About The Nevada County Regulators

Menu of Bios

• The Band
• Ian Garfinkel  - Guitar/Vocals
• Steve Sheppard  - Bass/Vocals
• Gary Epps  - Keyboards/Vocals
• Tom Agar  - Drums/Vocals
• Kevin McElligott  - Percussion/Vocals

The Band

Ian Garfinkel - Guitar/Vocals

Ian has been a driving force in the Nevada County Regulators since the band's conception. Ian has been playing since his early teens and  has ridden his musical wave ever since.

Growing up and playing in the Bay Area Ian has been involved with more bands and projects than we can possibly mention here. In the 80's he headed to London, guitar in hand,  to pursue a record deal with his then band.

Fortunately for the West Coast music scene, he returned to California and worked hard with the renowned San Francisco band The Aftershocks. Since moving to Nevada County Ian now fills his life with his family, tending to his small, but growing herd of cattle and getting his guitar out on a regular basis to share his music with whoever cares to listen.

Steve Sheppard - Bass/Vocals

Steve arrived in California 5 years ago. Originally from the UK, with frequent wanderings to his mother's homeland of Sweden, Steve has been attempting to master the complexities of the four string electric bass guitar since the age of 14.

He enjoyed limited notoriety at school and college with the likes of Electric Turtle, Groovy in a Woodshed and most famously with the Herman Nash Wind-Tunnel Experience. After college, Steve worked in the corporate world finding all too little time for music.

After ten years of hard labor, Steve spent  two seasons in the French Alps where he spent the days on the slopes and evenings honing his musical skills at the bars in the ski resort town of Meribel with an unforgettable band called Bagpuss.

Since 2004 Steve has lived very very quietly along with his wife in Northern California and is "loving it".

Gary Epps - Keyboards/Vocals

Gary was born to a professional trumpet player that played the Reno-Tahoe stage bands that backed all of the top acts in the 50’s through 70’s. He loved bands like Tower of Power, Chicago, and Cold Blood and these acts influenced him greatly. Playing the drums all through school, Gary picked up the guitar at about age 16, and was in his first regularly working band at 19 in Chico. From there he moved to Sacramento and was involved with four or five hardworking bands including Lady and the Boys and The Verge, among several others, primarily R&B acts, through the 1980’s.

Around 1992 Gary formed his own band, No Regrets, and spent the next 8 years banging it out in clubs all around the valley and foothills areas. He also made a few albums along the way. Somewhere in there, he started to play some keys on stage as well and this has evolved into being Gary's main “thang” most of the time.

"But I must admit to missing the guitar when I go too long without playing."

Since 2000 Gary has bounced around in the Grass Valley / Nevada City area playing with a number of notable folks.

"I have to say that I am loving playing with the Regulators and feel really comfortable with these guys who all have chops and a sense of humor to go along."

Tom Agar - Drums/Vocals

Tom grew up as a youngster in Nevada City and began his drum playing in fifth grade, joining the Seven Hills Band. Tom was the youngest drummer ever to play in the Nevada County Concert Band and received some of his initial drum set instruction from some of the local great drummers in Nevada County, like Paul Kraushaar.

Tom has played for 35 years and has enjoyed participation in bands including Stormbringer, Indeed, UrgeNC (an album is available of this popular late 1980's band), 911, Coma Boy, Wheels of Fire, Meow City, Zombie Boys and Plan BE, to name a few.

Tom does have a real job (how unfortunate for him) working in the medical equipment sales business and is married with two children. He loves playing in this band, because of the check-your-ego-at-the-door attitude of Ian, Steve and Kevin, as well as the awesome and spontaneous energy that flows on the stage when the band plays. Come and feel some of that energy at one of our gigs!!

Kevin McElligott - Percussion/Vocals

At the tender age of five, Kevin knew that he must "bang on drum". By seven Santa had graced him with a cardboard drum set fresh from the highest shelves at Toys R Us, err, I mean the North Pole. By nine he was officially taking lessons, and the legacy began. During high school he began working with various percussion instruments, which included hand drums, timpani, timbales, tambourines, bells, shakers of all kinds, claves, cabasas and musical harmonies achieved with buckets full of broken glass. But that's another story.

During Kevin's sophomore year in high school he was part of a 16 piece Stage Band which played at the 1982 Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. The following years were dedicated to honing his drumming skills in the genres of hard rock, punk and several Latin rhythms. During the mid '90 he returned to percussion with a broader sense of rhythms and rediscovered his love for hitting things with his hands.

In the summer of 2006, Tom called to bring Kevin on-board as a backup drummer, as Tom travels quite a bit for his job. In November of '06 Kevin brought his implements of percussion to a gig and has since been a full-time member on percussion, switching to drums as "Drummer B" when Tom is away on business.

"In all of my musical experience, I've never played with a better group of guys - both musically and personally. This is a rare combination of raw talent and good people." --Kevin