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Battlefield Band

Presented by McGonigel's Mucky Duck at McGonigel's Mucky Duck

March 24, 2010

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McGonigel's Mucky Duck presents Battlefield Band.

Inspired by their rich heritage of Celtic music and fired by the strength and vibrancy of today's Scottish cultural scene, which indeed they have done much to create and fuel, they have led, and been at the forefront, of a great revival in Scottish music.

Refusing to be limited musically by suffocating antiquarianism, or the music business' fashions, they have mixed the old songs and music with a new self-penned repertoire, all played on a fusion of ancient and modern instruments - bagpipes, fiddle, synthesiser, guitar, flutes, bodhran and accordion.

Named after the Glasgow suburb of Battlefield, where the group was formed by four student friends, Battlefield Band have been on the world''s roads for just on 30 years now, distilling their own unique form of the Scottish spirit and bottling it in concert and onto disc - Germany, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, Syria, Jordan, India, Sri Lanka, Egypt, U.S.A., Canada, Uzbekistan and the U.K. They have broken down barriers and pioneered many new directions which others have followed. Angry, joyful, raucous, contemplative, their music is most importantly - accessible to all.

During those years there have obviously been line-up changes and indeed the band are remarkable for the smooth and organic way in which these changes have taken place. Their continued creativity, freshness and enthusiasm is due to the positive way they have viewed, and used, these changes - and of course the new musicians themselves have been of prime importance. Musical evidence of these changes can be heard on their many albums made over the years.

Battlefield Band are:

Alan Reid (keyboards/guitar/vocals) from Glasgow, one of the founder members of the band and an invaluable factor in their success and longevity, does much of the bands singing and songwriting, particularly on contemporary Scottish themes.

Mike Katz (Highland pipes/small pipes/various whistles/bass guitar) the unmistakeable piper who joined the line-up in late 1997and has contibuted massively to the music and accessibility of the band.

Sean O'Donnell (vocals/guitar) an accomplished guitar player and singer from Derry, Northern Ireland, who has been playing music since the age of 16, and also plays bass, bouzouki and cittern. He moved to Scotland in 1996, quickly becoming actively involved in the live music scene, having played with the award- winning Scots Irish band Bionic, as part of The Emily Smith Band as well as the Michael McGoldrick Band, Deaf Shepherd, and Daimh.

Alasdair White (fiddle/whistle/banjo/bazouki/Highland and small pipes/bodhran/...and probably anything else he can lay his hands on!). Already a superb fiddle player and multi-instrumentalist, Alasdair hails from the island of Lewis, one of the Gaelic speaking Outer Hebrides.

Photo by Simon Hollington.