Features / Battlefield Band still mixing it up after 45 years
ONE OF the country’s traditional music institutions is set to grace Shetland next week.
Battlefield Band, who have been active since forming in Glasgow in 1969, will play Lerwick’s Mareel auditorium on Wednesday night.
The group has seen its line-up constantly evolve, but their seamless progression has enabled the outfit to release tens of albums over nearly four decades.
Despite having toured the globe, fiddle player Alasdair White – who wasn’t a member of the group when they previously played in Shetland a number of years ago – told this website that they have been looking forward to the Mareel date for some time.
“Playing in areas where music is such a massive part of people’s identity is a big thing for us,” he said. “What makes Shetland famous and well known around the world is its music, so the prospect of playing in front of people who know their stuff is quite a gratifying one.”
White has been a member of the ensemble since joining in 2001 as an 18-year-old and he added that the group will welcome guest musician Hamish Napier into the fold for their Shetland gig.
“The band has had a bunch of different people in it over the years – some bands break-up, the Battlefield Band changes its line-up. New people coming in brings fresh ideas. At the moment we have a floating fourth member. The usual suspects – myself, Mike Katz and Sean O’Donnell – are all there, but right now at every concert we have a special guest.
“Up in Shetland we’ll have Hamish Napier from Grantown-on-Spey, who has played with various luminaries including Back of the Moon and all kinds of Glasgow formations. He’s a really talented, versatile musician. It’s been very exciting. It keeps us on our toes – we’re constantly changing the programme and mixing it up.”
Battlefield Band’s latest record ‘Room Enough For All’ – their 23rd to date – won the MG Alba Scots Trad album of the year award in 2013 and it brings their typical blend of instrumentation – showcasing the likes of bagpipes and fiddle – to the fore.
But with tens of albums in the Battlefield back catalogue, how do they go about choosing their setlist each night?
“The setlist has got to reflect who is on stage at the time,” White said. “There’s no point in Sean singing a song that [former member] Davy Steele recorded because you should perform what’s relevant to you. The main thing with the band has always been that whoever is in it, they do what they do really well – that’s the be all and end all.
“And in turn the band just does what it does really well and that’s always been the abiding factor in the success of the group.”
- There are still tickets available to see Battlefield Band at Mareel on Wednesday night from Shetland Box Office, priced at £18.
Chris Cope
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