Skerryvore ready to celebrate 20 years by putting on a Floors show

Skerryvore XX will be the band's biggest concert yet. Image: Kevin Kerr

On May 31, all eight members of Skerryvore will stand together on a purpose-built stage in the grounds of Floors Castle in front of 7,000 people. It will feel a little different to when the four original members pulled up stools to play their first gig at a leaving do 20 years ago.

“We got together by chance really,” explained lead singer, Alec Dalglish.

“I went on holiday to Tiree with Fraser’s family and we met the Gillespie brothers, Daniel and Martin. Our school’s headteacher was leaving, and I was asked if I could put a band together for their leaving do. I called up the guys from Tiree. When we all went to university in Glasgow, we decided to try and get a few more gigs.”

The band are not long back from touring America, and before that, Australia. They are three-time winners of Scotland’s Live Act of the Year and their latest album, Tempus, went to number one in both the Official Scottish Album and UK Folk Albums charts, and entered the top 40 in the Official UK Charts. Alec said the four boys who started Skerryvore would never have believed where it would lead.

Skerryvore’s first album launch in 2005. Image: Skerryvore

“We very much started out to have fun, and if we made a little beer money that day, then great,” he said.

“That’s all we thought it was going to be, we didn’t look at other bands and think ‘we want to be like that’. We played a few ceilidh tunes, I tried to work out the chords, Fraser played the drums and we made it up as we went along. It has got slightly out of hand over the last 20 years.”

A change in the trad scene

Craig Espie, the band’s fiddler, said the trad music scene has changed drastically in the time Skerryvore has been performing.

“Even in what we would class as pop music today, you hear the trad sound more and more,” he said.

“Ed Sheeran uses a fiddle and whistles, and you’ve got people like Nathan Evans essentially playing trad music, but as pop artists. We’ve always been very lucky in Scotland that there has been a culture of young people interested in trad music, but we have noticed that spreading across the world. We’ve been around for a while – we are getting old – and when we started out there were very few bands doing gigs of any real size. Now you can have weekends where all the big venues across the country are filled with trad-influenced bands.”

The band knows how to put on a show. Image: Skerryvore

Alec added: “Young people have realised they actually like the music of their country. ‘Trad’ and ‘folk’ don’t necessarily mean something is old fashioned. There are loads of young bands now who see being a professional musician in the Scottish music scene as a viable option for them, and I think that is amazing. If they could all stop selling out the Barrowlands though, that would be great, because we’ve got tickets to sell.”

Evolving sound

All eight members have defined roles within the band, but what they have never kept the same is their sound. As the trad scene has changed, Skerryvore’s music has evolved with it.

Craig said: “We are working on new material now, and again it is an evolution of what we did last year. I think that is partly because there are so many influences coming from the eight of us; we all have different musical backgrounds and tastes. Even just the subtlety of one person changing what they do can change our whole sound.”

Skerryvore XX, their 20th anniversary gig, will be the band’s biggest concert to date. They will be joined on stage by special guests including Valtos, Trail West and The Laurettes. There is one song both Alec and Craig always look forward to performing most.

“Take My Hand has to be my favourite – I think because it is everyone else’s,” said Alec.

Craig said: “I would agree, it’s always the party at the end of the gig, especially when we are playing in front of people who know it. We played it at Hoolie At The Hydro last year and the sound of everyone singing it back, I have never heard anything like it.”

Though they have performed to audiences across the globe over the last two decades, Craig and Alec also agreed that one crowd in particular always delivers.

“A Scottish crowd, as you might expect, is the best audience we have,” said Alec.

“We are known to enjoy a party.”

Craig said: “It’s like a huge big house party with friends”

Here’s to the next 20 years?

As their anniversary draws nearer, Craig and Alec admitted that they aren’t quite sure what is next for Skerryvore, or how long they will be asking themselves that question.

“Another 20 years might be adventurous, but 10 years, hopefully,” said Craig.

Skerryvore ready for their gig at Floors Castle. Image: Kevin Kerr

“We’ve never really spoken about the future, we always just keep on going. For me, as long as we are still on an upwards slope and progressing, we will continue to do that. Alec is always writing new songs, we are always writing more material, and people are still listening.”

Alec said: “I think if we felt we had almost become a tribute band to ourselves, or there was only one of us left, it might be time to call it a day. But as long as we still have inspiration, we will keep going.”

Skerryvore XX will take place at Floors Castle in Kelso on May 31. Tickets are available at skerryvore.com/xx