The New Iberians are a
family friendly festival and club favorite from the Pacific Northwest,
guaranteed to get the crowd up and dancin'! The band's name comes from the Gulf Coast berg New Iberia,
Louisiana, the capitol of Cajun, and center of Hot Pepper Sauce production. Our music is fun, upbeat, and
includes original tunes as well as traditional Zydeco, Blues, and good old Rock'n'Roll. Requests are always welcome, and with over 120 years of
combined performing experience, we're hard to stump! We can perform as
a full 6 piece ensemble or as a duo, trio or quartet, electric or
unplugged.
Recent notable shows include the Rocky Mountain Accordion Celebration (Phillipsburg MT,) NW Folklife (Seattle WA) Point Richmond Music Festival (Pt. Richmond CA) The Bite of Oregon, Portland Rose Festival, the Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival, Oregon Wine and Brew Fest, Bones & Brew, Give Green, the Mt Hood Crayfish Fest, the Mt. Hood Festival of the Forest, the Portland Festival of the Arts, Kruger’s Farm Harvest Celebration, Music in the Park at Mt. Tabor, and Fat Tuesday at the Crystal Ballroom, In addition we appeared with the late Mr. Bo Diddly at the Columbia River Festival (Hood River OR) and opened for Lynyrd Skynyrd at the Roseland Theater.
We also play numerous club gigs around the NW region (check our calendar page), and can be seen in a somewhat abbreviated form most Monday nights at Ladd's Inn, 1204 S.E. Clay, Portland 97214
OUR INFLUENCES include Clifton Chenier, Muddy Waters, Beau
Jacques, Buckwheat Zydeco, Buck Owens, Little Walter, the Wailers (the NW ur-Punk band, not the Reggae guys),the Meters, Fats Domino, the
Holy Modal Rounders, Steve Goodman, Iggie Pop.
PERSONNEL & BIO INFO
Evan Shlaes, Accordion, Keys, Vocals
Stevie Davis, guitar, vocals
Claes Almroth, Harmonica, Vocals
Fred Ingram, Drums
Paul Bassett, Percussion
J. Michael Kearsey, Bass
Francisco Marmolejo, Tenor sax, flute
Band formed circa 1998, (this lineup current since 2007), Bandleader Evan Shlaes born Chicago, 1955, blues session player and former World Series of Polka finalist; Rubboard player Paul Bassette is a true Cajun,and a founding member of Fly-by-Nite Jass Band (60's folk rock pioneers); Bass player J. Michael Kearsey hails from the Berkshires, is a Portland Music Hall of Fame inductee (2004) and a Brother of the Baladi; Harmonica Wizard Claes Almroth born 1955 in Linkøping, Sweden and is a noted American music scholar; Drummer Fred Ingram is a native webfoot, born 1954 in Portland, is a graphic designer and commercial artist whose credits include Rita Mae Brown, Nike, Pepsi and the most recent New Iberians CD.
WHAT IS ZYDECO?
Zydeco (French: "les haricots" or "le zaricot", English: "snap beans") is a form of American roots music that evolved from the multiracial French-speaking Creoles of south and southwest Louisiana.
Usually fast-tempo, and dominated by the button or piano accordion and a form of a washboard known as a rub-board or frottoir,
zydeco music was originally created at house dances where the blacks
and free people of color of south Louisiana would gather for
socializing.
Today, the tradition of change
and evolution in the music continues always keeping relevant while
integrating genres like blues. rock and roll, reggae, urban hip hop, R&B, soul,brass band,Afro-caribbean and other styles in addition to the traditional forms. (edited from WIKIPEDIA).
WHY "THE NEW IBERIANS"
We are often asked why we're called The New Iberians. Sad to say, none of the
current band members are from our namesake city, although
a couple of the original members were from near there. We picked the
name after spending some time in the area, we fell in love with the
people, the music and THE FOOD, and when a major change in personnel
required a new band name we came up with "The New Iberians". The rest of
the guys were like, New What-ians? The first time we appeared under
that name, (in Oregon) a couple of cuties from Metarie showed up
asking "are you'all from Louisiana?" and the guitar player got REALLY
lucky that night, so that settled the name question. The only problem
is that a lot of people expect us to be strictly Cajun, which we are
not, and could never pretend to be. What we are could be best
described as a really good Louisiana Bar Band. A little country, a
little cajun, and a whole lotta zydeco, blues and rock and roll. Whatever gets 'em up
and dancing! Bon temps roulez!
