Last month the Royal National Mod winning choir shared the bill at Eden Court Theatre with BBC Radio 3 World Music Award winners the Warsaw Village Band, but next week takes them into more uncharted territory when they become back vocalists for one of Inverness's most popular bands, Lowtide Revelry.

Thursday's show, which also features another leading light of the local music scene, High Lonesome, marks the launch of Lowtide Revelry's debut album and Inverness Gaelic Choir will be on stage to help recreate one of the tracks from the CD, "Letter from the Gallows".

"It's a pretty epic song and the guys wanted to have a choir backing them up," choir conductor Jamie MacGregor explained.

"It's pretty exciting. We had a practice last night and it sounded really good. Before we were just singing along to rough recordings on the demo."

MacGregor, who counts himself as a fan of Lowtide Revelry, was happy to offer the services of his singers.

"It's interesting for the choir to try different things," he added.

"With the Polish concert we had always spoken about doing concerts just as the choir, but that was primarily to do with Highland 2007.

"One of the group, Norman MacArthur, had written this song about a plane flying from Europe back to the Highlands and flying over all these cultures. The idea was that we would have a multi-cultural concert, but in the end we just did it with the Polish group."

With the choir's calendar geared towards the National Mod in October, MacGregor is keen to find other outlets for performance, especially in circumstances which avoid the pressure the choir faces in competitions.

"That's why we do this, ultimately because we enjoy it," he said.

"We've sung at the opening ceremony for Highland 2007 and sung at the Scottish Parliament. That was interesting because it was more akin to being at an outside festival than a concert because you also had the Red Hot Chilli Pipers and Idlewild."

Thursday's show will also be a very different experience for the choir, many of whom have never been through The Ironworks' doors at all.

"I'm quite interested in trying to do new things just to keep it fresh," MacGregor said.

"This is so different, it's kind of the polar opposite to what we usually do."

Equally Lowtide Revelry vocalist and principal songwriter Steve Obern believes the choir also bring something unique to the band.

"With the best will in the world, it doesn't sound like a gospel choir, which is the usual cliche," he said.

The band recorded the album at Rise2Red studies in Bught Park under the direction of Marc Clement, probably best known as guitarist with Blazin' Fiddles, and finished work on it earlier this month.

"I'm delighted with it, but at the same time any piece of work is never really finished. You just have to get to a point where you decide that it's done," Obern said.

"Christmas 2004 was our first gig and it's been quite a journey since then, but I think we only started getting good within the last year, to be honest."

Part of the reason for that, Obern attributes to appearances at The Ironworks, where the band has supported such acts as The Stranglers and Aberfeldy,

"Playing at The Ironworks has helped us realise what our potential is, but if you'd told me last year that we would be hooking up with a Gaelic choir, I don't think I would have believed you," Obern added.

The eight-strong Lowtide Revelry have undergone a number of musical changes since the creation of the punk influenced original line-up featuring brothers Ali and Dougie Brown on bass and drums and Ben Hesling on guitar. Since then, as more members have come on board, so the band's influences have broadened to include aspects from folk and country.

Obern, however, hesitates to pin down what category the band's music falls into.

"It's just the sound of eight people compromising with each other really," he suggested.

"When we started we all tried to slug it out with each other. Even with me, it was quite hard because you would write something and have a few ideas of what it was about and then, once the band starts playing it, it would go from being a country song to something at the other end of the tunnel."

The album should also help Lowtide Revelry attract attention from outside Inverness, but playing further afield does present some logistical problems for the band.

"We are not going to be able to play with the full line up everywhere we go, but I quite like the sound when we're stripped back," Obern said.

"I think it's been a good year for us. We've been very fortunate that we have been allowed to grow and develop a bit."

Inverness Gaelic Choir are also in the process of recording an album, which they hope to release next year.

* Lowtide Revelry, with special guests Inverness Gaelic Choir and support from High Lonesome, appear at The Ironworks, Academy Street, on Thursday 27th December.

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---