| Hands Five is an acoustic string band originating out of the Contra Dance tradition. As both dancers and musicians, we thrive on the energy that flows from the band to the dancers on a good medley (and back to the band when it all comes together!). Not wed to a particular style, you'll hear everything from the lilt of Celtic fiddling to the syncopated percussion of the hammer dulcimer. The musical focus of the band has always been contra dance music, but there are lots of subsets to this genre. Thus, you'll hear the band jumping from old time southern reels to sweet flowing New England hornpipes and from French Canadian tunes to new-time old-time compositions by band members and friends of the band. Sometimes they’ll play a schizophrenic mix of styles in the same medley. If there's an opportunity, they'll even burst forth into songs ranging from old swing standards, to Klezmer, to contemporary compositions. This may not be legal according to the musical police, but Hands Five has never been able to decide on a favorite. |
Winners
of the 2005 Santa Fe Traditional & Bluegrass Music
Festival |
L-R: Erika Gerety, Bruce Thomson, Peter Esherick, Gary Blank, John Brinduse
Who's in Hands Five? |
| Bruce Thomson (fiddle) – Bruce's principal role in the band is to give everybody else a hard time. He brings bluegrass, old time and Celtic influences to the band. Bruce is nominal leader of the NM Folk Music and Dance Society Megaband, and writes a monthly column for them and other traditional music organizations on traditional music and musicianship. Bruce is an engineer who studies turd mechanics during the day (don't ask unless you REALLY want to know!). |
| Peter Esherick (hammered dulcimer, bass, tenor banjo) – Peter spends most of his free time tuning his dulcimer, which has 88 strings, roughly 3,000 lbs of tension, and drifts out of tune due to temperature fluctuations of as little as 0.5 ºF. The rest of each day is spent fending off dulcimer jokes. In his spare time Peter works for Sandia National Laboratories. |
| Erika Gerety (bass, vocals) – Erika is the group's director and list mistress. She's an accomplished organizer, coordinator, delegator, and worrier. Her talents in these areas have led to her continuing role as Director of the Albuquerque Folk Festival. When she's on top of her game, nobody's better, but then she'll forget to bring a list and chaos prevails. Things usually become much more fun then, but a lot more stressful too. When Erika straps her bass in its case on her back she becomes about 8 feet tall – easy to spot in a crowd. Her day job includes keeping Anthropology graduate students out of trouble at the University of New Mexico, not too different from her night job as Den Mother of Hands Five. |
| John Brinduse (guitar, piano) – John is the chord meister of the band and switches between guitar and piano depending on the style. He is partial to Celtic music and is proud of his heritage as descendent of a long line of Atholls. When introducing him we don't share this fact with many folks because of the frequent misunderstanding of the lineage. He's also partial to VW buses and has an old one mostly held together with nonsensical bumper stickers. John spends his days as a triage nurse telling folks to take two aspirins and call back in the morning. |
| Gary Blank (percussion, jaw harp, didgeridoo) – Gary plays every percussive instrument you can think of except the kitchen sink, and that omission is probably only because it's too heavy to lug around. It's notable that with Hands Five Gary does not use any conventional drums, banging instead on a plywood box drum from Cuba called a Cajon. This of course leads to jokes about cojones, a topic not suitable for these liner notes. To the best of our knowledge Gary is one of the few musicians in the world to record a didgeridoo backing up a fiddle tune. Gary spends most days as a gang leader of a group of kindergartners. |
| And introducing: Rev, our newest band member, stepping in to fill Gary's shoes on percussion and didgeridoo. Rev is new to the Old-Time and Contra Dance music scene, but he's a quick study, setting up a fine groove on percussion with just the right touch of swing when we need it. Rev makes his own didgeridoos (and sells them too!) and also teaches the art of playing one at Apple Mountain Music. |
For schedule, information or
bookings call or email Erika Gerety 505-294-6909, erika@unm.edu |
Visit Hands Five on MySpace |