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Music

Meet the Band: The Waydowners

A look at a band with local ties.

By Julie Garisto, Times staff writer
Published March 15, 2007

THE TRIO: Lauren Tarsi, 24, bass; John Tarsi, 27, drums and backup vocals; and dad, John F. Tarsi, 49, lead vocals and guitar.

A FAMILY AFFAIR: The Tarsi family moved to the bay area from Pennsylvania in the '90s. John, the dad, had been a rocker since his youth. John Jr. went to local punk shows, and Lauren says the Gainesville band Hot Water Music got her interested in playing. The three combine their tastes to give the band alt-country, indie, punk, rock and folk influences.

A BAND IS FORMED: The trio first got together to play Irish Christmas songs at holiday parties in 2002.

HOW THEY CAME UP WITH THE NAME: "It was misconstrued, actually," the elder John says. "When referring to people from the southern counties of Northern Island, they're called the fardowners. I screwed up the name and started using the Waydowners and it stuck."

ANCESTRAL STOMPING GROUNDS: The family's kin hail from County Down and County Galway. (Tarsi is actually an Italian name; that's the other side of the family tree.)

DIGGING THE ROOTS: "Not sure how we got into playing Irish tunes," John Sr. says. "We started with the Pogues, and then we got into Flogging Molly."

John Jr.: "We play what we like, and we like different things. Why not? We don't want to gravitate to one genre necessarily. We like different kinds of music, the punk stuff, the Irish stuff, regular rock."

TRADITIONAL RECIPES: "Not everything we do is the punk version," John Sr. says. "Some songs are a little slower. There's one we do called Kilkelly, Ireland. It's a very acoustic song that we do with overdrive guitar. We still keep it like a dirge. It's a sad song . . . And we do a kicking version of Whiskey in a Jar and Minstrel Boy."

HAVE THE INFLUENCES BLENDED INTO ONE SOUND? "I think there's a Waydowners sound," John Sr. says. "I just don't think it's totally refined and finished yet."

A NEW BASS LINE: "Lauren was a Rickenbacker bass player and now has gone into a Precision bass, which gives us way more bottom," John Sr. says.

GROWNUP DAY JOBS: Lauren is a public information officer for the city of Clearwater, and her brother works for an online education company. John, the dad, is a hairdresser; his wife/their mother, Toni, is a teacher.

CHECK 'EM OUT: 9:30 p.m. Saturday at Hogan's, 14306 N Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa. Free. (813) 264-4797.

[Last modified March 14, 2007, 10:05:33]