The Peatbog Faeries are......

Based on the Isle of Skye, the Peatbog Faeries have become one of Scotlands best known names in contemporary folk music. They have taken their own individual brand of Scottish tunes to audiences around the world, from European Festivals, to Asia, Africa, America and Australia.

Here's how wikipedia describe the band.................... "The Peatbog Faeries are a celtic fusion band. Formed in 1994, they are based on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. Their music embodies many styles and influences, including rock, jazz, electronica, and folk - but their main influence is traditional celtic music. The band's unique sound is created through a mix of programmed effects and traditional celtic arrangements, played on bagpipes, fiddles, and whistles. The Faeries draw heavily on more traditional Scottish bands such as Silly Wizard, The Tannahill Weavers, Capercaillie, and, most notably, Shooglenifty."

The Peatbogs released their fifth studio album in the summer of 2007 and make their first live release on April the 20th.  Please scroll down below the latest news to discover a bit of the bands history.

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Latest news................

New live album available here now....

Our new live album is now available. You can receive it before it's available in the shops by ordering direct from us here at our website. Folk have been asking us for years to record a live album and we're very pleased to finally provide one.  We also intend to begin recording our next studio album towards the end of the year and that should be available next summer/autumn.

Peatbogs win 'Live Band of the Year 2008' at the Scottish Traditional Music Awards.

We're delighted to announce that the band have won the Best Live Band category at the Scottish Traditional Music Awards again this year, having previously won the award in 2005. You can see the full list of winners here....... http://www.handsupfortrad.co.uk/tradmusicawards/. Many thanks to all who voted for us and especially to all who have attended our gigs and provided the atmosphere to help make the award possible.

2009 looks like being a busy year for the band. With the addition of Peter Tickell to provide an extra fiddle, we're looking forward some fresh inspiration to our sound. The first scheduled tour with two fiddlers is from  the 17th of April until the 10th of May. Please keep an eye on our gig list for full details of what we will be up to in 2009.

Some of the highlights of 2008 for us were our first visit to Canada, playing the Edmonton Festival and in Banff and then a trip to America for the Milwaukee Festival. We really enjoyed playing the Cambridge Folk Festival again as well as some of our other favourite Festivals and venues down south. We were busy in Scotland too with our first visit to the Shetland Folk Festival a particular highlight for us.

Announcement.........

At the end of 2008 we will be having a wee line-up change - but not quite as announced earlier in the year. After some great fun this year we discovered that we couldn't live without Adam and he couldn't live without us. He still has other interests to pursue though so we are giving the line-up a wee shake up. We are delighted that Peter Tickell is joining us to form a two fiddle lead line along with the pipes and whistle. There will be a couple of other names anounced shortly as we have decided that the easiest way to work is with a pool of four fiddlers. Adam and Peter will be the main lads with a couple of exellent deputies.

We are very exited at the new development and can't wait to try out the new extra powerful lead section next spring. Hope you guys like it too. 

Something about the band..................

Over the past couple of years the band have played in Australia, Borneo and America as well as prominent festivals and gigs around the UK and Europe such as Celtic Connections, Glastonbury, Cambridge and Beautiful Days. In 2007, the band played a large part in the Highland 2007 year of culture, performing at The Hebridean Celtic, The Outsider, Belladrum and Speyfest festivals to name a few.  They were also Scotlands representatives in Sri Lanka as part of Glasgows successful bid for hosting the 2014 Commonwealth Games. In September the Peatbogs played a memorable concert collaborating with the SSO for the last night of the BBC Proms in the Park. 

Previous highlights for the band have included tours of Namibia and  Botswana, USA, Singapore and Australia, playing the main stage at midnight at Glasgow's massive Millennium celebrations, televised appearances at Celtic Connections and numorous festival dates in England, Denmark, Spain, Holland, Belgium, Czech Republic, Portugal and Sweden . Their music has been used for several TV and DVD soundtracks, they have undertaken numerous TV and radio performances, as well as being commissioned by Scottish Ballet for an original piece performed for the first time in the Citizen's Theatre in Glasgow.

Released on 14th July 2007 on the bands own Peatbog Records label, the Peatbogs fifth album "What Men Deserve To Lose" is proving to be their most popular album to date, doing well in folk charts such as itunes, HMV and Amazon.  This is the third recording on the bands own record label after "Croftwork" and "Welcome to Dun Vegas". "Mellowocity" and "Faerie Stories", the Peatbogs first two albums, remain two of Greentrax Recordings best ever selling albums.

Please explore this site to find out more about the Peatbog Faeries.     

Live reviews......

Peatbog Faeries

Queens Hall, Edinburgh 2008

****

Formed way back in 1994, Skye's Peatbog Faeries now rank amoung the veterans of contemporary Celtic fusion, but far from slackening off or falling behind their younger contenders, they're sounding mightier than ever.

With their signature sound of fiddle, pipes and whistles allied to electric guitar, bass keyboards and drums, the Peatbogs have always had a large and varied musical palette to draw from, mixing reels and jigs with the colours and rhythms of rock, world and dance music, to headily powerful effect.

Since they added a three piece brass section a couple of years ago, though - here comprising Rick Taylor on trombone, with saxophonists Nigel Hitckcock and Konrad Wiszniewski - their sound has taken on several new dimensions, in terms of both its scale and its multi-layered complexity. And with the nine-piece line-up now fully bedded in, this wealth of fresh possibilities has not only been thoroughly explored, but honed into resplendently slick, taut, intricate arrangements, and one of the best live shows on the current Celtic scene.

The diverse sounds and moods of the brass - from fanfare-like granduer to sassy banter, scorching intensity to slinky chutzpah - were a richly expansive element in themselves, meanwhile being artfully interwoven and interjected amoung the rest of the bands already kaleidoscopic soundscapes. The incorporation of new instruments and personalities additionally seems to have had a creatively invigorating effect all round, evident in such recent developments as the greater prominence of Tom Salter's superb electic guitar work, embellishing his trademark African-style picking and redblooded rock'n'roll attack.

Another winning introduction to their blend of vitage and contemporary dance grooves is that of 70's-style disco-funk, which might seem an unlikely bedfellow for traditional(ish) Scottish tunes, but in factcosied up brilliantly, while a couple of slower tunes made room for scorching solos from Wiesnewski. By the time we reached the closing number, an epically reworked version of the old favourite 'Folk Police' with its stormy edge of menace and majestic mounting drama, audience hands en masse were in the air - after an earlier conga line around the hall - and the mood matched that of any euphoric summer rave.

Sue Wilson - Hi-Arts  2008   

Peatbog Faeries

The Arches, Glasgow Celtic Connections 2006

****
It is a bold band that can launch a set with a muscular, epic track which makes them sound like a Celtic Led Zeppelin and promise that "it's still uphill all the way", but Skye's Peatbog Faeries are a bold band - bold enough to team bagpipes and fiddle with unabashed rock drumming, as they do on said track, Croftwork, and bolder still to employ a brass section, which was often called on to add extra dramatic oomph to an already hefty sound.

The danger with folk fusion is that it can be genre-splicing for the sake of trying something different and unsatisfying to folk, jazz or rock devotees. But Peatbog Faeries pay close attention to the dynamics. Each fresh ingredient (did they just throw a synthesiser into the mix?) served to beef up the sound, not muddy the waters. The Great Ceilidh Swindle teamed very traditional Scottish fiddle and pipes parts with rumbling rock rhythms, a couple of otherwise straightforward Irish reels were embellished with African jit guitars and sassy brass, and there was still space for some bluesy harmonica, Pink Floyd guitars, a dubby jam incorporating Papa's Got A Brand New Pigbag and the staple drum solo.

The escalating party momentum of the last half hour was akin to a Celtic rave, eliciting waves of euphoria from the crowd and uniting the tribes in dance. The Peatbog Faeries really do drive uphill all the way.

Fiona Shepherd - The Scotsman, Saturday 21 January 2006

  I wanted to check out REM but sorry guys, it's your misfortune to be on at the same time as THE PEATBOG FAERIES, the highlight of Glastonbury. Mere earth words can't do the Faeries justice……
- NME Glastonbury Festival

...THE PEATBOG FAERIES' increasingly adventurous melting pot of fragmented fiddle and pipe tunes…. Deep dub bass lines and all round spacey electronica comprehensively rocked the house."
- The Scotsman (Concert for Kosevo-Edinburgh Playhouse).

  The band have taken their superbly seamless blend of crisply played tunes on pipes, fiddle and whistle, a world class rhythm section and a totally diverse but successful mix of other musical styles and turned the dance-o-meter up to 12 to create the most pumping, uplifting and exiting Scottish fusion you're ever likely to come across. Unreservedly recommended".
- Rootin About festival programme.

"Croftwork" reviews......

.....put simply, a compelling, haunting, danceable spree that makes no apologies for roots, indeed, would not and could not exist without them so shouts it loudly from the rooftops......such glories flood rather than pepper the rest of an album that's almost taken up residence in the stereo. Your home will be the poorer for not owning this joyful, playful, energetic wonder.................Simon Jones, Froots, October 2005

Tremendous work from the boys with plenty of laid-back rythmn, contemporary groove, and yet still a strongly identifiable Scottish accent. Pipes and whistles, fiddles, mandolin and guitars surge with dobro, piano, horns and twanger (yes!) in a hyper-cool Celtic collection..............Footstompin' Website

The band continues to inspire each other to new levels, and you can hear it on this release, and WOW is it worth it – walk, run or let your fingers do the walking on the Internet, but give Croftwork a listen..............Luxury Web Magazine (American web based Magazine)

"Welcome to Dun Vegas" reviews...... 

 The many existing Peatbog fans, along with other lovers of cutting-edge folk fusion,will love it...... Sue Wilson for the Glasgow Herald                                                                  

   Buy this CD and see the future..... Simon Thoumire for www.footstompin.com

  the Skye based techno-folkies don't just let themselves be influenced by fashion, they embrace it..... the Inverness Courier

  The most comprehensive album review we think we have ever had comes from Taffeta Punk, whose full review can be found at www.rootsreview.co.uk . She writes -

  Personally I adore this album. It reeks openly of that fun and even smacks of a little whisky(shh!). A good time was apparently had by all in this recording, and it comes highly recommended by me. It's fabulous.                                            (The cheque is in the post Taffeta)