Elly
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Posts: 29,887
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Post by Elly on Mar 9, 2007 16:30:37 GMT 10
Thanks Neil, watched the youtube link, loved them #ssmile#
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Post by neil6147 on Mar 11, 2007 4:32:01 GMT 10
A piping hot success story
FROM the start, the band at Kevin MacDonald's wedding seemed a little unusual. Not because there were pipers involved of course - they regularly make appearances at Scottish weddings.
Perhaps the accompanying African drums should have been a clue this wasn't going to be a traditional High Reel, but it took guests a few minutes to work out what the pipers were playing . . . We Will Rock You by Queen.
"It was fantastic and everybody loved it," enthuses Kevin. "It was my friend Stuart who wanted to do something a little different for my wedding, and so he came up with this. It was a bit of a surprise for me, but I got the chance to play along and it was a real highlight of the day."
But what started out as a friend's wedding day surprise has now snowballed into something far bigger, with the players going on to perform worldwide, play on national television and now working on a second album.
Their blend of traditional Scottish music and modern rock anthems, complete with bagpipe solos and even some classic stage theatrics, mean the Red Hot Chilli Pipers - as the band are now known - are in huge demand worldwide.
"We've played in China, France, Oman, Slovenia and Greece, and we're actually just back from Thailand where we were hired for a whisky campaign," says Kevin. "We played the Chang Mai rock festival, and were one of only six acts playing to a huge crowd. The Thai people love their whisky, and so they love anything Scottish, which was great. It was an amazing experience."
The band's most recent moment of glory was two weeks ago, winning the BBC's prime-time Saturday night talent show When Will I Be Famous, hosted by Graham Norton.
Entering the contest, however, almost never happened.
"Stuart [Cassells, a fellow band member] was actually joking that he was going to go in for Big Brother, and we were trying to talk him out of it," says Kevin.
"He seemed quite serious, and was showing us an advert for the open auditions. Next to it was an advert for the talent show, and we eventually managed to talk Stuart out of doing Big Brother and convinced him to do that instead.
"It was great fun, and it's amazing that, even though we were the only Scottish act in the show, we won."
The prize of £10,000 for being picked as the top act in a public vote is being used to help the band record their second album, entitled Jock and Roll.
"Yeah, it's pretty cheesy, but that's the idea," laughs Kevin. "We are just putting everything we can think of on it."
Despite the success, Kevin, 29, still has his feet firmly on the
ground. He lives in a small house in Haddington with his wife Gillian, 29, and son Adam, one.
And while he is regularly jetting off to foreign countries or playing at celebrity events, his day job is about as far from the rock and roll lifestyle as it is possible to get.
Kevin actually makes his living as an accountant. From 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, he works at the Melville Crescent offices of chartered accountancy firm Johnston Carmichael.
"It's the job I studied for at university and they've actually been really supportive of the stuff I do with the band, giving me time off and generally letting me get on with it," he says.
Kevin started playing the pipes when he was just seven, when his parents gave him a chanter to practise on - something they quickly regretted. "The sound I made then was not very good," admits Kevin.
"It was something I enjoyed, certainly, and when I was a youngster a lot of my friends played as well. As we got older, more and more of them dropped out but I stuck with it and when I was 11 I joined a local band.
"By the time I was about 15 none of my friends played the pipes. No one thought it was cool until I played the school ball, when suddenly everyone said they quite liked it."
Kevin's best friend at the time was fellow piper Stuart, and over the years the two played together in various pipe bands, including the Stirlingshire Pipe band.
Their continued friendship meant that when Kevin was finally ready to tie the knot, it was down to Stuart to think up something special for the reception - which is where We Will Rock You came in.
The reception led the pair, along with fellow piper William Armstrong, drummers Malcolm McEwan and Steven Graham and guitarist Gregor James to form a band. And soon the newly formed Chilli Pipers were thinking about what other rock songs they could play on the bagpipes.
"It probably only takes about half an hour to work out the bagpipe versions, although the problem is that while instruments like the guitar have a very broad range of sounds, the bagpipes have quite a specific sound range," explains Kevin. "They have trouble hitting the real high notes, so we are limited that way."
Despite this, the band have managed to put together a good repertoire of rock tunes, including the classic Eye of the Tiger and a rock-anthem version of Highland Cathedral.
They played with glam rockers The Darkness at T in the Park a few years ago, and thanks to a growing reputation were invited to play at actor Ewan McGregor's Burns Supper in January.
"There were all these celebrities wandering around, and we met Paul McCartney, who really liked the bagpipes and was really supportive," says Kevin. "We met Lulu and Ronan Keating and it was just a great night."
Despite all the celebrity, the huge concerts and the growing fame of the band, however, Kevin has no plans to give up his accountancy job. "Something like this is a great opportunity and I'd love it to continue, but it doesn't make lots of money," he admits.
"It is more for the experience. I'd love to be the world's first millionaire piper, but I don't think it's likely to happen, so I'm just enjoying this while I can."
And he is also hoping that young Adam might one day follow in his footsteps.
"He's a bit young for a chanter, but Stuart's already got him learning rhythm on a little drum kit, so who knows, maybe he'll keep the band going," he says.
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Post by neil6147 on Jul 1, 2007 3:52:34 GMT 10
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