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Alasdair is a veteran of the Scottish music scene, known both for his song-writing and performing skills.
While a student in the mid 1970s Alasdair played keyboards with Edinburgh folk-rock band St Clements Wells, two of whom went on to join the Rezillos. After this he worked as a song-writer with the highly-acclaimed Glasgow rock band Cado Belle, releasing an album on a Warner Bros label. (Cado Belle’s singer Maggie Reilly went on to achieve international success with Mike Oldfield.) Reflecting his love of traditional music, Alasdair then teamed up with Scottish folk musicians Ken Campbell and Chris Miller to form The Ideal Band whose album “A Measure of Freedom” was issued on Lismor Records. Alasdair has always enjoyed working with other writers, and around this time he released a single “Men Talk” with Glasgow writer Liz Lochhead. He was also a member of the “Noise and Smoky Breath” review working with Edwin Morgan, Alan Spence, Liz Lochhead, and Siobhan Redmond. Returning to a rock-style format he then formed The Zydeco Ceilidh Band, an exciting mixture of Louisiana and Scottish sounds, releasing an album on Fellside Recordings. Alongside Alasdair on vocals and accordion, the band also featured guitar-player Chaz Stewart who has worked with many of Scotland’s finest bands, including Cliar, Burach, and The Donnie Munro Band.
At this point in his career Alasdair chose to feature an aspect of his work which had run as a common thread through all these musical projects - his song-writing. Working as a solo performer in Scottish folk clubs, he released an album “Friends and Companions” on Fellside Recordings. He was commissioned to write music for a Wildcat Theatre production in collaboration with Craig Armstrong, Peter Arnott and Peter Mullan. Shortly after this he was approached by Newcastle film-makers Amber Films, and was commissioned to write the music for two films (Seacoal, and In Fading Light - both shown on Channel 4). In the meantime his songs were being recorded by other artists and also published in various books (the most recent being “Back to the Light”, a collection of Glasgow writing, 2002). He played in the King’s Theatre alongside Eddie Reader and Michael Marra in a BBC promotional concert.
Recently he has been a member of The White Street Band, playing Scottish and American traditional music.
He has now released a new collection of his songs on CD - “Confessions of A Justified Singer” and is performing on the Scottish folk circuit.
Alasdair's band are:
Blair Cowan: A founder-member of Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, Blair contributed his keyboard-playing and writing skills to four best-selling albums. A subsequent solo collaboration with Cole produced two songs which were included in the soundtracks of Hollywood films Bad Influence and There's Something About Mary. Invited to become a member of Paul Quinn's all-star Independent Group Blair co-produced the band's second album. His session career includes work on albums by Texas, Del Amitri, and KMO. Blair has also written music for TV, to date producing theme music for some thirty programmes. His penchant for high-quality sounds, skilled arrangements and attention to detail, have ensured that his services are constantly in demand.
Stevie Lawrence - multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire. Former member of Scotland's highly-acclaimed folk band Iron Horse, Stevie is continuing to build his reputation as a sought-after producer and session artist. Stevie has recorded on numerous albums with some of Britain's best-known roots music artists including Maddy Prior, Blair Douglas, Anna Murray and Donnie Munro. His recent solo recordings are establishing a world-wide audience for his music.
Polly Cheer: An exciting newcomer to the field of recorded music, Polly has been a bright light in the Orkney live-music scene for several years, fronting folk and rock outfits. Having recently moved to Glasgow, her talents were brought to the attention of Alasdair and Blair who realised her fresh and singular sound would perfectly complement their own style - completing the blend of musicians for this unique recording project.
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