Someone buy this guy a pint!

Bagpipes, Music, pints!, Piper, Wedding, Wedding music

If you’ve not seen it yet there’s a story that popped up over the weekend of an angry bride demanding a refund after calling him unprofessional for drinking a pint. That was bought for him by the best man. That was blackcurrant and lemonade.

It’s pretty crazy and understandably the piper, Craig Lawrie, a Scottish wedding piper that’s been doing this for a while was having none of it. I know if I see a piper at a wedding I’ve no problem with him having a cheeky pint of juice to cool down. For Craig it’s probably a happy ending, he’s ended up getting a fair bit of free publicity out of the argument, you can find the story from the Daily Record here. To be fair it’s a wee overreaction by the bride and I’m sure when she thinks about it in the future the event will have in no way had a negative impact on her big day, she even went out of her way to praise the piper initially before requesting a refund!

My question to you reader is simple, would you by a Scottish piper a pint whilst he was playing bagpipes at your pals wedding? Let us know in the comments below! Maybe buy Stuart a pint too if you see him!

The Highland Heavy Games in Belfast

Bagpipes, Festival, Music, Piper

Yesterday in Belfast the last day of the 2015 Maine Celtic Celebration took place with several athletes competing in the Highland Heavy Games. There included games involving having to throw large stones and throwing heavy weights attached to chains. Not to mention tossing cabers and Scottish hammers. Big lads eh?

There was pipe band music to be found throughout the day which is always appreciated as you can find here. Pipers taken the day off playing wedding music to share their talents with an new audience is always a cool thing.

Whilst I didn’t make it myself I read that something called the New World Cheese Roll Championships took place which sounds crazy and interesting. Apparently different age groups chase rolls of cheese down a big hill, assuming the first to get to it is the winner. Are there videos of this event I hear you cry, to which I say of course there are, albeit I couldn’t find any from specifically yesterday there are tons of cheese rolling videos to be found on youtube.

It looks mental.

Anyhow it looked like a fun day out for families in Belfast and I really loved that bagpipers were doing there thing. More information about the event can be found here!

Did you catch any Scottish pipers (or any pipers really) this week? Let us know in the comments below! Did you have anyone play at your wedding? Any Scottish wedding piper stories are always appriciated!

Piping Live! Festival

Bagpipes, Glasgow, Piper, Piping Live!, Piping Live! festival

The Piping Live! Festival is held every year in Glasgow by the fine folks at the National Piping Centre, it’s about to go into it’s 12th year and has been described as the largest bagpipe festival in the world! It’s running this year from the 10th till the 16th of August and is going to bring something unique and special to the city of Glasgow with performances all around the city.

For instance on the first day there’s tons of performances occurring down at the city’s George Square which definitely has the potential to be memorable. There will also be performances for all the public at Buchanan Street, here’s a cool photo just next to the Buchanan Street steps:

These one’s seem to be free and there are several more, all reasonably priced, occurring over the week. For more information you should 100% check out the Piping live! website (the events page specifically) which can be found here. While you’re at it might be worthwhile to give them a wee follow on their twitter feed @GlasgowPiping.

Curiously there are several stories on the website stating that the festival already kicked off back in the Springtime which means that people have been able to enjoy performances around the city for a lot longer in the build up to the festival proper in August.

The artists in attendance make up an exhaustive list of the who’s who of piping in Scotland and around the world including performers from New Zealand, Columbia and Belgium!

We’re definitely going to make our way down to a few of the performances as this is a unique opportunity to catch a ton of bagpipes! Overall the organisers expect 50,000 people to enjoy the 200 events and 8,000 performers (!) that make up the festival! Can’t wait!!

Happy wee dog singing along with bagpipes.

Bagpipes, dog, Music, Piper, viral video

This video is so cute! Watch this adorable wee dog sings along with the bagpipes in a video that will but a smile on your face. The pooch can’t resit joining in with the bagpiper, wagging his wee tail as he goes.

I’m a sucker for a sweet dog video, what can I say? If it doesn’t put a smile on your face then I can only guess you have a heart of stone. PURE STONE!

Any fun viral bagpipe or Scottish Wedding Piper videos you’d like to show us? Feel free to put them in the comments below. Until then make sure to visit here if you’re looking for a piper for a wedding or function.

The best of Groundskeeper Willie

Bagpipes, Groundskeeper Willie, Piper, Scotchtoberfest, the simpsons

It had to happen, struggling to find new content and having binge watched a ton of Simpsons episodes we give you some of the best moments of North Kilt Town’s favourite son, Groundskeeper Willie.

Scotchtoberfest

“Congratulations, Simpson. You just fell for our sting and won yourself three months detention. There’s no such thing as Scotchtoberfest.”

“There’s not? Ya used me, Skinner! Ya used me!”

Grease me up woman!

“Ok.”

Natural Enemies

ABERDEEN RULES!

Finally a quote for day to day use.

Ok so we’ve missed loads of great moments, let us know in the comments below what your favourite memory of Scotlands piper, bagpiper, groundskeeper, greatest character is!

Till then if your looking for a Scottish wedding piper head here.

Lidl £12.99 Bagpipes

Bagpipes, Music, Piper

These have apparently been a thing since at least the start of the year! The supermarket Lidl has been selling inexpensive bagpipes for over half a year and in the Daily Record article I’m shamelessly taking a lot of my information from (an article that can be found here.) the director of the National Piping Centre, Alisdair McLaren, had positive things to say about them! He said;

“A basic set of pipes costs around £700 so at £12.99 they are definitely worth the money, even though the sound is more like what you would get from a practice chanter.

“They are a bit of fun and if a young person then wants to learn the pipes properly that can only be a positive thing.”

Can’t argue with that, the price of a basic set could scare off a lot of people before they’ve even begun to take up the pastime. Hopefully the introduction of a cheaper alternative will help a few people to pick the bagpipes up, keep piping alive and well and maybe introduce us to some new Scottish wedding pipers down the road.

The video below see’s the Scottish National Youth Pipe Band try them out and have fun in the process:

What do you think about the Lidl pipes? Have you had an opportunity to play them yourselves? Are they any good or a bit rubbish? As ever feel free to let us know in the comments below.

Wedding entertainment: Some statistics.

Bagpipes, Music, Piper, Wedding, Wedding music

I was looking at wedding music statistics today (as you do) and found these one’s to be pretty shocking. Statistics I found on the St. Louis Bride and Groom website, taken from sources such as USA Today and The Knot suggest that almost 100% of brides they spoke to would, if they could do things again, spend more money when it came to choosing the entertainment for their wedding. 72% of those brides said they would spend a significantly larger amount of time choosing their musical performers. Finally 81% said that the main thing they remembered about their reception was the entertainment they chose.

Choosing a Scottish wedding piper for your wedding can be a time consuming business but these statistics definitely show that it will be time well spent. Don;t leave it until the last minute and don’t underestimate the importance of getting a really good piper to play. We can recommend Stuart (who can be found here: http://elitebands.co.uk/scottish-piper ) however if you have anyone you’d like to recommend make sure to do so below in the comments!

More famous songs covered on bagpipes.

Bagpipes, Music, Musical Covers, Piper, the Flinstones, Wedding, Wedding music

Here’s another collection of songs you are probably familiar with that you wouldn’t expect to see covered on bagpipes and certainly wouldn’t expect to see on a blog about Scottish wedding pipers!

The Flintstones theme song

Do they still show the Flintstones on TV? I have vivid memories of watching it as a kid along with about fifty other Hanna-Barbera shows that used to cheaply fill up kids television.

I’m also old enough to have begged my dad to take me to see the 1994 movie complete with Agent Dale Cooper as the villian and the terrible B-52s cover of the theme. It doesn’t take much but the video below is certainly a more enjoyable cover than that one ever was:

(And for comparisons sake here’s the B-52s version. I’m very sorry.)

If I can make some requests I’d like to hear some more kids TV show themes covered, in particular Thundercats, The Pink Panther and Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles. MAKE IT HAPPEN INTERNET!

Game of Thrones theme

I’d like to do some research and see if any Scottish pipers actually show up in the show. Living in Glasgow I’ve seen half the cast out drinking over the years, I’ve seen the actor that plays Sandor Clegane on a few occasions, he’s intimidating looking man!

Game of Thrones is a good show to do a bagpipe video for, the theme fits and the success of the show means that you can rack up the youtube hit count. This is a pretty cool video in my opinion so be sure to check it out!

Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah

We’ll finish with one I never thought I would see, a cover of a song that depending on your vintage you may know from Leonard Cohen (the writer of the song,) Jeff Buckley or Alexandra Burke. Or from 5 years of terrible X-Factor auditions.

Hopefully Leonard got a nice retirement check out of it all.

Personally I’m a big fan of the original Cohen version without all the historic of the X-Factor cover but your mileage may vary. I think the band covering it are from Russia but I’m not 100% sure but, well, it’s something different right?

Have you seen any cool cover versions done on bagpipes? Let me know in the comments below! Also check out the Elite Bands pipe major here: http://elitebands.co.uk/scottish-piper

Don’t silence the pipers!

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It was in the press over a week ago but the story of London Mayor Boris Johnson’s introduction of a new “code of conduct” for those playing bagpipes could be seen as a the first step to getting them banned from London entirely! Street musicians that create “piercing sounds like bagpipes” will be forced to move regularly or move to locations with “no flats, offices, shops or hotels.”

The new rules classify bagpipe music as a “repetitive loud sound” that can become annoying quickly which is pretty insulting to the performers. Further many London buskers see this as the first step to introducing a licensing scheme for busking.

Interestingly Alastair Campbell, of all people, has revealed himself to have been a bagpiping busker in his younger days. The former communications director at 10 Downing Street, the man that was a least part of the inspiration for Malcolm Tucker from the Thick of It, came out in protest and stated that he was “a great supporter of buskers in towns and cities.”

To silence the sound of Scottish pipers in London would be a great shame for the atmosphere and culture of the city A spokeswoman for the mayor of London stated: “Bagpipers are very welcome in London and we have many fantastic players. We also welcome feedback on the code of conduct.” So we will have to wait and see where this goes long term.

Now on a lighter note lets leave you with some of Peter Capaldi’s best rants.

5 modern(ish) songs covered on Bagpipes

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So you’ve hired a piper for your wedding or event but you’re worried that you’re not going to know any of the music. You don’t mind a few classics but you’d like a few numbers with a bit more of a modern spin on them, worry not! Help is at hand as we offer an exhaustive exploration of modern(ish) chart hits covered on the bagpipes.

Taylor Swift – Shake it off

Not sure what makes this guy the “Official” Taylor Swift bagpipe cover artist (hint: his imagination) but here he is covering this insanely catchy hit from last year. Looking at the guys youtube page few pop starlets escape a cover, your mileage may vary to how successful you find it but theres no doubt he’s putting a unique spin on some of your favourite tracks. Such as…

Katy Perry- Dark Horse

What, no Firework?

Pharrell Williams – Happy

This guys Batman mask is giving us happy flashbacks to the unicycling, fire breathing, Darth Vader that was mentioned here a few weeks ago. You know, this guy:

(Happy #StarWarsDay everyone!)

Whilst visually he can’t compete with the guy keeping Portland weird he makes a good try of it and at least its a cover of the Pharrell hit from the last couple of years we actually like (i.e. not Blurred Lines.)

John Legend – All of Me

This guy wins points for performing this right next to the Clyde in the centre of Glasgow, we like a hometown boy. Big fans of the original and this cover is well worth a listen if you get the chance!

Metallica – Enter Sandman

Ok this one’s a bit of a cheat, being that the song is coming up to it’s 25th anniversary (way to make us feel old passage of time!) but this is pretty cool. The band are called Dudeldrum, they’re from Russia and their musical genre is described as Bagpipe Folk by Youtube, not the kind of band you come across everyday!

Of course if none of these acts are doing it for you maybe its best to stick with the classics. The Elite Bands piper Stuart is available for all sorts of events and functions and can be found here: http://www.elitebands.co.uk/scottish-piper

Whilst he may not cover Metallica or Taylor Swift he adds a touch of class whatever the occasion.

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A blog about Scottish Wedding Piper s and everything else Piper related

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