Part 2: Friendship of champions: Kerr McQuillan & Chris Coates

We continue our conversation with 2025 World Solo Drumming Champion Kerr McQuillan and Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia piper Chris Coates and their analysis and insight into the Hornpipe & Jig performance – the duet, as they stress – that helped to gain the big prize in Glasgow on October 18, 2025.

In Part 1, they discussed the months of preparation leading up to the competition, the thought that goes into selecting the music, and the arranging and tweaking of the content to give it a musical edge.

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In Part 2, they discuss the idea of risk and reward in a performance, creating musical rather than purely competitive goals, and their advice to drummers and pipers searching for the right partnership.

We hope you enjoy the second and final part of our chat with these two winners, in every sense of the word. We continue the conversation with the third tune in the selection, R.S. MacDonald’s jig, “Last Tango in Harris.”

And here’s the text of the conversation, with minor edits for written clarity:

pipes|drums: Let’s go again.

[Listening/watching recording.]

Now, okay, that is just mind-blowing what you guys are doing there. Roddy McDonald’s tune is incredibly creative in itself, but the scoring there, Kerr, is just off the charts.

Kerr McQuillan: The last part was really the opportunity. This is actually probably why I picked the tune. Obviously, the line-up was equal, really but I could really take the last part as an opportunity, rhythmically, to go mental, basically, to just absolutely go for it.

The very first couple of bars, I’m using dead strokes with the sticks, with doubles in between, which really lines up with what Chris is doing. And then Chris came up with the idea of chopping a beat off bar four before going into bar five, it just helps move along a little bit and give a different rhythmical idea as well, because the tune’s quite same in that last part. Just to give a different idea was really cool.

And this was basically the point where it was Just go for it. And the back-sticking and the stick flip came to me by just messing about with rhythmical ideas. It was, like, This actually fits. To me, if you’re going to do something like that, it has to aid the tune and it has to be musically pleasing. That’s number one. And two, it has to take skill and ability and technicality to do it. And if it ticks those two boxes, then it should be fine. It’s not just there as a gimmick; it’s not there for the sake of it. It aids to the tune, and it takes technical ability to be able to pull that off,  and I think that part is really more just about technicality and technique, and that’s the final point of everything being really intense before we go into the last tune. It just settles back down again and is nice and easy to listen to.

Chris Coates: Yeah, that’s like the peak of the hill and, just as you say, we’ve taken a beat off, moving the tune along, and it builds and builds and builds and then it tees up the last tune to release and really play it almost like it’s a session tune.

pipes|drums: I can’t help thinking that it’s incredibly high risk because it’s very difficult stuff. Did you treat it as high risk but also incredibly high reward if you pull it off?

Kerr McQuillan: For me, doing something like that, there are a couple of different ways to look at it. Yeah, it’s high risk; however, when people watch that video, they will probably go straight to the bit where it’s the back-sticking and the stick flip. I hope that that inspires a lot of people to get into our art form and get into drumming and piping and love what they’re doing – something that people can aspire to do, not just making something easy that everyone can play, but having something that’s difficult so people can say, I want to aspire to try to do something like that.

“The school of thought wasn’t to try and win something or to think of it down that way. It was more about, How can I help inspire the next generation of drummers?” – Kerr McQuillan

That was the school of thought there. It wasn’t to try and win something or to think of it down that way. It was more about, How can I help inspire the next generation of drummers? That was the wee bit in it for me.

Chris Coates: What’s brilliant as well is you see it more and more with band medleys, as bands start to think outside the box and propose new ideas. The community in general is becoming more accepting to that because [Kerr] is the first person to try to do something like that on that competitive stage. It obviously didn’t take away from how other people saw the performance. It’s great that you’ve, in some ways, pushed the door open for people to try to be more creative, to try new things, because, as you say, it will inspire people to do that.

Kerr McQuillan: With that little bit as well, a lot of people would think of adding in a gimmicky kind of move, but for me it has to be done in the right place. And it’s used in a transition where we double up the end phrase of “Last Tango” before going into the next tune. It aided that transition seamlessly instead of just putting it in for the sake of it.

pipes|drums: Well put. All right,  take it home with “Ray Anderson.”

[Listening/watching recording.]

Excellent. That is just brilliant. We had the ending there, but when you came off the stage, Kerr, you had a broad smile. Did you feel at that point that you’d really done the business with it, that you’d done everything you could? Or was there still more that you could have done better? What were you feeling?

Kerr McQuillan: For me, music is all about how something makes you feel. It’s a very personal thing. And in that moment, the way that I had felt in that performance was not really anything that I’d experienced before. It was just, Wow. I couldn’t tell you if there were technical flaws at the time. It was just the feeling after that. I was like, Wow.

It delivered something special for me in that moment. And then when the crowd reaction was like, I didn’t expect something like that. I would never, ever expect to hear anything like that. And when that came, I was like, Wow, okay, So, this was a moment. But no, I wasn’t even thinking about results for anything like that at all. It was more just the feeling of the performance, never how I imagined it when we creating that set months ago.

pipes|drums: Were you thinking at all like, That’s enough to take the prize, or is it just happy to be done or happy to have done the best you can?

Kerr McQuillan: Honestly, no. When we came off, Chris and I took a moment to agree that we did what we wanted to do, but there’s not even a thought of That’ll be enough, or That won’t be enough. Because we were half way through the draw, and still a lot of other people to play. There are so many players who are capable of delivering something very special. No, there wasn’t even a thought of results. We were just happy with the performance and the feeling that we both had, and hopefully the audience had as well.

Chris Coates: We were quite emotional when we came off, which is not something we’ve had before. The whole day, in terms of managing the day emotionally, was very relaxed. We focused a lot on gratitude in the sense that we knew the morning, the semi-final was probably not the most important result or performance in terms of how it affects the outcome of the day. But it was the most important in the sense it gave us the opportunity to go and showcase that piece that we’d worked on for so long.

And in the build-up, a lot of the conversation and the language we were using was just about how grateful we were to have the opportunity, A to play together, but B, to go and perform that piece because we were so excited about it. The live stream only focuses here, but as soon as we got off the stage, I walked out the door with my arm around him and we were just absolutely beaming from ear to ear because we, as I said, felt like it was just the two of us in there, and then all of a sudden it stopped and we got an excellent reaction. And my mum texted me after the MSR because she was watching and she said, “You left the stage too quickly! When you do the Hornpipe & Jig, stop and take it in for a minute.” It was great because it was a really lovely reception we got.

pipes|drums: That’s wonderful. And Chris, stay with you. Simple question: Do you get more nervous playing for Kerr McQuillan in the World Solo Drumming Championships, or with Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia at the World Pipe Band Championships?

Chris Coates: I would say Kerr probably edges it, because there’s a bit of safety in numbers with the band if your mind goes for a walk for a minute in the circle. If you play at the World’s, that is really the culmination of months and months of preparation. You’re really at the best you can be, whereas there’s time off after the World’s, and then it’s time to get ready for the solos. So we’re always there and sort of in peak condition. But, as we were talking about earlier, when that first three-pace roll goes off, you are like, I really hope that something doesn’t go wrong here in this attack. It can be a lonely place on what is quite a small stage, but once we get into the set, it’s a pure flow state, especially in that performance where we’re just up there and everything is so relaxed, the hands are so relaxed, and it feels so easy to play together.

We’ve known each other for such a long time that playing together is really easy and fun, more than anything. It’s anxious for one minute, and then it’s just fun.

pipes|drums: Kerr, drummers, I think universally have the issue of finding a piper who’s willing to accompany them at the games and solo events. What’s your advice to drummers when it comes to getting a piper who can really help you?

Kerr McQuillan: The way Chris and I see things, or any piper I’ve worked with, is it’s more of a duet. Yes, it’s called the World Solo Drumming, but it’s a duet competition. The drums accompany an instrument, and you’ve got to work together so closely to deliver that special performance. From a piper’s point of view, it’s about trying to flip it into, Yes, I’m playing for a drummer, but how can we both be part of this performance equally, and how can we both get the same enjoyment out of that, in terms of composition and working together and trying to create the music as a duet that we want to create.

And also just having fun. The preparation is fun for us. It’s not a chore at all. It’s getting together and playing the instrument you love, bagpipes and drums, and working with a friend doing that.

If you’re trying to get to a piper, it’s a duet, and it’s something that you can form together, and it’s music that can last with you for a very long time. I suspect, well I hope Chris has the exact same outlook as I have.

Certainly, when they announced that I’d won it, was more like we had won it. It wasn’t me winning it, it was a duet. It’s two people. That’s certainly the way I see it.

“My advice to a drummer would be, Find a piper who wants you to win almost as much as you do. As Kerr said, when it was announced, we were so pleased and so happy, so passionately happy, and I wanted him to succeed in the competition so much.” – Chris Coates

Chris Coates: I would agree with that. My advice to a drummer would be, Find a piper who wants you to win almost as much as you do. As Kerr said, when it was announced, we were so pleased and so happy, so passionately happy, and I wanted him to succeed in the competition so much.

Even though it’s the World Solo Drumming, and it’s Kerr McQuillan, we very much treat it as a duet and a performance together. That’s what has paid dividends in the history we’ve had so far together.

pipes|drums: Well, that’s fantastic. It’s great advice. We want to congratulate you both for winning the 2025 World Solo Drumming, and long may your partnership continue. It seems like a really symbiotic relationship of two friends who are making great music together. Congrats on that, too. Thank you for sharing all of your thoughts. And Kerr, you’ve been kind enough to provide those manuscripts of your drum scores for pipes|drums readers and drummers to enjoy. Thanks again, and all the best for the future. We’ll be watching closely.

Kerr McQuillan: Cheers, thank you.

Chris Coates: Thank you. Cheers.

We thank 2025 World Solo Drumming Champion Kerr McQuillan and his duet partner and good friend Chris Coates of Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia for sharing their analyses and insights with pipes|drums readers and viewers.

Stay tuned for more from pipes|drums.