Herrington's deep, honest voice.
The Staggering Cardoons got started one day in 2007 when Erik Rieder got himself a guitar and started playing some of his favorite songs along with bandmate Mike Brown. The rest of the band started playing and singing along over the course of a couple months and eventually they had resolved to adopt a moniker that is both descriptive of a Saturday night and an homage to some musical favorites.
Early recordings of the band's material were formerly available through this site. Those recordings were made with a digital voice recorder in the band's practice space and the quality left a great deal to be desired. The new recordings posted on this site were recorded at Mark Poole's studio in Grandville and the band is a lot happier with them. This is still a rough copy and we're just waiting on our accordian player to lay down the final tracks, the debute full length album will be here soon!
The band plays an eclectic blend of traditional Irish songs; covers from the likes of Johnny Cash, Dropkick Murphy's, and Flogging Molly; and original tunes described by one reporter as "heartbreak and hard drink."
I don't care if it says "Randomized" or not, I'm in the #1 friends seat and if I am not mistaken that means I get into ALL your shows for free or you can just buy me a beer and that would be fine also! See ya Saturday at 123!
There's a new sheriff in town, a new driver at the wheel, helmsman at the rudder, and navigator for the flight. You may have noticed some slight changes to the site, and if you haven't then you need to spend more time here, seriously, what do we pay you for?
Some things have moved off the front page and onto my hard drive. I assure you (Val) that all of your wonderful photos will be moving into their own lovely new home...er...sometime.
Added a show date; updated, corrected, and otherwise elucidated some other information; and will be promptly deleting anything I don't like (and I'm a bastard, really, just ask my wife).
Hey guys, thanks so much for helping make our party a memorable one. I am pretty sure you gained some new fans. I hope that you all had as much fun as I did. The sound crew got a good recording of the show. If you did not get their contact info, let me know and I will get you in touch with them.
I think this is going to become an annual event, and I hope you want to be part of it again.
I heard your show went well, which is awesome!! We are sooo sorry that we weren't able to be there! Josh ended up having to work :( Let us know ahead of time when the next show is and we'll try to make it!! Congrats on the show though!!!!!!! Remember us little people when you get famous lol j/k
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