Bass

Arte is a part-time member of the Contra Banditos, thumping out I-V grooves on upright bass and otherwise just being a general nuisance.

His first name is pronounced like that of Arte Johnson from Laugh-In, and is not some fancy variant of “art”. His French-Canadian grandfather once gave him a basketball with just the letters R and T written on it for identification. For you young-uns who’ve never heard of Laugh-In, the crazy Frenchman story will have to suffice.

He has played in many different bands in eastern Massachusetts over the years, playing blues, folk, rock, soul, country, and anything else that caught his ear.

Arte’s other music project is playing upright bass, singing, and songwriting in the band Blue Plate Special, which does a mixture of tunes in the blues, rock, cajun/zydeco, and country vein. He also occasionally gets drawn into Dan’s various side projects, typically whenever Ross is unavailable due to running afoul of the immigration authorities.