The Battlefield Band
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For 30 years the Battlefield Band has been a training ground for some of the greatest Scottish musicians. Dougie Pincock (bagpipes) and Jim and Sylvia Barnes recorded one album with Kentigern then joined Alan Reid (vocals and electric keyboards) and Brian MacNeill (fiddle) in the first line-up. Alan has been a constant member ever since. Every line-up has had a bagpiper, and sometimes two. For a mainly instrumental and traditional band, the presence of electric keyboards is unusual but even more unusual is the absence of any accordion, melodeon or percussion. Every album contains a couple of well-researched long-dead Scottish songs and tunes as well as modern compositions about drinking, friendship or hard times. As one the most well-travelled folk bands of the past 20 years it is no surprise that there have been some exhausted members.
Past members include:
- Brian McNeill - fiddle, writes detective novels
- John McCusker - fiddle, replacing McNeill seemed like an impossible task, but McCusker, still a teenager at the time did it. After a few years he went solo, adopted a Mohican hair-cut and married Yorkshire folk singer Kate Rusby
- Davy Steele - (1948 - 2001) sang with Drinkers Drouth, Ceolbeg and Clan Alba as well as making solo albums.
- Dougie Pincock - (bagpipes) now works at The Piping Centre in Glasgow
- Duncan MacGillivray - (bagpipes) has won many piping competitions
- Iain MacDonald - (bagpipes) is now the musician in residence at the Gaelic College on the Isle of Skye.
- Alan Reid - (electric keyboards) the clever one with the strange background sounds
- Alistair Russell - (guitar, vocal) during his 13 years in the band he claims to have travelled one million miles. Now acclaimed as a soloist.
- Pat Kilbride - (guitar, vocal) lived in Brittany, Belgium then the USA. He has recorded with "The Kipps Bay Ceilidh Band".
- Ged Foley - (guitar, vocal) has recorded with Patrick Street and the House Band
Discography
- Battlefield Band (1976)
- At the Front (1978)
- Stand Easy (1979)
- Preview (1980)
- Home Is Where the Van Is (1980)
- The Story So Far (1982)
- There's a Buzz (1982)
- Anthem for the Common Man (1984)
- On the Rise (1986)
- Music in Trust Vol 1 (1986)
- After Hours - Forward to Scotland's Past (1987)
- Celtic Hotel (1987)
- Music in Trust Vol 2 (1988)
- Home Ground - Live From Scotland (1989)
- New Spring (1991)
- Quiet Days (1992)
- Opening Moves (1993)
- Threads (1995)
- Across The Borders (1997)
- Rain, Hail or Shine (1998)
- Leaving Friday Harbour (1999)
- Quiet Days (1999)
- Happy Daze (2001)
- Time and Tide (2002)
- Best of Battlefield 1976 - 2003
- Out for the Night (2004)
Brian MacNeill's solo albums:
- Monksgate (1978)
- Unstring Hero (1985)
- The Busker And Devil's Only Daughter (1985)
- The Back o' the North Wind (1991)
- No Gods (1995)
- To Answer the Peacock (1999)
Brian McNeill and Tom McDonagh:
- Horses for Courses (1993)
Brian McNeill and Iain MacKintosh:
- Stage by Stage (1995)
Brian McNeill and Alan Reid:
- Sidetracks (1981)
Iaian MacKintosh and Brian McNeill:
- Gentle Persuasion (1997)
Alistair Russell:
- Getting to the Border (1984)
- A19 (2002)
Alistair Russell and Chris Parkinson:
- Paddy Goes To Huddersfield (2001)
Alan Reid:
- The Sunlit Eye (1997)
John McCusker:
- John McCusker (1995)
- Yella House (2000)
- Goodnight Ginger (2003)
Blazin' Fiddles (includes John McCusker):
- Blazin' Fiddles (2003)