Rocking the Kilts

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Bergen County bagpipers like you've never heard before
Thursday, March 13, 2008Last Updated Thursday March 13, 2008, EDT 6:35 AM
BY EVELYN SHIH
It's snowing on a Friday night, one of the rare times this winter that snow has stuck to the ground. But at Il Villaggio restaurant in Carlstadt, pantless men with bare knees are arriving in ones and twos. Underneath winter coats and sweat shirts, they sport uniforms of black polo shirts, custom boots and blood-red kilts.

Nobody seems to be feeling the freeze -- or, at least, no one admits it. After a raucous tuneup in an isolated upstairs suite, the Bergen County Firefighters Pipe Band (BCFPB) is ready to take the stage. The Shots, a local rock band whose lead singer, Lenny Reinhardt, also wears the plaid, plays the intro music. Twelve kilted pipers and drummers file in and line up in front of the raised band platform like the first foot soldiers in an Irish invasion.

First song on the set list: New Orleans tune "Iko Iko."

This isn't your typical St. Patrick's Day parade band. Although the BCFPB books plenty of gigs during March, from Hoboken to Bergenfield to Savannah, Ga., it doesn't stick to the traditional Irish and Scottish Highland melodies.

"It's all about entertaining the crowd," said band manager Rich Bathmann of the West Milford Fire Department. The band tackles tunes such as the 1950s ditty "Tequila," the popular 1960s hit "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," and "I Wanna Be Sedated" by the Ramones.

It makes them stand out a little bit in a parade.

The BCFPB started out like any other firefighter band in 1996, when Teaneck firefighter Paul Kearns and bagpipe instructor Pat Martens sent a letter to all the firehouses in Bergen County. The idea was to form a countywide pipe band in the tradition of firehouse and police force groups across the nation.

"You couldn't go to a firefighter's funeral and play violins walking down the street," said pipe major Jim Schmitt of the Ridgefield Park and Bogota firehouses. "There's no other instrument ... the tradition and history is that that's how firemen are sent off."

Schmitt said he ascribes the bagpipe tradition to the historical prominence of ethnic Irish and Scottish immigrants in emergency services. But many members of the BCFPB are neither Irish nor Scottish. They're simply people who find the instrument -- and the music -- fascinating.

"As an Italian boy, I didn't know where to go to learn it," said band member Mike "Slash" Sorrentino, 54, of Rutherford. His quest to learn the bagpipes began in the '70s and reached fruition in 1992, when he found an instructor in Kearny.

Luckily for North Jersey bagpipe enthusiasts, the BCFPB gives free lessons -- and you don't have to be a firefighter. Although the core of the band has always been volunteer firefighters, family members such as Schmitt's daughter Keri Schmitt-Sanabria and enthusiasts such as Sorrentino join in the fun. Even former competitive pipers, like BCFPB drummer Kathryn Tracey of Teaneck, are attracted to the camaraderie of the band.

"You make friends that you wouldn't normally make," said Schmitt. "There are people that come from different towns that you would never meet."

The BCFPB is able to be generous, he explained, because it forms a broad network of countywide firemen -- plus firemen from distant towns like Pompton Lakes and West Milford. The far-flung members bring in regular performance invitations at events such as wet downs (initiations for new fire trucks), weddings or even banquets such as the emergency aid worker installation dinner that was taking place at Il Villaggio.

The banquet crowd is a little too passive for the liking of the pipers, who are used to playing the bar scene with the Shots. Reinhardt tries unsuccessfully to pull audience members onto the dance floor. But the band does get some hearty fist pumps for sports game staple "Rock and Roll Part 2."

"That song always plays well," said Reinhart later with a chuckle. A member of both the pipe band and the Shots, Clifton resident Reinhardt helps bridge the gap between Celtic drone and rock sensibility. He and pipe instructor Doug Parody of Midland Park do most of the arrangements for the musical collaboration pieces. Reinhardt did the first arrangement of a non-traditional BCFPB favorite, "Yellow Submarine."

That was the first pop song that the band played in a parade, one fateful day in Bergenfield.
"They recognized it right away," said Parody.

"They poured champagne on our heads and held up their babies for us to kiss," joked Schmitt.

Since then, the BCFPB has been slowly growing its repertoire of tunes, and the gambit seems to be paying off. Although "competitive pipe bands turn their noses up at us," said Bathmann, the band has become a fixture at local St. Patrick's Day parades. The resulting earnings have allowed the band to do away with member fees and dress all performers. (A uniform may cost as much as $1,200 per person. The pipes may cost several thousand dollars, but individual members purchase their own instruments.)

They've even recorded two CDs, "Dirty Hose" and "Ho Ho Hose," and played original music by Reinhardt. One tune, "The Rasta Piper," was on the Billboard Top 10 in 2006 for the World Music category.

"If you think about it, bagpipes and rock music, that is world music," said Reinhardt. "It's all about doing something different. ... I'm glad they recognized what we're doing."

The music also gives the band members -- who have day jobs that range from real estate agent to funeral home director -- the chance to play an unconventional role.

"By day, I'm a mild-mannered computer programmer," said Parody. "By night, I put on a skirt and play a silly instrument."

E-mail: shih@northjersey.com