Gerry Arias | Live Music – Andover, NJ
Text 908-269-0971 to book gigs or studio sessions
Irish Roots. Live Tradition. Forward Motion.
Gerry Arias
Gerry Arias has spent more than 30 years embedded in NYC’s Irish music community — from Paddy Reilly’s in the 90s to the St. Pat’s for All Parade main stage and float. Today, he brings Irish ballads, rebel songs, and traditional sets to pubs, festivals, and cultural events — solo or with rotating musicians.
Performance Formats
Solo Irish Set
Festival / Parade Appearance
Duo / Trio Format
Ballads, rebel songs, pub classics, acoustic-driven.
Duo / Trio Format
Festival / Parade Appearance
Duo / Trio Format
Fiddle, flute, percussion available depending on event needs.
Festival / Parade Appearance
Festival / Parade Appearance
Festival / Parade Appearance
25+ years on the St. Pat’s for All float and main stage.
A Life in Irish Music
From New York to Ireland
Gerry Arias — A Life in Irish Music
Gerry Arias's relationship with Irish music began long before he was performing Irish songs on guitar, recording in Ireland, or appearing in New York's St. Patrick's Day celebrations. His introduction came through the musicians he encountered as a teenager growing up around the New York City music scene.
The Early Years — Naked Grape and Paddy Reilly's
While still in high school, Arias worked as a roadie for singer-songwriter Dina Regine's band, Naked Grape. Among the musicians he met was Irish guitarist Kieran McEvoy, brother of acclaimed Irish singer-songwriter Eleanor McEvoy.
Those early experiences introduced Arias to Irish musicians, their accents, humor, personalities, and musical sensibilities. They also helped bring him into the orbit of legendary New York venues such as CBGB's, where he began absorbing the city's remarkably diverse musical culture.
As his own drumming career developed, Arias found another connection to Irish music at the original Paddy Reilly's Music Bar in Manhattan.
There, he occasionally filled in on drums for singer Tara Mooney's regular Sunday performances. Paddy Reilly's was one of the great gathering places for New York's Irish musicians, and those afternoons and evenings provided an education that went well beyond the stage.
Arias found himself surrounded by working Irish musicians, encountering members of bands such as Black 47, listening, playing, and becoming familiar with a community that would remain part of his life for decades.
All of this happened before his longtime musical collaborator Johnny Cuomo ever picked up a tin whistle.
Johnny Cuomo, Gallowglass, and Ireland
Arias and Cuomo had already established a musical partnership through their college-era band Voice of the Turtle, working together as songwriters and performers on the New York and East Coast music circuit.
Their musical relationship eventually took an Irish turn when Cuomo became involved with Gallowglass, alongside brothers Mike and Kevin Meehan. Arias played drums in the group's early history and engineered, mixed, and produced its self-titled recording in Union City, New Jersey.
Following that period, Arias and Cuomo continued performing Irish material together as a duo, including appearances under the name On.
Their musical travels eventually took them to Dublin, where they performed at Whelan's. It was there that Arias met Irish percussionist Brian Fleming, beginning one of the most enduring musical friendships of his life.
Fleming introduced Arias to the bodhrán and showed him how to play spoons, while Arias shared rhythms and techniques drawn from his background in Latin percussion.
For Arias, whose first musical language had always been rhythm, the connection was immediate. The complex interplay of Irish music felt natural to a drummer accustomed to working across Latin, rock, funk, and other rhythmic traditions.
That encounter would eventually open the door to an entirely new chapter.
St. Pat's for All — More Than Two Decades of Music and Community
Through his friendship with Brian Fleming, Arias became involved with St. Pat's for All, the inclusive St. Patrick's parade founded in Queens, New York.
What began as a musical invitation grew into more than two decades of participation in an event that became one of the great constants of his musical life.
Arias performed on the parade's main float and worked alongside generations of Irish musicians, dancers, activists, and community organizers. During years when his teaching career and family responsibilities left little time for regular musical work, the annual parade remained an important opportunity to return to the drums.
His involvement extended well beyond parade day.
For approximately fifteen years, Arias also worked as a sound engineer for the annual Friday fundraising concerts at the original Irish Arts Center, contributing both behind the mixing board and onstage.
Among his favorite traditions were performances with renowned Irish fiddler Tony DeMarco and Brian Fleming. Year after year, DeMarco would invite the two percussionists to join him, creating some of the most energetic moments of those annual celebrations.
Arias also developed a particularly affectionate relationship with the late Malachy McCourt, joining in the traditional closing performances of "Wild Mountain Thyme." McCourt became something of a father or grandfather figure to him, reflecting the personal relationships that grew from those years of music-making.
The parade also brought Arias into contact with many prominent figures in New York's political and cultural life, including Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, and numerous city and state leaders.
But the significance of St. Pat's for All went far beyond celebrity encounters. The parade represented inclusion, friendship, artistic expression, and the belief that Irish cultural traditions could welcome people from every background.
That history eventually led Arias to march in New York City's Fifth Avenue St. Patrick's Day Parade with the Lavender and Green Alliance, alongside Brian Fleming and Dylan James.
Dylan James — A Musical Friendship Across Generations
One of the most remarkable stories to emerge from Arias's years with St. Pat's for All involves musician Dylan James.
Arias remembers watching Dylan as a young boy dancing in the parade with the Niall O'Leary School of Irish Dance. While Gerry and the other musicians provided the rhythm, Dylan was part of a younger generation growing up within the same Irish cultural community.
Over time, the young dancer became a musician himself.
Years later, Dylan and Arias found themselves performing together, bringing a relationship that began around the parade into an entirely new setting.
Dylan eventually contributed to an Arias recording, and the two have continued performing together at venues throughout New Jersey, including Harrington's, Krogh's in Sparta, and recurring appearances at the Heritage Bar.
With Dylan alternating between fiddle and banjo and Arias providing vocals, guitar, and rhythmic accompaniment, their performances combine traditional Irish influences with the easy familiarity of musicians whose paths have crossed for much of their lives.
For Arias, that connection represents something special about the Irish music community: relationships that begin in one generation can grow, change, and find new musical expression decades later.
Returning to Ireland — Recording and Rediscovery
Arias's connection with Ireland continued through travel, friendships, performances, and recording.
In 2022, he returned to the west coast of Ireland to record new material, including "On Holiday" and "Jane S. Paddy," his interpretation of a song by Sixto Rodriguez.
The sessions brought his long history with Irish musicians into his developing career as a solo recording artist, reconnecting the friendships and musical experiences of earlier decades with his own independent songwriting and recording projects.
That return also reflected something that had become characteristic of Arias's musical life: a willingness to make music wherever he found himself, collaborating with musicians across countries, genres, and generations.
From Irish Pubs to Contemporary Performances
In recent years, Arias has continued performing Irish music throughout New Jersey and the greater New York area.
His annual St. Patrick's Day appearances at Krogh's in Sparta have become an established tradition, while performances at the Heritage Bar and other venues have created new opportunities for collaboration with fiddle, banjo, and additional musicians.
Arias approaches Irish music with the sensibilities of a lifelong drummer, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. His performances can bring together familiar Irish ballads, traditional favorites, contemporary songs, and the broader folk and roots repertoire that has shaped his career.
Whether performing alone with guitar and foot percussion, collaborating as a duo, or bringing together additional musicians for a larger celebration, his approach remains grounded in live musicianship, rhythm, storytelling, and the spirit of the room.
Irish Music Today — Gerry Arias & Friends
Today, Gerry Arias remains an active performer with deep connections to the Irish music communities of New York, New Jersey, and Ireland.
His live performances are available in several configurations, including solo acoustic shows, fiddle-and-banjo collaborations, and flexible small ensembles suited to pubs, festivals, cultural celebrations, and private events.
The musicians and instrumentation may change according to the occasion, but Gerry Arias remains the central performer, drawing on decades of experience as a singer, guitarist, percussionist, songwriter, and bandleader.
His story is an unusual one: a musician of Costa Rican heritage whose introduction to Irish music began as a teenager working around New York's rock clubs, continued through the Irish pubs of Manhattan, carried him to stages in Dublin, and developed into decades of musical friendship and participation in Irish-American cultural life.
From CBGB's and Paddy Reilly's to Whelan's, St. Pat's for All, the Irish Arts Center, and today's New Jersey pub stages, the connections have never really stopped.
And neither has the music.
Booking Gerry Arias
Gerry Arias is available for Irish pub entertainment, St. Patrick's Day celebrations, festivals, cultural events, and private functions throughout New Jersey, New York, and surrounding areas.
Performance options: Solo acoustic • Irish duo • Small ensemble
Booking inquiries: Maria Books Gerry
Website: GerryArias.com
Featured St. Patrick’s Day Collaboration
Krogh’s Tavern – Sparta, NJ
Gerry Arias has performed on New Jersey’s St. Patrick’s stages for decades, including this featured collaboration at Krogh’s in Sparta. Blending traditional Irish standards, pub ballads, and rhythm-driven sets, these performances reflect his long-standing ties to the New York and New Jersey Irish music community.