About this user
A band of varying backgrounds comes together with a unified goal and purpose for the future. Bote is technically a celtic band but takes the popular songs of yesteryear and updates them to an acoustic sound of today, whether it's through the jazzy-blues feel of Star of the County Down or the pop-undertones of Scolding Wife.
Bote takes music from all sorts of different scenes: we've written our own singles and stolen a few of ireland's as well. We play traditional music from all over the world, like Newfoundland, Labrador, Cape Breton, Scotland, Wales, England, and of course Ireland. We also have a little bit from America to mix it up every now and then.
Our music can be defined as surreal and yet exciting, performing rather upbeat live shows that can turn somber in the wink of an eye when we want to. The ocean is our supreme inspiration and you'll notice many of the songs we write and perform are derived from the sea. Shanties are our forte, and given the option it is our favourite thing to sing about.
Our repertoire includes (but is not limited to):
FROM CANADA:
Scolding Wife
The Old Polina
Harbour LeCou
Lukey's Boat
General Taylor
FROM IRELAND/SCOTLAND:
I'll Tell Me Ma
Finnegan's Wake
Star of the County Down
Black is the Colour
Wild Rover
FROM AMERICA:
Charlie and the MTA
Shenandoah
Sweet Afton
The Fox
ORIGINAL:
Barnacles on the Hull
Our Destination
Bout with Fate
The Privateers
There are many other traditional songs in the world and we're looking forward to tapping into them, whether it's by making celtic tunes more modern or modern tunes more celtic. It sounds contradictory, I know, but we can't help ourselves!
The band consists of three members at the moment, all uniquely skilled in numerous musical areas:
Timothy Keeley: the frontman of the band and the drummer. He's been singing for years albeit with no formal training. He was classically trained on the piano for over 15 years and the same on the saxophone. He picked up the Bodhran and was fluently playing sessions within the year. He also is learning the concertina and dulcitar in an attempt to vary the musical choice of instruments in the band. His favourite bands include Oysterband and Great Big Sea, where he's garnered much of his musical style.
Valeria Gallegos: The primary melodic line runs through the fiddler's veins, and she carries the band's instrumentation solidly thru her playing. She enjoys the music of Flogging Molly, and, as a result of many years of classical violin, decided that Bote would allow her to play music similar to her idols and have fun doing it. Fate directed her to Bote in January of 2008 and since then has successfully adapted to the style seamlessly.
Nick Nicholson: As the official harmonic voice and primary rhythmatician, Cap'n Nick as he's affectionately called is the guitarist and second vocalist for the group. His influences are the most unique of the three members and he actually had little to no knowledge of celtic music before joining Bote in February of 2008. He's adapted to the job well and after over 30 years in the music business decided that settling down with a solid band would indeed pay off. He brought blues, rock, jazz, and country to the feel of a very irish band and has widened the scope of influence so much that Bote is really unclassifiable.
