A Short History of TRIO NOCTURNA - Atlanta’s First Ethereal Gothic Music Group (1992 - 97)

Trio Nocturna - “Morphia” lineup 1992-1994

The year was 1992. and Celtic harpist Thomas Dodd held a Saturday night residency at the Masquerade - Atlanta’s legendary three level nightclub . On the second floor—appropriately named Purgatory—he met a keyboardist who called himself Nick Pagan. Both shared Punk Rock roots and a love for the ethereal sounds of bands on the British 4AD label, like Dead Can Dance and Cocteau Twins. Thomas and Nick talked about how if they were able to find a great female singer, then they should definitely start a band in this ethereal style.
Placing an ad in the local entertainment rag Creative Loafing led to a handful of disastrous (and unintentionally hilarious) auditions—until 19-year-old Regeana Morris walked in. With her otherworldly voice and Pre-Raphaelite presence, she instantly captivated the two older Death Rockers.

The three began writing songs, rehearsing, and reinterpreting tracks like Bauhaus’ Bela Lugosi’s Dead, the Sex Pistols’ Sub-Mission, and Nick Cave’s The Ship Song. Their debut show was at Urban Nirvana, a short-lived venue run by sculptor Christine Sibley.

Trio Nocturna soon began to build a name for themselves playing gigs at their homebase - the Red Light Cafe and also opening for any and all Gothic bands that came into town like Shadow Project (featuring Rozz WIlliams from Christian Death) and The Phantom Chords (featuring the legendary Dave Vanian from the Damned).
In fact, Dave Vanian was so taken with their sound and unique instrumentation (and Regeana’s beauty) that he said he wanted to produce them. Sad to say that never happened but the endorphin rush of being praised by one of their heroes sustained them for many months after.

Trio Nocturna entered a small studio in 1993 called Exocet and recorded what would become “Morphia” - a collection of 7 somber ethereal and tonally melancholy songs. This would be the only recording of the original lineup and while never released on CD, the cassette has since become a sought-after curio in Goth collecting circles.

The band excelled at self promotion back in those pre-internet days and the underground Goth scene was a very well connected network with tons of fanzines and people buying and trading music through the mail.
Everything was done at copy shops and through the postal service. Thomas and Nick would go to Kinkos and make the press kit materials and then mail them off to any cool magazines or record labels/underground distributors/shops/DJs that came upon their radar.
That would be followed by trips to the PO Box to get the fan mail and orders for their music.

The band toured around the southeastern USA and had many memorable gigs in small venues and some unconventional spots as well, garnering some college radio airplay here and there and building up quite a mailing list (which was a crucial part of those pre-internet days of course) in the process.

They were quickly becoming a known and respected entity in the Gothic scene, being featured, reviewed or interviewed in fanzines with names like Propaganda Magazine, Industrial Nation, Carpe Noctem and Spectre to name a few of the many DIY “Goth” publications that covered them.
They even released two music videos: Dream of a Dead King and Ascent, the latter featured on Propaganda Videozine #3.

By 1994, Thomas and Regeana had entered into a romantic relationship—something bandmate Nick Pagan warned “wouldn’t end well.” His words proved prophetic. As the band gained more and more momentum (including an invitation to perform at Anne Rice’s famed Halloween ball to celebrate the film release of Interview with the Vampire), the relationship unraveled.

Dodd, by his own admission, did not handle things well. Heavy drinking and poor decisions came to a head during the Anne Rice gig in New Orleans (at the famous venue Tipitinas), where Trio took the stage after Hole (yes THAT Hole!). Thomas broke up the band with the phrase “Enjoy it, fuckers—it’s the last one.” uttered with an air of finality and derision.

Despite the acrimony, the show was magical—a swan song charged with raw emotion, heartbreak, and intensity.

Aftermath

Regeana and Nick quickly formed The Changelings, who went on to much success in the same underground scene. Dodd regrouped with a new lineup of Trio Nocturna, returning to the Red Light Café in early 1995, determined to keep the flame alive.

Trio Nocturna – Tears of Light Lineup (1995)

One of Trio Nocturna’s earliest fans—present at their very first gig in 1992 at Urban Nirvana—was a soft-spoken keyboardist named Chris Case. Thomas soon recruited him for this new group, and the band expanded further with the addition of young violinist Daniel Brown and new vocalist Jennifer Hartshorn. Jennifer was already known in Gothic circles as a writer and editor for White Wolf Press, the company behind the hugely popular Vampire: The Masquerade roleplaying series.
This new lineup entered the studio and recorded Tears of Light. - a self-released cassette of 10 songs. Instrumentally, the addition of violin expanded the band’s sonic palette, while Jennifer’s folk-tinged vocals brought a more traditional Celtic sensibility to the band’s sound. The group even tackled a version of the Scots ballad “Twa Corbies” (which Hartshorn herself suggested the band cover) and created a musical setting for Leilah Wendell’s poem “Song for Azrael”—a mournful ballad sung to the Angel of Death.

Though the album explored familiar themes of melancholy and loss, some listeners felt it lacked the visceral authenticity and haunting melancholia of their previous release Morphia. Still, this incarnation of Trio Nocturna was able to build on the reputation of the original lineup, securing high-profile shows, attracting media attention, and subtly shifting the band’s sound towards a more traditional Celtic musical style.

The Tears of Light era brought the group much recognition and visibility - they were featured frequently in the Atlanta music press and performed notable shows in New Orleans’ at the legendary Westgate (“House of Death” Necromantic Museum) and Anne Rice’s Memnoch Ball on Halloween 1995.

As the group’s busy year of 1995 drew to a close, Jennifer announced her departure from the band (citing increasing work obligations), and with that, Trio Nocturna version 2 was no more.

Trio Nocturna – Songs of the Celtic Night Lineup (1996)

Not long after Jennifer Hartshorn’s departure, violinist Daniel Brown also announced he too was leaving the band. Determined to continue, Thomas Dodd and Chris Case auditioned new singers and soon found Angela Howell, a classically trained vocalist with a powerful voice and a strikingly un-Gothic appearance ( with her curly blonde hair, statuesque frame and, natural and earthy good looks).

With Howell as the new singer, the band’s sound and style shifted dramatically. In this third incarnation, Trio Nocturna was moving beyond the Gothic underground, finding new audiences in the more mainstream Celtic and New Age markets.. They landed a high-profile slot opening for Velvet Underground founder John Cale at Atlanta’s Variety Playhouse and shortly thereafter performed a highly promoted sold-out show at the Red Light Cafe featuring guest electric violinist Jamii Szmadzinski (of the New Age group Shadowfax ) who had flown into town to play with the band for their forthcoming album’s recording sessions. They had not only weathered a second lineup change , but they were actually thriving as a result.

The band recorded Songs of the Celtic Night and celebrated its release with a major live event that was covered in all the local papers and magazines.
Yet immediately afterward, Howell suddenly announced her departure, dealing a major blow to the future of the group. Still, Dodd and Case chose to persevere, determined once again to search for a new vocalist.

Final lineup 1996 - 97

Rachel Connerty was in many ways, the most versatile vocalist Trio Nocturna ever had. The tragedy is that no official album was released featuring her voice—only a handful of tracks were recorded in 1997 at Swans guitarist Clint Steele’s Atlanta studio. Connerty embodied the ethereal qualities of original singer Regeana while matching the power of Angela Howell. At the same time, her style evoked a contemporary resonance, drawing comparisons to Natalie Merchant or Sarah McLachlan, yet she could also channel the haunting tones of Lisa Gerrard (Dead Can Dance) with uncanny precision.

To showcase this range, Thomas Dodd wrote songs with a more modern sensibility, and with new violinist/violist Robbi Kenney in the fold, the band explored intricate harmonies where Connerty’s voice intertwined with Kenney’s singing and playing in an almost madrigal-like fashion.

Dodd, Case, and Connerty also experimented outside the Gothic/Celtic framework with a side project called Torch, performing in blues and jazz clubs with a cast of rotating drummers and musical guests, often performing esoteric covers of blues standards and Celtic ballads.

Yet despite this infusion of new talent and fresh direction, Trio Nocturna had lost it’s momentum. Fans had embraced the first two lineup changes, but by the third, the ever-changing cast of lead vocalists made it difficult for audiences to know what to expect and the Torch side project only confused things further. By late 1997, it was clear to all involved that the spark had faded. The band ended with the close of that year—and with it, the era of Trio Nocturna came to a final resolution.

Where Are They Now?
Thomas Dodd went on to do some session work (most notably for Michael Gira of the Swans ) on the harp before veering into visual art. In the 2010s he became a world-renowned photographer and visual artist and he exhibits his “painterly” photo art all over the world. . He began playing the harp again during the pandemic of 2020, when he livestreamed on his popular Facebook artist page. He is currently recording new atmospheric instrumental music.

Nick Pagan and Regeana Morris, the keyboard player and vocalist who founded Trio Nocturna with Thomas Dodd, went on to form a 5 piece band called the Changelings and they had much underground success with their World Music / Dead Can Dance-inspired style . The Changelings put out 5 albums over the course of the next 2 decades and have had their music licensed for numerous film and television projects. Although they haven’t released anything in the past 10 years or so - they are still an active band on paper and some of the members still play together in other projects.

Chris Case went on to become a popular piano teacher in Atlanta and currently play keyboards in the eclectic group Little Tybee.

Jennifer Hartshorn is a much in demand Educator, Writer & Game Designer and is currently pursuing a PHD in English at Ga State University.

Robbi Kenney continues to play violin and viola and has worked with an impressive roster of artists including Sarah Brightman, Evanescence and Trans Siberian Orchestra.

Jamii Szmadzinski currently resides in Taiwan where he does commercial scoring for film and television projects.

No updated info is currently available on violinist Daniel Brown and vocalists Angela Howell and Rachel Connerty