HEBCELT: CHILLI PIPERS SET TO ENJOY SECOND WIND AT HEBRIDEAN FESTIVAL
Interview Release
Hebridean Celtic Festival
Year of Natural Scotland
- HebCelt date for ‘Bagrock’ players
- Band return to island festival after five years
- 16-piece group to provide music spectacular
Kevin MacDonald has played at more than 200 music festivals around the world but he can’t wait to be making his way to Stornoway.
As one of the internationally-acclaimed Red Hot Chilli Pipers he is in constant demand for gigs at home and abroad with the ‘bagrock’ style of music now a global phenomenon.
This year they have already played in Austria, Poland and Germany and have a five –week tour of the US planned, along with 26 dates in China.
However, one of the biggest highlights for MacDonald will be this month’s Hebridean Celtic Festival in the Isle of Lewis where the band will be headliners alongside Van Morrison, Dougie MacLean, Capercaillie and the Battlefield Band.
It will be the Chilli Pipers’ second visit to HebCelt, five years after making their debut at the award-winning festival: “It is one of the best festivals in the world in my mind”, he said, “The atmosphere, the people, the whole vibe is just brilliant.
“To be invited to return to the festival five years on from our original performance in 2008 is amazing. A lot has evolved in our band over these five years and we have had many difference experiences, but I can tell you personally that nothing has yet surpassed my first experience of HebCelt.”
This year will see the full 16-piece Chilli team taking the stage, including the band’s brass section – the Horn Supremacy – and three dancers.
They will also be previewing their latest album Breathe which will be officially released in September. Continuing the Chilli’s penchant for covering rock songs on the bagpipes (Chasing Cars, by Snow Patrol; Let Me Entertain You, by Robbie Williams and Deep Purple’s Smoke On The Water to name a few), it will feature version of the Kings of Leon’s Use Somebody and Coldplay’s Fix You.
“The album took us about 18 months to complete”, said MacDonald, a former member of the Glasgow Skye Association Pipe Band. “We started with about 35 potential songs, got that down to 18 and then recorded 14.
“For some reason Coldplay write songs that just suit the pipes. We’ve previously done a version of Clocks which goes down really well. We’ve never met the band, although we have been mentioned on their Facebook page, but you never know…one day.”
The band’s growth since forming in 2002 and winning the BBC talent show When Will I Be Famous five years later has been spectacular, attracting a following that spreads across Europe, the US and into countries such as Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and India.
There are now 30 musicians to call upon for a touring band which performs at festivals worldwide and a smaller outfit based in the UK for corporate and private events.
A full calendar for the rest of 2013 includes the American tour, 40 days in China, where they will play in venues ranging in size from 1,500-5,000 seats, and a first time spot at the BBC Proms in the Park event in Hyde Park, London, in September which will also feature Bryan Ferry, world famous tenor Joseph Calleja and violin virtuoso Nigel Kennedy.
At the end of the year the band are back for a few gigs in Scotland, including headlining the Inverness Hogmanay celebrations.
“It’s been a spectacular year, a really busy period”, said MacDonald. “We’re enjoying every minute of it.”
The 18th HebCelt, which will run from 17-20 July, is attracting attention from around the world with tickets having already been snapped up by fans across the UK and Ireland, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and America.
The line-up also includes Karine Polwart, Darrell Scott & Danny Thomson; Pete Roe, and local artists Iain Morrison, The Boy who Trapped the Sun and Face the West, as well as Dundee’s Anderson, McGinty, Webster, Ward & Fisher; Lau, voted ‘Best Group’ at this year’s Radio Two Folk Awards; Orcadian eight-piece The Chair; The Hot Seats, from Virginia; Manchester outfit The Travelling Band; Welsh band Rusty Shackle; Fatherson and The Dirty Beggars and Donald MacDonald & The Islands, from Glasgow, Rose Parade, a four-piece from Ayr and Gria, winners of this year’s One Step Further competition.
For further information contact
John Ross
Lucid PR
01463 724593; 07730 099617
johnross@lucidmessages.com
NOTES TO EDITORS
The 18th HebCelt takes place between 17-20 July, 2013 and will have two main stages on the Castle Green in front of the Lews Castle in Stornoway, as well as performances in An Lanntair and throughout the rural community.
This year the festival has been selected for the third year in succession as one of the top ten UK summer festivals by music magazine Songlines. It emerged victorious as Best Large Festival at the industry-sponsored Scottish Event Awards 2011, in a three-way final with Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and Glasgow’s Celtic Connections.
Visitors from Algeria, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand and the US made the journey to Lewis last year, as well as many from across the UK.
The overseas contingent helped swell the ranks of a 120-strong volunteer army that contributed over 3,500 unpaid man hours over the course of the four days.
HebCelt is supported by Creative Scotland, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar and Highlands & Islands Enterprise and injects more than £1.5 million annually into the local economy.
It is regarded by critics, performers and festival-goers as one of the top Celtic music festivals in Europe and has twice won the Best Event of the Year award at the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards, which is voted for by the public.
HebCelt has been hailed as one of the UK’s top 50 festivals by the Daily Telegraph and one of the top five by The Scotsman.
The festival has its own YouTube channel, Facebook and Twitter outlets.
http://www.youtube.com/user/hebceltfest
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hebridean-Celtic-Festival/70400006768?ref=ts
http://twitter.com/#!/hebcelt/
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