Travelling band
I think every pipe band dreams at some point about doing “a tour.” The glamourous concept of the rock n roll lifestyle, hitting stops along the way, rolling into towns to do a show, partying all night, then hitting the road again for the next concert.
British military bands are the only ones in our musical realm that can hit the road – they’re ordered to do so and the government coordinates the venture, which is as much about entertaining as it is about waving the flag. The problem with a civilian pipe band is, of course, no one has the vacation time to commit to such a thing. We all work for a living, and playing in the band isn’t a realistic income source.
The mythical rock n roll road lifestyle seems to have taken hold of several professional pipers and drummers (“professional” meaning they make a living from teaching and performing) for the first time with the “Pipes n Sticks on 66” tour planned for April. Mike Cole, Stuart Liddell, Jim Kilpatrick, Willie McCallum and Angus MacColl seem to be the first to make fantasy reality by tracking the famous old US Highway glamourized so often in song to get their kicks in a mini-bus, stopping along the way, fighting off the chicks and hoping a roadie or two will look after their gear.
It’s all part of our rock n roll fantasy: five guys in their forties (mostly) in search of the dream and the bleary lifestyle of the troubadour and the stories that will inevitably be told from the trip. To most, Bon Scott notwithstanding, Highland pipes are about as far removed from rock n roll cool as can be imagined, so the tour is a great story on its own. It should get a number of curiosity-seekers wondering if Stuart Liddell will play vintage Henderson Stratocaster drones.
We pipers and drummers secretly wish we could be rock stars. Instead we play mostly traditional music, clad in 20 pounds of wool, often standing in the rain on a farmer’s field before a crowd of family and bored friends. Some may shake their head at the Pipes n Sticks on 66 tour, but I think most of us deep down know that these guys are ticking off a box on their list of things to do before we shuffle off this mortal coil.
It’s the stuff that rock n roll dreams are made of.
‘We all work for a living’ suggests to me in that paragraph that that you think the military don’t! Remember that Pipers and Drummers in the military, especially in the Scottish Regiments are all soliders first and musicians second and are busier ‘working’ operationally now than they have ever been. This is also why even for the military, tours are getting fewer and far between!
Seconded, Donald!
Mike Cole, Stuart Liddell, Jim Kilpatrick, Willie McCallum and Angus MacColl —— can’t work out who is who from the photo.
Nice picture of “Mott The Hoople”!
All the young Dudes.
Help promote the cause on kickstarter and be able to watch these poor lost souls along the way on Route 66
I’ve been to a few aftergames parties that would make even the most accomplished hotel trashing rock band blush. Admittedly, I’ve never seen a piano fly out of the window at the dorms in Alma, but I did see a respected pipe major shimmy down the drainpipe from a second floor room.