3 ALBUMS - COMPOSED + PRODUCED BY IAIN McKINNA - OFFBEAT RECORDS

Musician magazine "a highly satisfying album"

Pipes by Jimi McRae, Electric Violin by Kirsty Anderson- Bass, Drums + Keyboards by Iain McKinna - Percussion by Dave Haswell

SOME GIGS IAIN DID WITH JIMI. Edinburgh Festivals 1999/2000/2001 T in the park 2003/2004/2005/ Chesterfield Festival/ Glasgow Hampden Park/Glasgow West End Festival/ Beijing Spring Festival-Chinese New Year 2005/Stirling Castle/Glenuig Village Hall/Cologne, Germany/Cannes, France/Performing Rights Stage 2004

Iain "Sometime in 1999 I came across Jimi busking on the High St, just up the road from the studio. At that point I was working experimenting by writing some Celtic ambient tracks called Highland Trance and Mystic Mountains and I invited him to jam on the tracks. We had a hugely enjoyable session and got a great result on the recording. Jimi mentioned to me that he wanted to record an album of solo pipes that he could sell busking and I offered to produce it for him. We went to Dave Valentines Heartbeat Studios for a day and recorded the bulk of the album. I took the resulting tapes back to Offbeat where I mixed and mastered it in around a week. I knocked up some artwork for the album on photoshop, named it Pipedreams, he changed his name from Jimmy to Jimi The Piper and it quickly became a best selling album on my small label. Just after releasing it the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2000 started and looking for a way to promote the album I approached the Rossband stand on Princes St as gigs there were being broadcasted on the internet and I thought it would be a good way of getting a video of Jimi to promote the album. When I called the organisers of the gig they didn't initally like the idea of a solo piper so in a moment of madness I said "How about a piper with a djembe player?".. they liked that idea and we were invited to open the Festival the next day.The the same day we started rehearsing for the gig, me on the Djembe drums, which I had received as a gift from drummer Hamed Kane from Senegal. The gig was a big success and on the way home we noticed performers playing on the High St so we asked the organisers if we could play. They agreed and over the next three weeks we played everyday and sold bucketloads of albums in the process. We were invited to play at the Bongo Club and Cafe Graffitti after being spotted on the street and at the end of the festival we were named as one of the best small acts of the Fringe 2000. After that we decided to do another album entitled Earthdance, this time based on a rock/funk style mixed with the World Music vibe that happened when Jimi played his Arabic Pipes. The first two tracks to appear on the album were the very first tracks we had recorded together over a year earlier, Highland Trance and Mystic Mountains. We invited guitarist Neil Warden to perform along with Dave Haswell on percussion and the album was well received critically and sold. We formed a band to gig the album with Neil Warden, Stuart Wilson on Bass, Dave on drums and me on keyboards. After a series of gigs in the UK and an ill fated stream of gigs in Germany the band line up changed. Neil and Stuart left and I went on to Bass and Kirsty Anderson joined on electric violin. We then enjoyed 2 years of constant gigging during which we recorded the third album "Kick Out The Ghosts". Shortly after the release of the album the band split up in early 2006. Jimi citing musical differences before joining heavy rockers Gods Of Future Mythology".


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T-In the Park
2004


The Liquid Rooms
2002

The Liquid Rooms band up was the original line up featuring Neil Warden on Guitar,
Stuart Wilson on Bass, Dave Haswell on Drums and Iain on Keyboards and Percussion

Offbeat Scotland, 107 High Street, Royal Mile, Edinburgh EH1 1SW
Head Producer: Iain McKinna - Tel: +44(0)131 556 4882 - Email: info@offbeat.co.uk