The Peatbog Faeries are......

Based on the Isle of Skye, The Peatbog Faeries released their fifth album late last summer and have played to audiences all over the world. 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 well 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. In November 2005, the band won the award for 'Best Live Act' at the prestigious Scots Trad Music Awards.

 For a look at what the Peatbogs have been up to why not visit the galleries page. 

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

Some of the highlights of 2008 for us are sure to be our first visit to Canada, playing the Edmonton Festival and a trip to America for the Milwaukee Festival. We look forward to playin the Cambridge Folk Festival again as well as some of our other favourite Festivals down south. We are to be busy in Scotland too with our first visit to the Shetland Folk Festival sure to be a highlight for us. Please keep an eye on our gig list for full details of what we will be up to.

Announcement.........

At the end of 2008 we will be having a wee line-up change. Adam has decided that after four years with the band it's time for him to move on.

He has made a great contribution to the band in his time and will be greatly missed. Luckily we have an extremely talanted fiddler to take his place, Peter Tickell, who has been Adams dep for the last couple of years. Peter is delighted to get the opportunity to join the band.

We wish Adam the all very best in the future and feel sure he will go on to do great things. As he told us himself, he looks forward to 'one last mad summer' with the band.

In the past..................

  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

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)