Watkins and the Rapiers is a folk-rock/Americana band with three songwriters who contribute to an eclectic, oft-irreverent repertoire.

12 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Americana, FOLK: Folk Pop



Details:
The Story of Watkins & the Rapiers

Watkins & the Rapiers plays mostly original music, written by the bandâs three songwriters. Itâs Americana music, folk music with a beat, exploring many genres, rather than calculating a sound to fit a marketing category.

We had our first performance in January 1996. At the time, we werenât a band, but friends who took turns hosting a weekly hootenanny / jam session with other musicians in the Rochester, N.Y. area. The date, at the old Rose & Crown on Monroe Avenue, was arranged by our crowdâs mandolin / fiddle player, but the opportunity came up too quickly, and he was unable to participate. So Scott Regan asked the mandolin / fiddle player from his band, the Water Street Boys, to join us that night. Always up for a musical challenge, Bruce Diamond accepted. He raised us to a new level, and the next thing we knew, we were the barâs Wednesday night band.

For that first job, bar manager Will Taggert had taken out an ad in advance, before he knew who would perform. He called the band Watkins and the Rapiers, the name of his own band from his teenage years in England. (The name derived from an inexpensive electric guitar from the 1960s, the Watkins Rapier.) We didnât have a name and figured taking on the bar ownerâs choice was good politics. And thatâs how we became Watkins & the Rapiers.

A few months into the gig, Bruce invited his old band mate, drummer Marty York, to sit in. Soon he was a regular, and our original six-member lineup was in place. We played about a year of Wednesday nights before we had a practice. It was fun, like bowling night, Bruce noted. We played a wide-ranging repertoire, including many original songs along with covers by the likes of Donovan, Steve Earle, Roger Miller, the Morells, John Prine, Jonathan Richman and the Troggs.

We began to practice only after we decided to record a CD of some of our original songs. That CD, Play Along with Watkins & the Rapiers, was recorded and released in 1997. To pay for it, we played more gigs in 1998 than we have any other year, including many summer festivals and culminating with three December shows: opening for Rick Danko at Milestones just a year before he died, making our first appearance on the live âBound for Gloryâ radio show on WVBR in Ithaca before an audience at the Commons coffee house, then staging our first somewhat annual Christmas show.

By 1999, accordionist/guitarist/songwriter Rob Goodwin was preparing to move out of the Rochester area, as his wifeâs medical internship was ending. They eventually moved to Bozeman, Mont., where he is now the president and chief operating officer of Ligocyte Pharmaceuticals. Inc., and his wife, a physician. To prepare for the move, we recorded our second CD, to ensure we had a record of the leading songs in our repertoire. However, when Rob moved, the band wasnât jelling, so we stopped playing for a while, and the recordings werenât released at the time.

We reformed in Summer 2002 to play an arthritis benefit organized by Jan Regan, Scott and Kerryâs sister. It was a fun night, we played well, and it led us to begin playing regularly again. In our second wind, weâve played regularly at The Daily Perks Coffeehouse, where we often play in pin-drop silence, and The Flipside Bar & Grill, amid dancing, cajoling and Guinness on tap.

In 2004, we released a bootleg version of our second set of studio recordings, Whatever Happened to Watkins and the Rapiers. In May 2006, we went back into the studio to record about two dozen songs, half of which are on our third CD, Itâs Christmas, Baby!, which we released at our 2006 Christmas shows.

Band Member Biographies

Marty York (drums, percussion, washboard and vocals) â A 20-plus-year veteran of the Rochester music scene, Marty has played in dozens of bands over the years. His earliest performances included lip-synching to Alvin and the Chipmunks as a seven-year old and playing drums on Roger Miller songs at a sixth grade spaghetti dinner. Marty says his career highlight was meeting Ed Begley, Jr., Spinal Tapâs original drummer. Day job: dental lab manager.

Tom Whitmore: (bass, guitar, mandolin and vocals) â One of the band's three songwriters, âWhitâ has performed for more than a quarter century, including a stint as lead guitarist with the Syracuse-based quartet, the Sputniks, which included two other Regan brothers, Phil and Craig. Has an excellent repertoire of campfire sing-alongs. Day job: telecommunications executive.

Scott Regan: (guitar, percussion and vocals) â The older of the two Regan brothers is another of the bandâs songwriters. He was a finalist in the Rounder Records songwriter contest, circa 1991. Co-founder with the late Colorblind James of the Water Street Boys, an Upstate New York jug band that has been active for more than two decades. Also performs solo. Has recorded two other CDs, one solo, the other with the Water Street Boys. Day job: radio disc jockey.

Kerry Regan: (bass, guitar, harmonica and vocals) â Another of the band's songwriters, he has played in rock and bluegrass bands and solo in New York City and Upstate New York. Featured Saturday night performer at the âToy Barâ in Park Slope, Brooklyn, in late 1980s. Led the Electric Mudpies, who received radio airplay in major markets in 1991. Once spent a morning with Bobby Goldsboro, interviewing him about his use of a portable fax machine. Day job: marketing and public relations writer.

Bruce Diamond: (mandolin, fiddle, bass, keyboards and vocals) â The bandâs main soloist, he also contributes to many song arrangements. Bruce has toured with the New Dylans (Red House recording artists), jammed with Walter Cronkite and played with countless other bands while living in Rochester, Boston, Martha's Vineyard and the New York-Connecticut area. Always a member of multiple bands, he is currently a regular with the East Rochester All Stars, a party