Jan. 28, 2005, 6:07PM

Rogues rock the bagpipes

Celtic band performs tonight at Mucky Duck

By EILEEN MCCLELLAND
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

Bagpipes and drums in the wrong hands could be deafening.

But under the influence of the kilt-clad Rogues, the effect is smoothly mesmerizing.

Fans follow the Houston-based band around the country, from Renaissance fairs and Highland games to McGonigel's Mucky Duck tonight.

What's the attraction?

"It gives them chills," says E.J. Jones, formerly of Clandestine, who plays the pipes. "It's the kind of music that raises the hackles on the back of their necks."

When it has recovered from that initial reaction, the audience is often incited to dance to the Celtic sounds sometimes set to a rock beat. Others say they lull their children to sleep with Rogues music, and some proudly report the music makes them feel like fighting.

"The bagpipe is very much a rock instrument because the bagpipe is very uncompromising," Jones says. "It has a wildness to it. It never has been tamed by an orchestra."

Beyond nine notes

The Rogues make the Scottish instruments sound even wilder by layering in drums and stretching the bagpipes beyond their traditional nine notes, particularly on their original material. Such an approach is forbidden in formal competition and in most schools, including Houston's St. Thomas Episcopal School, where Jones and fellow piper Jeremy Freeman learned to play.

But the Rogues feel qualified to take a few liberties when they're having fun, the flip side of serious competition.

New member Freeman, a piping instructor at St. Thomas with a master of arts from Yale University, won a silver medal in piping at the prestigious Northern Meeting at Inverness, Scotland.

The tradition of competition, Jones says, kept the bagpipe alive through centuries of "unpopularity" and even the persecution of the Scottish people who used them as a powerful voice against the British.

"That's the competitive side," Freeman says. "This is the other side, playing to connect with real-life folks rather than some old judge."

Freeman says the percussion half of the band adds texture. "The bagpipe has no vibrato and very little nuance to it. There's no soft and loud, and there are only nine notes. It's easier to play (the bagpipe) with drums for me, and way more fun."

The Irish bodhran is among percussion instruments the band uses. It's a shallow, hand-held drum played by striking the single drumhead with alternate knobbed ends of a beater.

Percussionist and composer Randy Wothke is a founding member of the band, originally formed as the Scottish Rogues in 1994. Percussionist Nelson Stewart, an instrumental-music teacher in Hamilton, Ontario, commutes.

The band's sixth album, Made in Texas, was recorded at McGonigel's Mucky Duck in 2003. On fifth album The Rogues 5.0 the Rogues were joined by Brian Thomas of the Houston Symphony playing the French horn on Bonny Portmore.

Much of the Rogues' material is original. "We want to advance the tradition by contributing to it," Jones says.

Fans who fall under the Rogues' Celtic spell tonight can catch them again at the Mucky Duck on St. Patrick's Day. Also on March 17 — at noon — Jones will play the pipes on top of the pub's roof, an annual tradition.

"People who are really into Celtic music take the day off work," Jones says.

eileen.mcclelland@chron.com

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