You can’t help but tap your feet when you hear the tunes of Glasgow Kiss, or imagine band members are having nothing but a good time when they raise their glasses for a “sociable” drink with the crowd in between songs.
The Calgary band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Stuart Kelly, his wife Shawn on percussions, Rob Boland on bass and Jim Taylor on fiddle and mandolin. They perform ‘CelticSkiffleRock,’ a term Kelly coined which is a mix of a variety of music such as British and American Folk, country, blues, late ’60s and early ’70s pop, rock ‘n’ roll and Celtic music.
The band is bringing their CelticSkiffleRock style to Okotoks this weekend to perform at the Okotoks Irish Dancers’ fundraiser at the Royal Duke Hotel Eatery and Pub.
The band plays pub songs to encourage crowd participation through well-known tunes and those with lyrics easy to repeat.
“People come out for a beer and I feel that, primarily, they want to hear songs that they know,” said Kelly.
Glasgow Kiss plays mostly cover songs, but gives them its own unique twist.
“It may well be a cover tune in that, the tune you might recognize and the words you’ll probably recognize, but the other stuff that happens around it is us,” said Taylor.
The band adds its own skiffle style which changes the rhythm and feel, which is not so driving, and features bundles and brushes on the snare drum instead of heavy cymbal work, he explained.
The percussionist also uses wood blocks, washboards, claves – and other “toys” as the band members call them.
Kelly said Stompin’ Tom Connors is a good example of an artist who takes traditional songs and makes them unique and adds some skiffle flavour.
“The common man really relates to skiffle music as opposed to a fancy rock band that’s performing and they create this huge divide between them and the audience,” he said, explaining how Glasgow Kiss likes to connect with the crowd.
The band takes audience requests and has a regular set list, although they joked it is more of a suggestion, as Kelly often changes on the fly.
Shawn said they are like a “working man’s band” and Kelly noted how one of the members of the Beatles once described their music in such a way.
He said Celtic traditionalists criticize the kind of music they play, suggesting they have bastardized Celtic music, but the band does not consider itself to be traditional.
“At my core, I really feel strongly about keeping the Celtic tradition alive and I don’t think you can keep it alive unless you keep the people interested in it and so the way we keep the people interested in it is doing those popular songs and making them Celtic or skiffley,” he explained.
The husband and wife duo started the band a few years ago, which has had other members involved since then. Growing up in Scotland, Kelly recalled his parents making him learn skiffle songs and performing them for his relatives.
Shawn has family from Ireland, while Boland’s grandmother, a Gaelic woman, he described her as a “four-foot-nine thunderbolt”, was from the Isle of Sky.
Boland said performing with the band is a way to reconnect with his roots and he said he always enjoyed the music.
“If you don’t have fun playing music or listening to music, what’s the point?”
A classically trained violinist, Taylor was invited to a traditional Irish jam session years ago at a downtown Calgary pub and soon became a regular.
“I have absolutely no roots in this music at all,” he said, as the other band members laughed.
For the past eight years, Taylor has played with Claymore, a Calgary Celtic band with a similar musical style, and joined Glasgow Kiss while the other band member is out of town pursuing other projects.
“There’s no way that I’m going to sit at home on a Friday night and not play. I mean, this is just too fun,“ he said. “I have one of the most fantastic jobs in the world. I get to go out every Friday and Saturday night and party… and I get paid to do it.”
Glasgow Kiss will make their Okotoks debut at the Okotoks Irish Dancers’ fundraiser pub night, which is open to the public, at the Royal Duke Saturday.
Cathy Sobieski-May, one of the head instructors and co-owner of the school, said she was looking forward to hearing the band and anticipates the performance to be upbeat and fun.
Dancers from the school will also perform and the money raised will go towards a fund for the North American Nationals, she said. None of the school’s dancers qualified this year, but students who advance to the competition in coming years can use the funds, as hotel and travel costs can be expensive, she said.
The school has almost doubled in size this year to 35 students and Sobieski-May said she said she hopes to continue to attract new dancers.
As for the pub night performance, band members said people should expect a party.
“This music,” said Taylor, “it’s almost impossible to sit still.”
For more information on the band visit http://glasgowkissmusic.com/home.cfm and for details on the Okotoks Irish Dancers go to http://www.okotoksirishdancers.com/.
