Pipedreams

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Pipedreams

This band is not an up and coming band, they are already here

Pipedreams

To find out what's going on with Offbeat Music click the link below

Offbeat Music

Jimi McRae:  Highland, Lowland, Border, Arabic and Electronic pipes

jimi McRae playing Bagpipes

Iain McKinna:  Electric Bass

Producer/performer at Offbeat Scotland with 25 years’ experience. Jimi’s CDs "Earthdance" and "Pipedreams" were produced and arranged by Iain at his studio in Edinburgh's Royal Mile.

Iain McKinna on Bass

Dave Haswell:  Drums and Multi-Ethnic Percussion

Performed/recorded with many Celtic acts including The Incredible String Band, Talitha Mackenzie, Savourna Stevenson, Capercaillie, and Rock singer Fish.

Dave Haswell on Percussions

Kirsty Anderson:  Electric Violin

Kirsty is a featured artist with The Harmonics. She also performed on Jimi's Earthdance CD. She is also a vocalist and session singer.

Kirsty Anderson on Electric Violin

Pipedreams studio and their work

15 December 2004

If you go further down the page you will see that Jimi McRae was in the running for an award.  I was informed this morning that Jimi McRae has won that much sought after award with his unique style of playing and composition of music from the Performing Rights Society.

Awards are never handed out for nothing, they are a reward for contributing to the music industry with a lot of hard work involved.  Well done Jimi, you deserve the award and all that goes with it for the hard work that you put into your musical skills.

Jimi McRae playing at the Bongo Club

The Jimi McRae Band playing live at T in the Park 2004

The Early Days

Jimi McRae the piping biker in 1993

Jimi McRae playing bagpipes at the Mound in 1993

Jimi McRae the piping biker at the Mound in 1993

Video, soundtrack and video images from 1993 produced by Andrew Murphy

 

HIGHLAND PIPES

All you need to know about Jimi's pipes from the man himself, with track by track listings of pipes used on his latest CD - Earthdance

 

Jimi McRae with different types of bagpipes

Custom made to suit my taste and demands. I prefer to play in the key of 'A' . Most Highland pipes played today are made in the key of 'B flat'. However, up until the late 1950's and early 60's pipes were designed to play in 'A' and had been for generations, possibly even centuries. I based the design for my pipes on several of these older now, sadly, defunct makes, in particular Robertson's for their drones and Henderson's for their chanters. My Highland pipes are tough-wearing, totally functional, easily maintained and still evolving. I've never been one for fancy silver and ivory decoration etc.

ARABIC BELLOWS   Blown Pipes in 'C'  

Made by my good friend Nigel Richard at Garvie Bagpipes, Albert St, Edinburgh. (www.borderpipes.co.uk).Years of painstaking work and experimentation by Nigel has led to these incredible bellows-blown pipes, which are basically Scottish small pipes in C, but with a chanter tuned to the musical scale common in India, the Middle East and North Africa. Incredible. It was a real honour to have Nigel, first and foremost a strings-man, play on my new album. You can hear him play his Lauto, a Cretian mandolin, on "Bellydancer Fae Fife" and "Earthdance".

BORDER PIPES

Another brilliant tool for the modern piper. Another quality product from Garvie Bagpipes, Edinburgh. Bellows-blown and fully chromatic. Great instrument.

LOWLAND PIPES

Bellows-blown Scottish small pipes made by Brechin-based Ian Kinnear.

ELECTRONIC PIPES

Degger Pipes from Germany and an earlier Canadian model are both used, I hope to great effect, on this album.

ELECTRIC LASSIELAND

Lowland bellows pipes, Highland pipes and Arabic pipes.

This one is for my late mother Mina Rutherford MacLeod McLean McRae and all mothers everywhere.

HIGHLAND TRANCE

Border pipes(bellows blown) electronic pipes and Highland pipes(for the marching refrain).

This is one of the first tracks Iain McKinna and I collaborated on together.Iain wanted to add some pipes to a track he was working on. Over the following months "Highland Trance" just grew and grew. Even now listening to it I'm amazed how he, as producer, pulled it all together but he did. The vibe is about going forward and being positive.

BELLYDANCER FAE FIFE

Arabic-style bellows pipes.

This tune is inspired by an old girlfriend of mine. She came from Kirkcaldy, Fife in Scotland and liked to bellydance. The last few years have seen an explosion in Scotland, and the western world in general, of women interested in forms of dance like bellydancing.

DORNIE BENDS (fuel injection version)

Highland and Lowland pipes.

The full on, wind in your face anthem for those Scottish bikers, who live to ride on Highland roads. Great fun - the A87 to Skye in particular, through Glen Shiel and Kintail and past the ancestrial McRae burial grounds.

BUFFALO HIGHLANDER

Lowland, Highland and electronic Degger pipes.

Inspired by an American, originally from Buffalo, New York State, who had come to Scotland to learn the Gaelic.

EARTHDANCE

Arabic pipes.

The title track of the album. Began life as an idea plucked from the estoric one starry-night by a camp-fire in Glen Elg, Scotland. Once again, wih great input from Iain and my other musician friends it just grew and grew into something special. Many scholars believe piping originated in the Middle East hence the eastern sound. This is a roots track; about being close to the earth. Respect to the Earthmother.

SQUINTING PETER

Highland, Lowland and electronic pipes.

An adaptation of a classic ancient pipe-tune entitled a Flame Of Wrath For Squinting Peter, composed by legendary Scottish piper Donald Mor McCrimmon who lived from 1570 to 1640 AD. He was reputed to have composed the tune as he blazed his way across the western Highlands in pursuit of his brothers murderers. Once he caught up with them, the story goes, he trapped them in a croft and incinerated them - the equaliser of his day; the original 'Shaft"; no-one messed with big Donald !

MYSTICAL MOUNTAINS

Border pipes.

This was the first ever recording Iain and I made together back in Spring 1999. Iain asked me to add some pipes to this spectacular soundscape he was working on....Two years later here it is. Mystical Mountains.

The jimi McRae Band working at a live gig

The Jimi McRae Band live at T in the park, Stirling Castle, China, and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

 

 Jimi McRae

Everybody knows Jimi the Piper: the corner of St Giles in Edinburgh being one of those places that, if you wait long enough, the whole world will pass you by. But what a pleasure to be able to listen to the handsome devil. I get a real feeling of energy and commitment from this music. Jimi plays a combination of traditional and new stuff, but it's his own tunes that really are the belters - particularly Dornie Bends, played crisply on the small pipes and inspired by the buzz of motorbiking in the Highlands. (MG)

PRS Foundation Following a gig with the band at the PRS stage on Fringe Sunday in which they were chosen to perfom out of thousands of applicants, Jimi has been nominated for a national composition award by the PRS Foundation (Performing Rights Society). 45 composers in the UK have been nominated and from those, 15 will win the prestigious award.

Caledonia magazine - September 1999

Jimi McRae working with the audience

Latest Contender into the multi-ethnic roots/dancefloor fusion arena is this former Edinburgh street busker, weaving sundry varieties of bagpipe - Highland, Lowland, Border, Arabic and electronic - through a succession of layered electro-acoustic soundscapes. Apart from one funked-up version of a 400-year-old Donald MacCrimmon tune, all the work is original, ranging from the opening Electric Lassieland, pitting squally electric guitars against a hectic pipe reel over a dub beat, through the sinuously sultry, Oriental sounding Belly Dancer Fae Fife to the moody, disco-tinged Highland Trance. Electric fiddle, electric cello, bouzouki, bass and percussion all feature in the mix, along with multi-textured synth effects and drum loops and are sharply defined by both strong melodies and dextrous rhythm work.

Sue Wilson   The Herald - 28 October 2001

Jimi McRae Playing the Bagpipes

Jimi McRae has been nominated by the PRS foundation (Performing Rights Society) for a national new composers award following an appearance by the band at the PRS stage on Fringe Sunday at this years Edinburgh Festival. Forty five composers have been nominated and from them, fifteen will receive the prestigious award.

The Jimi McRae Band have been booked to play at Stirling Castle for this years Hogmanay celebrations. So far this year the band have played at T-in the Park. Stockton Riverside Festival, Spiegeltent at the Edinburgh Festival and many more events.

Offbeat composer and producer Iain McKinna has been invited as a featured composer onto David Arnold's commercial web-site twentyfour. David Arnold is the UK's busiest composer and has a huge CV, including the last two Bond movies.

Iain McKinna has composed and produced music for the popular drink 'Aftershock'.

The track entitled 'Shocking behaviour' currently features in a promotion covering over 300 clubs throughout the UK which started in February.

Iain McKinna

Produced and recorded by Iain McKinna

Iain's session credits:  bass, keyboards, guitar, djembe and drum programming.  

Earthdance was produced at Offbeat studios and released in the UK in October 2001. It was recorded on Logic Audio Platinum entirely in house over a period of 18 months. Seinnheiser and Nuemann stereo microphones were used to record Highland and Lowland pipes. Jimi expanded on his debut album Pipedreams by introducing Arabic pipes which were made by Nigel Richards from Edinburgh, who also appears on the album playing lauto (Greek Lute) on two tracks. Venturing into Rock and Funk territory the album places the pipes on a par with a heavy metal instrument on tracks like Squinting Peter and Electric Lassieland. Sally Phillips from Bellydancing troupe Dhyanis from San Francisco adds zim bells and coinbelts in a dance she performed during the recording. The subtlety and sheer beauty of 'Belly Dancer fae Fife' and title track 'Earthdance' offers the perfect counterpoint to the more strident upbeat tracks.

Recorded at Heartbeat studios and dubbed and mixed at Offbeat over a period of two weeks in 1999, Pipedreams is the debut album from Jimi McRae. The atmospheric voice of the pipes tell new and old tales through new and traditional tunes. The melodies of the Highland, Border and Electronic pipes opens a vista of the Scottish landscape, and Jimi's love of the 'pibroch' (the big music) shines through.

The Jimi McRae Band after a gig

Kirsty Anderson on electric violin

 

 NEW ALBUM:  The Jimi McRae Band have now completed Jimi's third album in the Offbeat studio . The album is due for release early 2005 but pre-release copies will be available soon. It contains entirely new material composed by Jimi and Iain. The album has already secured UK wide distribution including Ireland with Discovery Music. European and N. American distributors are also showing interest.  

 Booking agents Stoneyport Music Agency are now actively promoting the band. They join a growing list of live entertainment companies keen to book the band.

Logic Audio (with full automation and external midi control) - 22"LCD screen - Neve Eq signal processing - Genelec Monitors and Sub-bass - AKG solid tube mic - Rode NTK valve mic - AKG2000 mic and Shure SM58's - Mackie 16-8 Analogue mixing desk - Yamaha Promix digital mixing desk - Focusrite compressors and Vocal processor : Korg Analogue Delay : Pod Guitar amp module - Trace Acoustic Amp - Roland RS9 mother keyboard - JV2080 expander - Novation Bass station - EMU ESI32 and EPS16+samplers - Roland TD10 V-Drums - Fender Strat and Fender Jazz Bass - Takamine Acoustic Guitar - lots of plug ins and analogue effects.

Our music production company is dedicated to recording singer/songwriters, solo artists and bands as well as producing and composing new and original music for CD, Film, Theatre and TV and Radio. Offbeat started in 1993 and since then we have produced over 50 CD albums for Major and Independent labels and self funded artists. We have also composed music for leading ad agencies and film companies. Visit the portfolio to find out about past work. Check out our full range of specialist audio production services.

Find out full details about the brand new Offbeat compilation CD. Enjoy the free MP3 samples of our recent productions and compositions.

We have added new Quicktime movies of the Fulgor performance art show last year in Portugal along with some TV ads we have produced and written music for. Find out about Offbeat's involvement in Mandancin, the recent feature film by director Norman Stone.

Offbeat Scotland also represents The Jimi McRae Band. The band features rock piper Jimi's groundbreaking music. They are about to appear at many well known festivals this Summer. To find out more about the band visit the web-site jimimcrae.co.uk

Jimi McRae performing on Stage

Copyright photographs taken by Andrew Murphy

All copying strictly forbidden in part or whole

Information and video from Iain McKinna of Offbeat

Photographs and layout by Andrew Murphy

 

Bands and artists Iain has recorded with

THE VALVES

THE FREEZE

GREEN TELESCOPE

BABY'S GOTTA GUN

SUGAR BULLITT

DC ELLIS

JEAN MUNDELL

BRIAN KELLOCH

COLIN STEELE

RONNIE RAE

ANDY GIERUS

BEN IVITSKY

CAULD BLAST ORCHESTRA

THE OLIVES

PIEFINGER - FIRE ENGINES REFORMED

BO WEEVIL

RAB KING

PETER TACON

APEX BEAT

CONTRABAND

VERY VERY

MELANIE O'REILLY

SOPHIE BANCROFT

TOM BANCROFT

KITH AND KIN

THE CRITTERHILL VARMINTS

HEX

DEAF HEIGHTS

CRUISE

WILD

AFTER EIGHT MINCE

RUBY SUIT

THE GOD SQUAD

THE IMPOSSIBLES

THE SCARS

ALONE AGAIN OR

TV21

THE BAY CITY ROLLERS

ANDY REDMAN

WEE FREE KINGS

TOM FLEMING

THE DOUG ANTHONY ALLSTARS (D.A.A.S.)

KEITH MORE

THE ELECTRIC DAISIES

WHITEHOUSE-REMASTERED FOR CD

THE JOHN RAE COLLECTIVE

PHIL BANCROFT

FRANCIS COWAN

WENDY WETHERBY

RONNIE RAE SENIOR

EH15

DICK LEE AND NIGEL RICHARD

MARK NAPLES

JIMI MCRAE

STEPHEN FISCHBACHER

HAMED KANE

JOHN MCNAIRN

GEOFF GEER

IAIN HOGG

ALLIE FOX

FAT SAMS BAND

EDITH BUDGE

SUSAN PHILIP

NORMAN LAMONT

RICKY THOMSON

COLIN KERR

GRAHAM THOMSON

Music producers Iain has worked with

MIKE PEDEN

RICHARD BROWN

KEITH MORE

CHRIS HARLEY

WILF SMARTIES

JON TURNER

ALAN RANKIN

LES MCKEOWN

ERIC FAULKNER

DUNCAN WHEAT

MANNY SHONIWA

MAX FOSTER

BILLY BOND

DAVE VALENTINE

KIT CLARK

RAB KING

JAMES LOCKE

KEITH MITCHELL

WHITEHOUSE

TREVOR WHITE

DONALD LUNNEY

BEAU MCCLELLAN

NICK ATKINS

MARK BURGESS

SEBASTIAN HORSLEY

CALUM MALCOM

ROBERT BELL

RUSSELL BURN

DAVY HENDERSON

HARRY HORSE

Record companies Iain has recorded for

EMI MUSIC

POLYDOR RECORDS

POLYGRAM MUSIC

POSTCARD RECORDS

CREATION RECORDS

VIRGIN RECORDS

CHRYSALIS RECORDS

ROUGH TRADE RECORDS

CIRCA RECORDS

OFFBEAT RECORDS

VIXEN RECORDS

4AD RECORDS

DEMON RECORDS

STRANGEWAY RECORDS

RIVERBOAT RECORDS

WORLD MUSIC NETWORK

SONY RECORDS

SILVERTONE RECORDS

WATERCOURSE RECORDS

MIDNIGHT MUSIC RECORDS

SEANNACHIE RECORDS

NASCENTE RECORDS

WILD MOUNTAIN RECORDS

MACNAP RECORDS

WILD MOUNTAIN RECORDS

MORNING STAR RECORDS

FISCHY RECORDS

CHARISMA RECORDS

Other commercial clients

ARC ADVERTISING

ZOMBA MUSIC

E+S MUSIC - SIMON COWELL ELLIS RICH

EMI MUSIC

E+S MUSIC

XY MUSIC

VIRGIN RECORD STORES

HMV RECORDS

DIGITAL STREAM

ALPHA PRODUCTIONS

BBC RADIO SCOTLAND

BBC SCOTLAND

RADIO FORTH

SAMYE LING TIBETAN CENTRE

HIGHLANDER MUSIC

STERNS MUSIC

GORDON DUNCAN MUSIC

STRAY DOG PRODUCTIONS

1A PRODUCTIONS

FAULDS ADVERTISING

HALLS ADVERTISING

JAMES OLIVA

POLYGRAM MUSIC

CHRYSALIS MUSIC

MARR ASSOCIATES

PICARDY PICTURES

EDINBURGH JUSTICIARY OFFICE

EDINBURGH SHERRIFF COURT

EDINBURGH HIGH COURT

MCCLURE COLLINS (SOLICITORS)

WOMENS AID SCOTLAND

CLYDESDALE ELECTRICAL

SCHOOLHOUSE MANAGEMENT

SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY

SIMMERS BISCUITS

GLASGOW EVENTS AGENCY

MARTIN COULL

RILEY ADVERTISING

ISLAND MUSIC

ELAN VITAL

STIRLING COOPER CLOTHES

RADIO FORTH

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

A SLIGHT SHIFT

UNIQUE EVENTS

DANCE FACTORY (DF CONCERTS)

Live band Iain has played in

MOONSHINE

THE OTHER BAND

A GIRL CALLED BORIS

FREE SAMPLE

THE PHONIES

FLYING COLOURS

ZED

BOXING CLEVER

ONE FINE WEEKEND

THE HARMONICS

YOYO HONEY

TALITHA MACKENZIE BAND

ALLIE FOX

HAMED KANE

JIMI MCRAE BAND

 

Bands and musicians Iain has played sessions for

BAY CITY ROLLERS

ORANGE GROVE

MIKE HERON

YOYO HONEY

TALITHA MACKENZIE

JIMI MCRAE BAND

PATRINA MORRIS

NECTARINE NO9

ALLIE FOX

CYBER CHILD

KEITH O'BRIEN

KIT CLARK

TAM WHITE

GEOFF GEER

MARK NAPLES

HAMED KANE

IAIN HOGG

SPOONFED HYBRID

THE APPLES

JOHN MCNAIRN

MARK BURGESS

KATY TARGETT ADAMS

Studios Iain has worked in

CAPITAL RADIO - LONDON

DRAGON STUDIOS - HASTINGS

CASTLE SOUND STUDIOS - PENCAITLAND

HANS ZIMMERS STUDIO - LONDON

BATTERY STUDIOS - LONDON

HEARTBEAT STUDIOS - GOREBRIDGE

GOLDEN ACRID STUDIOS - EDINBURGH

PALLADIUM STUDIOS - EDINBURGH

PLANET STUDIOS - EDINBURGH

SOUTHSIDE STUDIOS - EDINBURGH

CAVA STUDIOS - EDINBURGH

CAVA STUDIOS - GLASGOW

SONIC STUDIOS - EDINBURGH

OFFBEAT STUDIO - EDINBURGH

BBC WORLD SERVICE - LONDON

BBC RADIO SCOTLAND-EDINBURGH

TELEACRAS - ITALY

STRAY DOG STUDIOS - PORTUGAL

BARCLAY TOWERS STUDIOS - EDINBURGH

RIVA STUDIOS-EDINBURGH

Selected gigs Iain has played

USHER HALL EDINBURGH

QUEENS HALL - EDINBURGH

T- IN THE PARK

GLASGOW HAMPDEN PARK

CONFERENCE CENTRE-BERLIN

WORLD MUSIC FEST - TORONTO WATERFRONT

STOCKPORT CITY HALL

CHESTERFIELD TOWN CENTRE

TOP RANK-CARDIFF

OTTAWA CITY FESTIVAL

BARROWLANDS - GLASGOW

ARTS CENTRE-CARAGENA - SPAIN

MELKWEG-AMSTERDAM

TERSCHELLING ISLAND FESTIVAL - HOLLAND

STOCKPORT TOWN HALL

EMBASSY CLUB - LONDON

CAIRD HALL - DUNDEE

EXHIBITION CENTRE - INVERNESS

LEMON TREE - ABERDEEN

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL

 

The Jimi McRae Band working on Stage

Enjoying the show at the Bongo Club

Copyright photographs taken by Andrew Murphy

All copying strictly forbidden in part or whole

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