Celtic Connections

13 January 2011, 19:07

Skerryvore formed in 2004 on the Isle of Tiree off the west coast of Scotland, but the past six years has seen them adapt their traditional roots to become internationally renowned rock musicians. For piper Martin Gillespie the reason is simple, they never did get rid of those Scots bagpipes and fiddles.

Rock music took a while to take off in Scotland, but since the Bay City Rollers exploded into the charts in the 1970s the number of acts coming out of the country has been staggering. Rock legends AC/DC were part Scottish, Primal Scream formed in Glasgow and Franz Ferdinand experienced almost immediate chart success.

Yet far from lagging behind the rest of the world, Scotland became a pioneer in the genre and it wasn’t long before Runrig, Idlewild and bands like Skerryvore had carved out a Scot-rock niche for themselves.

“It seems to lend itself a lot to a foreign audience,” said Martin. “Having pipes and fiddle in it does give you that bit of diversity, so foreign audiences seem to really enjoy it. The guitars still make it very commercial as well, just with that added edge of having bagpipes.”

For Skerryvore, it’s the perfect combination of the traditional and the commercial. In the past year they have toured in America, China, the Middle East and Europe.

Now they are back in their homeland for a short while to play Glasgow’s Celtic Connections Festival before they begin touring again in Belgium, Holland and the US of A, where they’ll play to 130,000 people at Milwaukee Irish Fest 2011.

“[Celtic Connections] is probably one of the most renowned Celtic festivals throughout the world. Even just the amount of people it brings to Scotland, it’s unbelievable.

“We get so many gigs out of Celtic just from all the agents that come to it. The importance of it is just massive and it’s a great benefit to bands.”

You can see Skerryvore perform live in Glasgow’s O2 ABC as part of this year’s Celtic Connections Festival this Sunday, January 16. Tickets £15.

 

CELTIC CONNECTIONS COMES TO TOWN

• Check out Skerryvore performing Simple Life at their sold-out album launch at the ABC last year
• The Treacherous Orchestra get down and dirty at Celtic Connections
• Rachel Sermanni performs Humming Home for STV
• All the latest news, reviews and interviews on our Celtic Connections site

Last updated: 14 January 2011, 10:02