Talk about busy! Since my last post, it seems to have been non stop! I did manage to get a a few days to chill with my folks back home though, which was nice.

I had an amazing trip to the Ferhaltorf Highland Games in Switzerland with the Scott Wood Band, such a great gig and we even saw our good pals from Skerryvore 🙂 It was some heat though, 35 degrees, which was the hottest it had been in Zurich in 10 years!! Much better weather than home that’s for sure… 😉

We also had a great time at Piping Live! festival in Glasgow. We did a lovely, stripped back gig with just the 3 of us (myself, Scott & Mhairi) as well as a filming day for BBC Alba, and launching our full band album on the Friday. We had all the guests that played on the record on the gig, as well as a big lighting and filming crew! It was the best of fun, and next up we have a slot at BBC Tent during the Edinburgh Fringe before heading off to tour the album in Denmark next week 🙂

Aonach Mor have also been busy with Live Music Now gigs as well. We did a lovely gig in The National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, when we had everyone singing along and even some kids up dancing! As well as that, we had the privilege of doing a few workshops with Natalia Mallo, a singer and percussionist from Brazil! She did some amazing Samba sessions as well as having a jam with us!

All round a pretty fun month! Will post some more after Denmark.

RJ x

Some weather we’ve been having recently eh…?

Thankfully I’ve had to spend a lot of time inside though, so not all bad I guess. Most of my time recently has been taken up with the debut Scott Wood Band album. We’ve spent a lot of time working on this record, and I can’t believe the launch is only 11 days away! A lot of mixing, listening and tweaking has been happening and I’m so happy that we have a final product now! We’re also heading off to Switzerland on Friday to a festival where our good friends, Skerryvore are also playing. It’ll good fun, and a quiet one I’m sure… 😉

I also taught at the very first Fèis Phàislig this month, which was a 4 day event promoting traditional music and culture in Paisley. With a distinct focus on children learning about Scottish traditions and culture, it was a real pleasure to be part of. Grant who ran and organised the whole event, put in an inordinate amount of work, and he deserves a lot of credit for it! It was a brilliant week with some fantastic tutors, and I hope that it continues for many years to come.

Towards the end of the month, I had a really lovely gig playing guitar with the stunning voices of Robyn Stapleton & Claire Hastings. Just a nice wee set in Kelvingrove Bandstand, and thankfully the rain did keep off, eventually…

I’ll post another update after the album launch, but as per usual here’s a few photos 🙂

RJ x

Well the past month or so has been really full on! I’ve just finished a few projects through Drake Music Scotland, which have been a great experience. It’s involved doing some group work music making sessions in schools using some music technology as well as conventional instruments which has opened my eyes to a whole new world of music making!

I’ve also been doing a few gigs with “Drams Ceilidh Band” including one in Mount Stewart, which was the very venue that Stella McCartney got married in! It’s an absolutely stunning place, and would highly recommend it to anyone looking to get married. Just make sure you call me to play at it… 😉

As well as that, we’ve been getting a few mixes through of the debut Scott Wood Band album which is really exciting! It’s being mixed by the maestro that is Tyler Duncan who has worked with the likes of The Olllam, Vulfpeck, Theo Katzmann and Michelle Chamuel and they are sounding beastly!

On a slightly lighter note, between all that and some other gigs, I’ve started going to Yoga classes, which are really, really difficult but a lot of fun and even managed to buy a new car. Enjoy some photos below…

RJ x

Well, what can I say… what a weekend!

On Saturday, I was lucky and privileged enough to perform on stage with Skerryvore, at their decade event celebrating their 10 year anniversary as a band. It was essentially a small, one day festival all to celebrate their journey over the last 10 years. A huge credit has to be given to ALL the boys for organising such a great event, and the fact that it sold out is a testament to how much hard work and effort they have put in over the years!

The day started off with a bang, as the Red Hot Chilli Pipers took to the stage, introduced by their founder and former member, Stuart Cassells who was comparing the event along with Mary Ann Kennedy. Next up was the Trail West boys from Tiree, who got us all in a lively dancing spirit before Dougie Maclean came on and chilled us out. Next up, I played with The Scott Wood Band and you could feel the atmosphere building as we went through our set, it was getting more than half way through the day at this point! After us was the amazing Sharon Shannon who tore up the stage with Alan Conor and then Skipinnish got the whole crowd singing along and up for a party, just before Serryvore came on stage.

I could feel the tension backstage before we went on, but also the adrenaline and excitement! Although they’d done gigs on this scale before, they were all a bit on edge as this one was obviously very important to them. Needless to say, they absolutely NAILED the gig and had a number of guests appearing with them throughout the set (Sharon Shannon & Dougie Maclean to name a few!).

Without a doubt, this was the biggest and best gig of my life and I can’t thank the Skerryvore team enough for asking me to play with them!! 😀

Here’s a few photos from the gig, including one of Mark and his triangle… 😉

Enjoy

RJ x

Busy, busy busy! The past little while has been quite full on, with plenty gigs as well as some teaching projects kicking off just before the school holidays. Aside from putting plenty miles on the car, a lot of time has been taking up rehearsing with Phil Allen for a gig in The Voodoo Rooms. As part of his final year of study at Napier University, him and his peers had to organise and promote a gig and put together a band who each had to perform for about 45 minutes. It was a lot of fun playing with some excellent musicians and everyone on the bill did really well.

I’ve also been preparing for a project I am about to start with Aonach Mòr called, “Tiny Tunes for Traditional People” where we’ll be delivering a series of workshops and concerts for under 4 year olds in Livingston. It’ll be a challenge working with such a young age group, but I am looking forward to it!

On top of that, the Scott Wood Band debut album is about to head over to American for mixing and mastering which i’m SUPER excited about! It’ll be getting worked on by some Grammy Award winning engineers and it’ll be amazing to have it back as a final product in about mid May.

Til the next time, here’s a few photos of my fancy tie, my beautiful Taran and a rehearsal.

Keep hustling everyone!

RJ x

Friday night saw me back in Edinburgh to play with whole host of other musicians for a charity event. We were raising funds for the PKD (Polycystic Kidney Disease) Charity to help out one of our friends who has unfortunately been diagnosed with the condition.

Almost £5000 was raised through ticket sales, raffles and a small auction, and it was really moving to see such strong support. It was great fun performing with some other musicians that I don’t normally play with, and I also got to compère the evening as well which was a laugh!

Here’s a few photos from after we played, except I have no idea what Scott and Phil are up to…

RJ x

Just back from a lovely gig in the National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, with Aonach Mòr through Live Music Now. We’ve played in the venue before, but it’s a simply stunning setting and really suits acoustic instruments well.

As well as performing some of our normal repertoire, we added some material from the Great War, since that was one of the exhibitions in the gallery. We found some really nice tunes and songs to perform, and it’s incredible that some of the music, stories and legacies still live on today.

Here’s a wee video someone managed to snap at the gig and it was nice to catch up with some old friends that came to the gig too!

Peace out.

RJ x

Thanks for swinging by my new website. I’ll be ramping things up in 2015 and trying to keep you up to date with everything that’s happening with The Scott Wood Band, Aonach Mòr and beyond.

If you’d like to see us live you can check out the gigs page or if you’d like to book in for a lesson you can learn more here.

Cheers for now

Ron x