The tradition of Celtic music meets the energy of rock in Ockham’s Razor. The local band consists of Kris Clements on vocals, whistles and accordion, Ben Ireland on vocals and guitar, Katie Corcoran on fiddle, Oisin Mac Suibhne on bodhran (an Irish drum), Dane Dorning on bass, Dave Forrester on drums and Tom Rooney on mandolin and banjo. Scott Ference is the sound engineer and manager.
Clements “always had an absolute need for music” growing up in Northumbria, a region of northern England and southern Scotland. And he was exposed to a wide range. His father listened to classic rock and the British Invasion, his mother was into classical and opera and his uncles listened to punk rock. His older sister was into Kate Bush while his older brother listened to Prince, Michael Jackson and other pop stars of the era.
Celtic music was always present, but Clements considered it to be folk. “Celtic to me meant Enya,” he noted.
“I had the most schizophrenic musical background, with varied influences coming from all over the place.”
He tried out for a play in high school and went on to study musical theater in college. All along he was writing songs, thinking he would end up in a rock band.
He was living in Florida when he decided to move to Washington five years ago.
He had played tin whistles as a child. He bought a new one and delved into the local Celtic music scene. A bandmate in a prior group introduced him to Ireland. The two started writing songs, and Ireland joined the band Clements was in.
That group was more folk oriented. “It was not exactly our cup of tea,” Clements said. “We knew we wanted to take off with Celtic music.”
Things began falling into place when they met Corcoran, a native of Livermore, Calif. She grew up playing classical music on violin, getting introduced to Celtic music while busking on the streets of Seattle.
Dorning is Ireland’s neighbor. Rooney first saw the band at Yakima Folklife Festival while he was in a bluegrass band. He began showing up at gigs and was asked to join.
Mac Suibhne, who recently moved here from San Antonio, is the newest member. He, Clements and Ference live in Tacoma.
The band’s name comes from a principle attributed to William of Ockham, a 14th-century Franciscan friar. It states that the explanation of a phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible.
The group was busking at Pike Place Market when someone offered them their first gig, Fremont Summer Solstice Festival in June 2006. They needed a band name for the promoter. Clements had recently come across the term in several news articles and an episode of CSI.
He did an Internet search, and recalled the term from a philosophy class in college. It is often interpreted as keep things simple, which Clements finds amusing as the band was taking simple melodies and making them more complex. “We became the antithesis of Ockham’s Razor. It is an ironic statement.”
The band spent six months arranging and two months recording the material on their album “Ten Thousand Miles To Bedlam,” which was released in December.
The title refers to the Priory of St. Mary of Bethlehem in London, the world’s first insane asylum. The word bedlam is derived from Bethlehem. The band decided the original and traditional songs on the album would all have a frenetic feel and fit with the theme of madness.
Clements was inspired to write the title track after reading the poetry of Ann Sexton and William Blake.
The band knows numerous traditional songs. “The Handsome Cabin Boy” and “I’ll Tell My Ma” were picked for the album because the music was considered frantic. “Mad Tom Of Bedlam” and “The Night Before Larry Was Stretched” were chosen for the dark themes in their lyrics.
“Lanigan’s Ball,” written by Corcoran, is a fast-paced jig with lyrics about a poor youth who quickly blows his inheritance money.
Some material on the album is in time signatures not common to modern music. An example is “Rocky Road To Dublin, done in 9/8 time, with a section in 7/8 time. “That is out of the realm of popular music,” Clements observed.
Clements wrote “Whiskey & Pills” while standing in line at a coffee shop. While many fans consider it a fun drinking song, he notes it also has a sinister theme.
He sent his lyrics to a friend working on her doctorate degree in English at Florida State University to get her feedback on his literary allusions.
Ireland does much of the arrangements. “Ben is the most amazing guitarist I have met in my life,” Clements remarked. “He has an impeccable ear. When I write something and show it to him, he has a chord progression for it.”
Ockham’s Razor plays Kells Irish Pub in Seattle at 3 p.m. and Doyle’s in Tacoma at 9 p.m. March 15; the parking lot of Seahawks Stadium in Seattle at 9 a.m. March 16 and Kells at 3 p.m. and Doyle’s at 9 p.m. March 17.
