Battlefield Band
Encyclopedia
Battlefield Band is a Scottish traditional music group. Founded in Glasgow in 1969, they have released over 30 albums and undergone many changes of lineup. As of 2010, there are no founder members in the band.
Several former members have developed distinguished solo careers. The band is noted for its combination of bagpipes
with other instruments, most notably on their cover of Bad Moon Rising
and its mix of traditional songs and tunes with new material. The group tour internationally, playing to audiences in Europe, Australia, Asia, the Middle East & Canada, as well as more than 60 cities annually in the United States.
Battlefield Band were winners of 'Best Live Act' at the inaugural Scots Trad Music Awards in 2003
Battlefield Band's "Compliments to Buddy McMaster" was nominated for the 7th Annual Independent Music Awards
for World Traditional Song of the year.
and Alan Reid
were joined by Jenny Clark (vocals, guitar, cittern, appalachian dulcimer and whistle) and Duncan McGillivray (pipes and whistle). Stand Easy, the album they recorded in 1979, still stands up as one of the band's finest. The next line-up included Dougie Pincock (bagpipes) and Jim and Sylvia Barnes, Alan Reid (vocals and electric keyboards) and Brian McNeill (fiddle
). Alan Reid, which has been a member ever since, finally left the band at the end of 2010, concentrating on his musical duo with guitarist & singer Rob van Sante who has been Battlefield Band's sound engineer for the past thirteenth years.
. Every album mixes traditional Scottish songs and tunes with modern (often original) compositions. Themes range from drinking, friendship and hard times to history, geography and politics.
The band's 2006 album, The Road of Tears
, deals explicitly with the theme of displacement. Many of the songs deal with emigration, both voluntary and forced. Battlefield Band's 2007 album, Dookin' has a lighter feel, after the eloquently somber tone of The Road of Tears. Dookin includes a mix of vocals, with lead being shared by Alan Reid and Sean O'Donnell, and instrumentals.
Note: Sean O'Donnell replaced former Irish vocal/guitarist Pat Kilbride in July 2005. Multi-instrumentalist Ewen Henderson is the most recent addition to Battlefield Band and the youngest member.
Several former members have developed distinguished solo careers. The band is noted for its combination of bagpipes
Bagpipes
Bagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Though the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and Irish uilleann pipes have the greatest international visibility, bagpipes of many different types come from...
with other instruments, most notably on their cover of Bad Moon Rising
Bad Moon Rising
Bad Moon Rising may refer to:* "Bad Moon Rising" , by Creedence Clearwater Revival* Bad Moon Rising: The Best of Creedence Clearwater Revival, a compilation album* Bad Moon Rising , by Sonic Youth...
and its mix of traditional songs and tunes with new material. The group tour internationally, playing to audiences in Europe, Australia, Asia, the Middle East & Canada, as well as more than 60 cities annually in the United States.
Battlefield Band were winners of 'Best Live Act' at the inaugural Scots Trad Music Awards in 2003
Battlefield Band's "Compliments to Buddy McMaster" was nominated for the 7th Annual Independent Music Awards
The Independent Music Awards
The Independent Music Awards is an international program that honors top-ranked independent artists and releases in more than 50 Album, Song, Music Video and Design categories....
for World Traditional Song of the year.
History
The band's current brand of music was developed when Brian McNeillBrian McNeill
Brian McNeill is a Scottish folk multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, record producer and musical director. He was a founding member of The Battlefield Band which combined traditional celtic melodies and new material....
and Alan Reid
Alan Reid (musician)
Alan Reid is a Scottish folk multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. He was a founding member of Battlefield Band, which combined traditional Celtic melodies and new material.-Biography:...
were joined by Jenny Clark (vocals, guitar, cittern, appalachian dulcimer and whistle) and Duncan McGillivray (pipes and whistle). Stand Easy, the album they recorded in 1979, still stands up as one of the band's finest. The next line-up included Dougie Pincock (bagpipes) and Jim and Sylvia Barnes, Alan Reid (vocals and electric keyboards) and Brian McNeill (fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
). Alan Reid, which has been a member ever since, finally left the band at the end of 2010, concentrating on his musical duo with guitarist & singer Rob van Sante who has been Battlefield Band's sound engineer for the past thirteenth years.
Instruments and themes
Every line-up since the Stand Easy album has had at least one bagpiper. Unusual aspects of the instrumental line-up for a traditional band include the presence of electric keyboards and the absence of percussionPercussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
. Every album mixes traditional Scottish songs and tunes with modern (often original) compositions. Themes range from drinking, friendship and hard times to history, geography and politics.
The band's 2006 album, The Road of Tears
The Road of Tears
The Road of Tears, an album by The Battlefield Band, was released in 2006 on the Temple Records label.-Track listing:# "The Road Of Tears"# "Ely Parker/Miss Martin's Wedding/The Primrose Lassies/Mr...
, deals explicitly with the theme of displacement. Many of the songs deal with emigration, both voluntary and forced. Battlefield Band's 2007 album, Dookin' has a lighter feel, after the eloquently somber tone of The Road of Tears. Dookin includes a mix of vocals, with lead being shared by Alan Reid and Sean O'Donnell, and instrumentals.
Current members
- Sean O'Donnell - vocals/guitar
- Ewen HendersonEwen Henderson (musician)Ewen Henderson is a multi-instrumentalist folk musician from Fort William, Scotland.-Musical career:...
- fiddle/bagpipes/whistles/piano/vocals - Alasdair WhiteAlasdair WhiteAlasdair White is a Scottish folk musician who played with the Battlefield Band as a fiddler since 2001, when he was 18 years old.White is a Scottish Gaelic speaker, and originates from Tong on the Island of Lewis one of Scotland's Outer Hebrides islands, a geographical area where the Gaelic...
- fiddle/tin whistleTin whistleThe tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, English Flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, Tin Flageolet, Irish whistle and Clarke London Flageolet is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is an end blown fipple flute, putting it in the same category as the recorder, American Indian flute, and...
/banjoBanjoIn the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
/bouzoukiBouzoukiThe bouzouki , is a musical instrument with Greek origin in the lute family. A mainstay of modern Greek music, the front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but...
/Highland bagpipesGreat Highland BagpipeThe Great Highland Bagpipe is a type of bagpipe native to Scotland. It has achieved widespread recognition through its usage in the British military and in pipe bands throughout the world. It is closely related to the Great Irish Warpipes....
and small pipes/bodhranBodhránThe bodhrán is an Irish frame drum ranging from 25 to 65 cm in diameter, with most drums measuring 35 to 45 cm . The sides of the drum are 9 to 20 cm deep. A goatskin head is tacked to one side... - Mike Katz - Highland pipes/small pipes/various whistles/bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
/guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
Note: Sean O'Donnell replaced former Irish vocal/guitarist Pat Kilbride in July 2005. Multi-instrumentalist Ewen Henderson is the most recent addition to Battlefield Band and the youngest member.
Past members
- Ricky Starrs (musician)and one of early members. Multi instumentalist gutar mandolin whistles. Played on original Arfolk recording later rereleased as farewell to Nova Scotia.
- Alan ReidAlan Reid (musician)Alan Reid is a Scottish folk multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. He was a founding member of Battlefield Band, which combined traditional Celtic melodies and new material.-Biography:...
- keyboards/guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
/vocals/accordionAccordionThe accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
(Alan was the last remaining founding member of the band to leave, doing so in 2010) - Brian McNeillBrian McNeillBrian McNeill is a Scottish folk multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, record producer and musical director. He was a founding member of The Battlefield Band which combined traditional celtic melodies and new material....
- fiddle, writes detective novels, teaching with the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Dance - John GahaganJohn GahaganJohn Gahagan is a Scottish former footballer who played as a left winger. Gahagan spent most of his career with Motherwell, spending twelve seasons with the Fir Park club, either side of spells with Clydebank latterly Morton...
- (fiddle/whistle) now working as a graphic artist in Glasgow and continuing to play music. - Jen Clark - vocals, guitar, cittern and dulcimer (among other things now running a psychotherapy practice and offering voicework in Edinburgh).
- John McCuskerJohn McCuskerJohn McCusker is a Scottish folk musician, record producer and composer. An accomplished fiddle player, he had a long association as a member of the Battlefield Band beginning in the 1990s and was later a band member and producer for folk singer Kate Rusby...
- fiddle, replaced McNeill. - Davy Steele - (1948–2001) sang with Drinkers Drouth, Ceolbeg and Clan Alba as well as making solo albums.
- Dougie Pincock - (bagpipes) now director of the National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music (Sgoil Chiùil na Gàidhealtachd) in PlocktonPlocktonPlockton is a village in the Highlands of Scotland with a population of 378 .- Details :Plockton is a picturesque settlement on the shores of Loch Carron...
. - Duncan MacGillivray - (bagpipes) has won many piping competitions, including the Gold Medal at the Northern Meeting in Inverness in 1997.
- Iain MacDonaldMacDonald brothersThe MacDonald Brothers are pipers and folk musicians from Scotland. They are notable for their playing, most notably for their piping.The three brothers, Allan, Iain and Angus grew up in Glenuig, a small Gaelic speaking community in the west Highlands of Scotland...
- (bagpipes) was the musician in residence at the Gaelic College on the Isle of Skye. - Alistair Russell - (guitar, vocal) during his 13 years in the band he claims to have travelled one million miles. Currently has a solo career.
- Pat Kilbride - (guitar, vocal) lived in Brittany, Belgium then the USA. He has recorded with "The Kips Bay Ceilidh Band" and done solo albums.
- Ged Foley - (guitar, vocal, Northumbrian pipes) has recorded with the House BandHouse bandFor the British band that existed from 1984-2001, see The House BandA house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to...
, Patrick StreetPatrick StreetPatrick Street is an Irish folk group.The band was formed in Dublin in 1986 with Kevin Burke on fiddle, Jackie Daly on button accordion, Andy Irvine on bouzouki and vocals, and Arty McGlynn on guitar...
and Celtic Fiddle Festival - Karine PolwartKarine PolwartKarine Polwart is a Scottish singer-songwriter. She writes and performs music with a strong folk and roots feel, her songs dealing with a variety of issues from alcoholism to genocide...
- Jim and Sylvia Barnes - (bouzouki & vocal/dulcimer) came to Battlefield Band via Kentigern. Jim died in 2004.
- Jamie McMenemy - (bouzouki, vocal) still a very active musician and co-founder of the Breton group Kornog, now lives in Brittany.
Discography
- 1976 Farewell to Nova ScotiaFarewell to Nova Scotia (album)Farewell to Nova Scotia is Battlefield Band's debut studio album, released on LP in 1976 on the Escalibur label as Volume I - Farewell to Nova Scotia and re-issued on CD in 1996...
(or Scottish Folk) [#01] debut studio album (first released on Escalibur label) - 1977 Battlefield Band [#02] studio album #02 (first released on Topic label)
- 1978 Wae's me for Prince CharlieWae's me for Prince Charlie (album)Wae's me for Prince Charlie is Battlefield Band's 2nd studio album on the Escalibur label, first released on LP in 1978 as Volume II - Wae's me for Prince Charlie....
[#03] studio album #03 (first released on Escalibur label) - 1978 At the Front [#04] studio album #04 (first released on Topic label)
- 1979/1980 Stand Easy/Preview [#05] studio album #05 (first released on Topic label)
- 1980 Home Is Where the Van IsHome is Where the Van IsHome Is Where the Van Is, an album by The Battlefield Band, was released in 1980 on the Temple Records label. The album, the band's U.S. debut, "continued the Scottish group's affinity for blending modern instrumentation into the country's folk tradition." Several songs from the album notably...
[#06] studio album #06 - 1982 The Story So Far 1977-1980 [#07] compilation album #1 of the 3 first studios albums released on Topic label
- 1982 There's a Buzz [#08] studio album #07
- 1984 Anthem for the Common Man [#09] studio album #08
- 1986 Music in Trust Vol 1 [#10] Soundtrack album #01
- 1986 On the Rise [#11] studio album #09
- 1987 After Hours: Forward to Scotland's PastAfter Hours: Forward to Scotland's PastAfter Hours: Forward to Scotland's Past, an album by The Battlefield Band, was released in 1987 on the Temple Records label.-Track listing:# "After Hours/The Green Gates/The Ship in Full Sail" – 3:30# "Frideray" – 2:54...
[#12] compilation album #2 of the five last previous albums - 1987 Celtic Hotel [#13] studio album #10
- 1988 Music in Trust Vol 2 [#14] Soundtrack album #02
- 1989 Home Ground - Live From Scotland [#15] live album #1 (a live recording of a concert in Spring 1989 in AberdeenAberdeenAberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
, ScotlandScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
)
- 1991 New Spring [#16] studio album #11
- 1992 Quiet DaysQuiet DaysQuiet Days is a studio album by Battlefield Band released in 1992 on the Temple Records label.-Reception:-Track listing:# "Captain Lachlan MacPhail of Tiree/Peter MacKinnon of Skeabost/The Blackberry Bush" – 3:23# "The River" – 4:37...
[#17] studio album #12 - 1993 Opening Moves: Best Of 1977-79 [#18] compilation album #3
- 1995 ThreadsThreads (Battlefield Band album)Threads, an album by The Battlefield Band, was released in 1995 on the Temple Records label.-Track listing:# "In and out of the Harbour/The Top Tier/Sleepy Maggie/Molly Rankin" – 3:37# "The Arran Convict" – 4:26...
[#19] studio album #13 - 1997 Across the BordersAcross the BordersAcross the Borders, a live album by The Battlefield Band, was released in 1997 on the Temple Records label. The total running time is 66:10.-Track listing:# "Miss Sarah Macmanus/Appropriate Dipstick/Cape Breton Fiddlers' Welcome" – 4:06...
[#20] live album #2 (live recording of three concerts in Edinburghs Queens Hall during the EdinburghEdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
International Festival) - 1998 Live Celtic Folk MusicLive Celtic Folk MusicLive Celtic Folk Music is a live album by Battlefield Band, released in 1998 on the Munich Records label. It was recorded in 1980 at the Winterfolkfestival, held in Dordrecht, The Netherlands.-Track listing:...
(live recording of a concert at the 1980 Winterfolkfestival, held in DordrechtDordrechtDordrecht , colloquially Dordt, historically in English named Dort, is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the fourth largest city of the province, having a population of 118,601 in 2009...
, NetherlandsNetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
; released on a foreign label) - 1998 Rain, Hail or ShineRain, Hail or ShineRain, Hail or Shine, an album by The Battlefield Band, was released in 1998 on the Temple Records label. The total running time is 45:38.-Track listing:# "Bodachan a Gharaidh/General Macdonal/Craig an Fhithich" – 3:47# "Heave Ya Ho" – 4:30...
[#21] studio album #14 - 1999 Leaving Friday HarborLeaving Friday HarborLeaving Friday Harbor, an album by The Battlefield Band, was released in 1999 on the Temple Records label.-Track listing:#Clan Coco/The Road to Benderloch/Fifteen Stubbies to Warragul - 3:49#The Last Trip Home - 4:59...
[#22] studio album #15
- 2001 Happy Daze [#23] studio album #16
- 2002 Time and TideTime and Tide (Battlefield Band album)Time and Tide, an album by The Battlefield Band, was released in 2002 on the Temple Records label.-Track listing:# "Chuir I Gluin Air a Bhodach /DJ MacLeod' " – 4:22# "Nancy's Whiskey" – 4:40...
[#24] studio album #17 - 2002 Best of Battlefield 1976-2003 [#25] compilation album #4
- 2004 Out for the NightOut for the NightOut for the Night, an album by The Battlefield Band, was released in 2004 on the Temple Records label.-Track listing:# "Ms. Dynamite of Benbecula/The Alewife T/Little Cascade/Culder's Rant" – 4:39# "The Earl of Errol" – 4:11...
[#26] studio album #18 - 2006 The Road of TearsThe Road of TearsThe Road of Tears, an album by The Battlefield Band, was released in 2006 on the Temple Records label.-Track listing:# "The Road Of Tears"# "Ely Parker/Miss Martin's Wedding/The Primrose Lassies/Mr...
[#27] studio album #19 - 2007 Dookin [#28] studio album #20
- 2009 Zama Zama... Try Your Luck [#29] studio album #21
- 2011 LINE-UP, released 2011
John McCusker
- John McCusker (album)|John McCusker (1995)
- Yella Hoose (2000)
- Goodnight Ginger (2003)
Brian McNeill
- Monksgate (1978)
- Unstrung Hero (1985)
- The Busker And Devil's Only Daughter (1985)
- The Back o' the North Wind (1991)
- No Gods (1995)
- To Answer the Peacock (1999)
Alan Reid
- The Sunlit Eye (1997) (studio album)
- Recollection (2011) (compilation)
Davy Steele
- Long Time Getting Here (1984)
- Summerlee (1994)
- Chasing Shadows (1998)