Ira Pelletier profile picture

Ira Pelletier

About Me

Well it has taken me a long time to find my musical voice. But now that I have found it, it's been the most fulfilling form of expression that I know. I confess, I am a mandolin freak. I play the mandolin in lots of bands around the Nanaimo area. These bands are all different approaches to an instrument that is in my opinion way too under rated.My first love was the bass. I've played in lots of bands playing a range of different styles including metal, rock, funk, punk, jazz, and the list could go on. While I was playing bass in those bands, I was also doing acoustic singer/songwriter gigs. Going on about five years ago I came across a broken mandolin that my dad had. I had it repaired because I thought it might be fun to have one kicking around the house. Once I got it in my hands, everything else became a backdrop to the high strung, flatpicking beauty of the mandolin. I found that with a flat pick on a double coursed instrument tuned in fifths, I could actually play the way I wanted to. I had found what I was searching for. The rest is history.I live on a farm with my beautiful wife Emily, two dogs, two cats, twelve horses, and two miniature donkeys. I teach mandolin and acoustic guitar to begining and intermediate students. I love books, tobacco pipes, hand made and vintage stringed instruments, and yerba mate.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 20/06/2006
Band Website: www.brokenspiral.com
Band Members: Vincent 45 band members are: Lanky D - guitar, Rolan Backwards - bass, Rip Van Fiddle - fiddle, and myself Ol' Man P. - mandolin.................................................... .................... Cherry Bridge String Trio band members are: Blair - mandolin, banjo, fiddle, Dinah D - string Bass, Darrin Weibe - guitar and me - mandolin.................................................... ......................... Acoustic Duet band members are: Ed Lee - guitar, and Me - mandolin .................................Edward Lee and Ira Pelletier Acoustic/Electric Fusion band members are Me, Ed, Dave Baird - Bass, Andrew Rollins - Drums, Anatol McGinnis - Fiddle
Influences: Here is a list of people that I respect a great deal and that I have had the oportunity to study with and learn from: John Reischman, Emory Lester, Ken Hamm, Nick Hornbuckle, Myron Makepeace, Brian Stoval, Patrick Olmstead.................................................... .............Here is an ever growing list of players and bands who's playing has taken me to new places: David Grisman - Django Reinhardt - Chris Thile - Bill Monroe - Tool - Sam Bush - Don Ross - Pepino D'agustino - Tony Rice - Zubot and Dawson - Bela Fleck - Edgar Meyer - Marc Atkinson - Mastadon - Andy Statman - John Fahey - Mike Marshall - Darol Anger, Mike Compton
Sounds Like: Selected Discography: Edward Lee and Ira Pelletier - Symmetry (original instrumental duet music); Micheal Munnik - Long Shadows in the Afternoon (I wrote a song called India that Mike Recorded for this album); The Kerplunks new album, Natalie Germann's self titled debut CD, Darrel and Soskia's new album to be released this summer.
Vincent 45, Nanaimo Blues Festival, Nanaimo, BC, Canada, 19 Aug 2007, Gladstone"Pierre and the Magic Pick" performed live at Tania's Red Room.
Record Label: Broken Spiral Records
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

Skagway

So the new band has a name: Skagway. We have your first show booked at the Chapel at Providence Farm on July 4th and we have a new myspace page with some rough recordings that you can find h...
Posted by on Thu, 21 Feb 2008 20:08:00 GMT

More Living Magazine

Hey, if anyone happens to pick up More Living Magazine this month, they will find an article about me written by David Morrison on page 20.
Posted by on Sun, 13 Jan 2008 14:49:00 GMT

Update

Ok, so here is an update as to what has been going on in the mandocentric world of Ira Pelletier. ..:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />  I've been in school si...
Posted by on Wed, 19 Dec 2007 13:14:00 GMT

New Solo Record

Last night with the help of my brother Arlen, we completed the first track of my solo record. "The Tofino Song" if any of you remember that from way back. All the tracks will be written and compo...
Posted by on Tue, 13 Nov 2007 10:42:00 GMT

Me andEd at The Dancing Bean, these guys always have good things to say about us.

Edward Lee and Ira PelletierFriday October 5th, 8:00pmAdvance Tickets $8Edward Lee & Ira Pelletier are one of the fastest rising acoustic duets on Vancouver Island. The duet is comprised of acoust...
Posted by on Mon, 01 Oct 2007 18:23:00 GMT

This is the email thats going around about our gig at the Black Dog Cafe on Oct. 19th

Saturday Oct 19th,   ED LEE AND IRA PELLETIER  These local musicians play an amazing mix of bluegrass, (in their case, I would call it "Coolgrass"), jazz and open tu...
Posted by on Tue, 18 Sep 2007 17:07:00 GMT

August 16th Battle of the Bands, and my new axe

August 16th the Edward Lee and Ira Pelletier Acoustic Fusion Band will take on a new name... The Acoustic/Electric Fusion Band. Thats Right... on my brother Arlens work bench... being shaped into...
Posted by on Fri, 27 Jul 2007 00:24:00 GMT

What the Dancing Bean had to say about me and Ed.

Dancing Bean Another one of those magic moments from our monthly open mic, these two guys waited patiently and then took the stage for a jaw dropping "audition" that stopped the crowd in their tracks....
Posted by on Thu, 05 Jul 2007 09:34:00 GMT

All the good stuff!

Things are going well for me. First I'll talk about the acoustic duo. This has been an amazing project. Guitarist Edward Lee and I have been creating and recording mandolin and guitar duets.  I ...
Posted by on Thu, 15 Feb 2007 23:55:00 GMT

New projects on the go

Oakie Noodling recording sesson on sunday and we are excited to get something on tape. Look for some of the new tunes on our soon to be myspace page. Vincent 45 gig comming up on January 5th...
Posted by on Sat, 09 Dec 2006 02:01:00 GMT