04
Apr
2006
Most bands are extensions of their leaders, but Scotland's Battlefield Band is something else entirely, nearly a living organism beyond its members. The group has been around since 1970, and a full-time affair since 1975, but Alan Reid is the only original member still in the band.
And he refuses to call himself its leader. "We're a pretty democratic band," he said in a phone interview this week, in advance of the band's show at the Lodge hotel in Bettendorf on April 11. (The concert is being presented by Celtic Highland Games and Celtic Heritage Trail.)
The group has grown and developed over the past four decades, starting as folk outfit, adding bagpipes in the late '70s, experimenting with a drum machine in the '80s, and, in adulthood, settling on traditional Scots music in the 1990s.
Yet throughout all the lineup changes - the group lists 15 former members - and sonic experiments, Battlefield Band has maintained a considerable audience, and continues to generate great press. Reid, who sings and plays keyboard, accordion, and melodica, said Battlefield Band has longevity, "but not within a nucleus of musicians." Audiences seem willing to accept that "stability" isn't a word in Battlefield's vocabulary. "They trust that the band will replace an excellent musician with an excellent musician," Reid said.
The band was named "best live act" in the BBC's 2003 Scots Trad Music Awards, and Jeff Nesbit wrote in Billboard that "what the internally renowned Irish band the Chieftains has done for traditional Irish music, Battlefield Band is doing for the music of Scotland."
Battlefield Band has always showed a respect for its Celtic heritage without being bound by it. The introduction of bagpipes and synthesizers in the late '70s, Reid said, "cranked up the power of the sound." He joked that with "all this artillery at our disposal," the band for a time sounded like a cross between heavy metal and folk music. That intensity, thickness, and volume can still be heard, such as on the second-track medley of tunes on the band's latest recording, The Road of Tears.
The CD, which was released last month, concerns the heady issues of immigration, displacement, and even invasion, and the Reid-penned title track covers centuries of history, including the Trail of Tears and the current war in Iraq ("They said they'd come for our oppressor / They would make a meal of him"). Reid said that in thinking of the album's theme, he realized that the movement of people often sparks a chain reaction, such as when settlers from western Europe forced Native Americans from their land. "Displaced people ... have also contributed to the displacement of other people in the place they went," Reid said.
Despite the topic of migration - timely here in the United States with the current debate about "guest workers" - Reid said he didn't want to preach, preferring to "make people think rather than tell them what to think."
Musically, the recording is full of instantly poignant minor-key moments, with the unmistakable Celtic lilt. It has bursts of joy, mostly in the ferocity of playing, but the overall tone is a masterfully articulated ache.
Although the subject matter of The Road of Tears is serious, with music and singing that often match its sobriety, Reid promised that Battlefield Band's show next week won't be a downer. "It is a heavy album," he said, "but it's not a heavy show."
Battlefield Band will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 11, at the Lodge in Bettendorf. Tickets are $25. For more information on the performance, visit (http://www.celtichighlandgames.org). For more information on the band, visit (http://www.battlefieldband.co.uk).
And he refuses to call himself its leader. "We're a pretty democratic band," he said in a phone interview this week, in advance of the band's show at the Lodge hotel in Bettendorf on April 11. (The concert is being presented by Celtic Highland Games and Celtic Heritage Trail.)
The group has grown and developed over the past four decades, starting as folk outfit, adding bagpipes in the late '70s, experimenting with a drum machine in the '80s, and, in adulthood, settling on traditional Scots music in the 1990s.
Yet throughout all the lineup changes - the group lists 15 former members - and sonic experiments, Battlefield Band has maintained a considerable audience, and continues to generate great press. Reid, who sings and plays keyboard, accordion, and melodica, said Battlefield Band has longevity, "but not within a nucleus of musicians." Audiences seem willing to accept that "stability" isn't a word in Battlefield's vocabulary. "They trust that the band will replace an excellent musician with an excellent musician," Reid said.
The band was named "best live act" in the BBC's 2003 Scots Trad Music Awards, and Jeff Nesbit wrote in Billboard that "what the internally renowned Irish band the Chieftains has done for traditional Irish music, Battlefield Band is doing for the music of Scotland."
Battlefield Band has always showed a respect for its Celtic heritage without being bound by it. The introduction of bagpipes and synthesizers in the late '70s, Reid said, "cranked up the power of the sound." He joked that with "all this artillery at our disposal," the band for a time sounded like a cross between heavy metal and folk music. That intensity, thickness, and volume can still be heard, such as on the second-track medley of tunes on the band's latest recording, The Road of Tears.
The CD, which was released last month, concerns the heady issues of immigration, displacement, and even invasion, and the Reid-penned title track covers centuries of history, including the Trail of Tears and the current war in Iraq ("They said they'd come for our oppressor / They would make a meal of him"). Reid said that in thinking of the album's theme, he realized that the movement of people often sparks a chain reaction, such as when settlers from western Europe forced Native Americans from their land. "Displaced people ... have also contributed to the displacement of other people in the place they went," Reid said.
Despite the topic of migration - timely here in the United States with the current debate about "guest workers" - Reid said he didn't want to preach, preferring to "make people think rather than tell them what to think."
Musically, the recording is full of instantly poignant minor-key moments, with the unmistakable Celtic lilt. It has bursts of joy, mostly in the ferocity of playing, but the overall tone is a masterfully articulated ache.
Although the subject matter of The Road of Tears is serious, with music and singing that often match its sobriety, Reid promised that Battlefield Band's show next week won't be a downer. "It is a heavy album," he said, "but it's not a heavy show."
Battlefield Band will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 11, at the Lodge in Bettendorf. Tickets are $25. For more information on the performance, visit (http://www.celtichighlandgames.org). For more information on the band, visit (http://www.battlefieldband.co.uk).
