Suggested Music:
reviews © Kilted Life • Christopher Schiebel
For those who wish to delve into the modern celtic music culture, here are some bands that I suggest that you look into.

Seven Nations is in my opinion the quintessential Celtic Rock fusion band. Beginning life in Orlando Florida as "One19" in 1993 as an independent band and then "Clan Na Gael", they explored their Celtic roots my mixing bagpipes with rythm and guitar. In 95-96, Clan Na Gael became SEVEN NATIONS and shortly after began garnering attention world wide for their incredible music talents. Backed by their frontman and band founder Kirk McLeod, Seven Nations has gone on to produce nine albums plus a Christmas EP and have become a huge favorite at Celtic festivals and events worldwide. With their much deserved success, Seven Nations has attained backing of Dewar's Scotch and national album distribution by Q records, a subsidiary of WEA records. Seven Nations continues to define the genre "celtic rock" today and continues to push their boundaries. The band released their last album in 2002. Kirk released an acoustic solo album of Seven Nation hits called Só Piano in 2003. Seven Nations currently are: Kirk McLeod, Dan Stacey, Scott Long, Ashton Geoghagan, and Struby (whose secret indentity remains a mystery).
CD's Owned: "Palace Theatre • Live", "Seven Nations", "And now it's come down to this..."
Favorite songs: "Twelve", "O'er the Moor and Among the Heather", "Up to me" aka "God" (song has evolved over several albums), "Iain's Jig • West Mabou Reel", "Seeds of Life", "Scream", "Under the Milky Way" (samples were previously available on MP3.com which has since gone down)

Hot on the heals of Seven Nations is the Toronto Canada based celtic rock fusion band called "Enter The Haggis". Fronted by their young but formidable fiddler Brian Buchanan, Enter the Haggis have shared the Stage with such artists as Seven Nations, Nickelback, Gaelic Storm, Ashley MacIsaac, and many other performers. Their ecclectic mixture of rock with traditional celtic instruments and other influences is stunning and their live show is nothing short of infectious. From the moment they start playing "Scotland the Brave" and then suddenly move into "Hava Nagila", you know you are witnessing something powerful and different. Their musicianship is nothing short of pure talent. Brian, classically trained in violin and piano, placed in the top five of his last two years competeing in the Junior Canadian Open Fiddling Competition. His energetic presence on stage is matched by the confident and dynamic presence of Craig Downie, their piper and founder of the group. Using both traditional and electronic (airless) pipes, Craig's skill in piping is able to shine on stage. Anchoring these two showmen are the equally skilled band members Trevor Lewington on guitar, Mark Abraham on bass, and James Campbell on drums. "ETH" have produced four albums under the "Indie" label and are celtic festival favorites, especially in the North East US.
CD's owned: "ETH Live!" and "Aerials"
Favorite songs: "Wild Mountain Thyme", "Lanigan's Ball", "Arcturus", "Half a Hero", "Ride My Monster", "Scotland the Brave • Hava Nagila", "The Mexican Scotsman", "Half Fast Jam", "December Ends", "Aerials", "Icarus", "Maggie's Pancake Mix", "Athol Highlanders"
Click to see a picture of myself with Enter The Haggis at the Glasgow Lands Scottish Games in Westfield, MA.

Fiddler's Green, self styled as a "speed folk" band, are an interesting mix of SKA rythms with traditional celtic folk tunes and instruments. Sounding quite a bit like "They Might Be Giants" with a celtic flair and reggae grooves, they even have what I can only describe as a "touch of Jethro Tull on the folksy side". They have an impressive list of CD's available and I can only wonder how I never heard of them before considering they had been in widespread disribution under Polydor Records as well as other companies. As soon as you start playing one of their tunes, it has an instant familiarity to it all like hearing some of your favorite classic songs after several years of their collecting dust in the closet. This is one group that I definitely want to learn more about and get a few more albums of. There are some samples to listen to at one of their distributor's websites which can be found from their own website.
CD's owned: "Spin Around"
Favorite songs: This band is too new to me to really have a favorite, but the title song "Spin Around the World" is one that I really like a lot.

Skyclad sound a bit like Fiddler's Green, except they fit quite a bit more squarely into the label "celtic folk-rock". Using irish tin whistle, pipes, and other celtic instruments to back the typical standard rock instruments, they truly produce some original and traditional celtic tunes that you can tap your feet to and feel good about. Although they still seem active since their last album release in 2002 (internet only release), they appear rather inactive, at least online. Their last tour schedule update was early 2002 and that I think is a shame for such a well formed band. They do have a considerable list of albums that do appear to still be available and the website still gets occasional news updates. It does appear there is news about a new release in production. Last news regarding this was in October 2003 regarding post-recording production. If you can find any recordings of this band, check them out.
CD's owned: "Irrational Anthems", "The Answer Machine", "Oui Avant-Garde A Chance"
Favorite songs: Honestly, I need to listen to them more, but I've liked what I have heard so far.

Corvus Corax is more of a blend of all ancient styles of music and world beat. Their music is mostly very good instrumental using a huge array of various world instrumentation with some "fair" attempts at moderate vocals with a folksy flair. Corvus Corax is a treat to listen to and are pretty much considered the "house" band at the Kaltenberg medieval festival in Kaltenberg, Germany. Of course, there is plenty of delicious food and bavarian beer at the festival, so if you go to Germany it is well worth the effort of falling into this very touristy tourist trap if just for the house brewed beer (König Ludwig Dunkel) and to see Corvus Corax. Just grab a liter of some of the phenominal Paulaner, Franziskaner, or the house beer König Ludwig Dunkel and have a lot of ~•fun•~. [Germany]
CD's owned: "MM", "Ante Casu Peccati", "Inter Deum et Diabolum", "Viator", "Live 1998", "Congregatio • Zumpfkopule", "Tritonus", "Tanzwut", "Seikilos"
Favorite songs: Too many to list.

More Music:
Here are some other bands to look into if you have the opportunity. I have little personal experience with them, but I've heard some stuff and/or good things about them. As I go to more festivals and get more CD's of this type of music, I will update this page.

Bad Haggis • Eric Rigler and group show many influences. An eclectic mix of celtic rock, funk, world beat, and anything else you can shake a stick at. "Bad Haggis", "Monkey Tree" [California area]

Ashley MacIsaac • 29, Born in Nova Scotia, and credited by Rolling Stone Magazine to have "almost single handedly brought fiddle playing back into popularity in Canada." What more is there to say? "Lay Me Down", "Fairy Dance" [Cape Breton, Canada area]

Drop Kick Murphy's • Punk Rock with some bagpipes and scottish influences. Especially check out "Spicy McHaggis Jig" [explicit][Boston, MA area]

In Extremo • This is another German band that somebody recommended to me. They sound a bit like Corvus Corax meets popular 90's hard rock/metal. Where Corvus Corax is about revitalizing traditional ancient instruments in new arrangements, In Extremo is about fusing those instuments into their own brand of hard rock with a lot less folksy flair than say Seven Nations or Enter The Haggis. They can be found on Amazon's German site www.amazon.de. [Germany]

Red Hand Paddy • I know little of this Pittsburgh local band. I only heard about them from my ex-wife and from what I heard from the CD she had, they sound pretty darn good with more traditional celtic influences. [Pittsburgh, PA and surrounding area]