Celtic group Napper Tandies brewing up pub-style music

Believe it or not, alcohol is not the essential ingredient to a pub, says Chris Brinn, an English native who now lives in Searsport.

Pubs are the social hub of small towns in England and Ireland, and are as much about conversation, laughter and music as they are about having a pint, he explained. Heading for the pub in his hometown of Padstow in North Cornwall was motivated more by a desire to “sing a song and have a laugh,” Brinn said.

“It’s how I grew up,” he said.

These days, Brinn is regularly spending time in pubs in Maine, and hopes to spend more. He is a member of the four-piece Celtic group the Napper Tandies, which performs Saturday night at the Bear Brew Pub in Orono. The group’s other members hail from Rockland, Orono and Amherst.

The traditional Irish songs they play are in their element in a pub, Brinn said, as people sing along, dance or just sit and stomp their feet to the irresistible beat.

“The pubs are the big meeting places,” he said. “Pubs are more social back home.”

Brinn plays the piano accordion – that’s the version with a keyboard on one side, and chord buttons on the other – in the Napper Tandies.

“I’ve been playing accordion for 18 years,” he said.

The instrument carries the melody, and it is a popular instrument in the English pub scene. In the small town where Brinn grew up, there are 50 to 60 accordion players, he said.

Joining Brinn in the band are Matt Smith on banjo and tin whistle, Rich Ruggerio on guitar and Randy Billings on upright bass. The four were part of a larger group, Smith said, who regrouped in January as a quartet.

The group got noticed during the local portion of the National Folk Festival, when they performed a rousing set on a chilly night at the Sea Dog in Bangor.

“We had a great time,” Brinn said of that show, and so did the audience, including some of the mariners who were in town for the festival.

“A lot of the Coast Guard boys were shouting and screaming,” he said, adding to the convivial atmosphere.

Smith remembers the cool night air chasing off all but the hardy souls, which made for a great audience.

The Napper Tandies get their name from James Napper Tandy (1740-1803), an Irish patriot who helped found the Society of United Irishmen, a British opposition group, and joined with the French to plan an ill-fated invasion of Ireland.

“His name appears in a lot of traditional song,” Smith said. “He’s kind of a comic character as well.”

Tandy’s history as an Irish patriot matches the music the band plays, said Brinn.

“Irish folk music is generated by the working class,” he said. “A lot of it is rebel music.”

But a lot of it is fun music, too, including jigs and reels.

The Tandies do sing some traditional ballads, which can be tear-jerkers, but return to the upbeat tunes.

“We try to keep it as light as we possibly can,” he said.

For now, the Napper Tandies are performing traditional material. A five-song demo CD they produced features “Whiskey in the Jar,” “Star of the County Down,” and “Donnegal Danny.” Originals may follow, Smith and Brinn said.

Smith, originally a guitar player, points to the Irish band the Pogues as his gateway into the traditional music. The group cited the Dubliners as an influence, which sent Smith to explore that band, as well as The Clancy Brothers and others.

Smith says the group’s sound is built around Brinn’s accordion, while he provides a rhythmic “vamping” on the five-string banjo, and Ruggerio plays chords on guitar.

And Billings’ bass “holds everything together,” he said.

The group recently traveled to Albany, N.Y., to an Irish music festival and ended up meeting the Makem Brothers, Smith said.

For more information about tonight’s performance, call the Bear Brew Pub at 866-2739.