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HISTORY

The band's current brand of music was developed when Brian McNeill and Alan Reid were joined by Jenny Clark (vocals, guitar, cittern, dulcimer) 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 ). Reid has been a constant member ever since.


INSTRUMENTS AND THEMES

Every line-up has had a bagpiper, and sometimes two. For a mainly instrumental and traditional band, the presence of electric keyboards is unusual but even more unusual is the absence of Percussion . Every album revives some well-researched, long-dead Scottish songs and tunes as well as modern compositions (often original ones). The music ranges from the usual drinking, friendship and hard times to history, geography and politics. As one of the most well-travelled folk bands of the past 20+ years it is no surprise that there have been some exhausted members.

The band's most recent album, '' The Road Of Tears '', deals explicitly with the theme of displacement. Many of the songs deal with emigration, both voluntary and forced.


CURRENT MEMBERS


Note: Sean O'Donnell is the most recent addition to Battlefield Band. Irish, he replaced former Irish vocal/guitarist Pat Kilbride July 2005.


PAST MEMBERS

  • Brian McNeill - fiddle, writes detective novels

  • John Gahagan - (fiddle/whistle) now working as a graphic artist in Glasgow and continuing to play music.

  • Jen Clark - vocals and multi-instrumentalist (still doing amazing things with the dulcimer) is currently based in Edinburgh and doing some exciting new work with Iain Macinnes and Mairi Campbell

  • John McCusker - fiddle, replacing McNeill seemed like an impossible task, but McCusker, still a teenager at the time did it. After a few years he went solo, adopted a Mohican hair-cut and married Yorkshire folk singer Kate Rusby

  • 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 Plockton .

  • Duncan MacGillivray - (bagpipes) has won many piping competitions

  • Iain MacDonald - (bagpipes) is now 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. Now acclaimed as a soloist.

  • Pat Kilbride - (guitar, vocal) lived in Brittany, Belgium then the USA. He has recorded with "The Kipps Bay Ceilidh Band".

  • Ged Foley - (guitar, vocal) has recorded with Patrick Street and the House Band

  • Karine Polwart

  • Jim And Sylvia Barnes - (bouzouki & vocal/dulcimer) came to Battlefield Band via Kentigern. Jim sadly passed away in 2004.

  • Jamie McMenemy - (bouzouki, vocal) still a very active musician, now lives in Brittany



DISCOGRAPHY



Solo albums by past and former members


Davy Steele



Brian MacNeill



Brian McNeill and Tom McDonagh



Brian McNeill and Iain MacKintosh



Brian McNeill and Alan Reid



Iain MacKintosh and Brian McNeill



Alistair Russell



Alistair Russell and Chris Parkinson



Alan Reid



John McCusker



Blazin' Fiddles (includes John McCusker)



Mike Katz



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