The Syncopaths are a vibrant West Coast band offering a fresh, contemporary take on Celtic music. Fiddler Ryan McKasson, pianist Jeffrey Spero, bodhran player and vocalist Christa Burch and multi- instrumentalist Bill Flores make up this energetic and inventive quartet. Reknowned bluegrass fiddler Richard Greene was looking to put together an "American Celtic" band in early 2003, and Ryan McKasson, Christa Burch and Jeff Spero came highly recommended from the Los Angeles Celtic communities. They assembled at Richard's house for one rehearsal, and so enjoyed jamming together that six months later - the original project having been abandoned - they reassembled for a contra dance, this time with Bill Flores along for the ride. Without benefit of rehearsal, but with memories of that earlier jam, they sat down to play... and magic happened. Dancers at that memorable night still talk about the energy, joy and groove-driven music that poured off the stage. Ryan moved away to Washington state shortly thereafter, and it was more than a year later that the band reassembled for the CTMS Solstice festival in Calabasas, CA. As they'd done before, they sat down to play without any plans in mind, and let the music and the groove find them as it would. And again, they made magic. This time, plans were laid to capture the unique sound of their jams. Six months later they made a tour of contra dances in California, recording the dances as they played. These recordings can be heard on their CD "Rough Around the Edges - the Syncopaths Live!" The band has since completed tours of the Pacific Northwest, Mid-Atlantic states, and Midwest, and is now laying plans for additional tours of the Southern US states and Southwest, as wells as returns to the Pacific Northwest and Mid-Atlantic States. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.