RUNRIG have come a long way since they made their debut as a trio in Glasgow in 1973. Founder member CALUM MACDONALD recalls that occasion, and explains why the band have chosen to celebrate their 30th anniversary in Stirling.

I REMEMBER very little about Runrig’s first ever gig, because I was so nervous! Rory and myself were students in Glasgow at the time with Blair Douglas, and Blair’s mum was the secretary of the North Uist and Bernera Association. They were friends of the family back in Skye, and his mum would invite us round for dinner, which was much appreciated!

All three of us would mess around on our instruments at the house. It came about that she needed a band for an Association function and couldn’t get one, so she suggested we get together and do the night, which was scheduled for an upstairs room in the Kelvin Hall. Blair and Rory said fine, but we don’t have a drummer, and I said I would do it.

I’d never played drums in my life, but I went out and bought a second-hand set the next day in Biggar’s in Glasgow. I didn’t even know how to put the thing together, but I eventually figured it out! Goodness knows what it sounded like, but we got through it, and that was it – Runrig was launched, although at that point we were the Runrig Dance Band.

Although the gig is hazy, I do remember the feeling of exhilaration afterwards, and how excited we were that we had done our first gig and it was deemed to be successful. We were bursting to do more, so we got on the phone to the secretaries of the village halls and booked a summer of dances. That was April, 1973, so we are actually already into our fourth decade. Donnie Munro joined the band the following year back in Skye, and we eventually decided to go full time at the end of the 1970s. It’s all been a great adventure.

It would be fair to say that Donnie’s departure from the band in 1997 was a real crisis in the group’s history. In some ways it would have been a natural point to bring Runrig to an end. That band belonged very much to a particular place and time in Scotland, and we thought long and hard about it. Having given it that thought, we felt we wanted to continue as Runrig, because we thought we had more to give, and taking on a new singer would provide a new challenge and a new perspective.

Deciding to carry on and look for a replacement for Donnie was one thing, but finding one was a different matter! In fact, it was almost impossible. We listened to about 400 tapes, and whittled it down to two audition sessions with about 30 guys. They were all good, but none of them were quite right.

Bruce Guthro popped up at the eleventh hour, and right away he felt right, even though he was Canadian and the rest of us were Scottish.

He had that Gaelic background in Cape Breton, and we felt that we had a lot in common with him as an islander on the Atlantic seaboard. He is very Hebridean in his outlook, as people there tend to be, and the voice was right. The one remit we had for the job is that he had to sound different from Donnie.

We could have changed the name of the band and gone off in other directions, but I’m glad we decided to stay with it. It’s been a new lease of life, and it’s been very enjoyable. We’re also back on our own record label, which gives us more freedom.

We considered quite a few different options for the 30th anniversary celebrations. When we started thinking about it, we wondered if we should do a tour or if we should do some kind of commemorative album with older material rearranged or whatever. There were all kind of ideas kicking around, but in the end we decided on a big one-off concert and a new studio album. We didn’t want it all to be about looking back – we wanted to look forward as well, while recognising where we came from and all that has happened.

We thought about going back to Loch Lomond, where we did a really big show a few years back, but we decided on a central location, and Stirling Castle seemed most suitable. It’s a really nice setting, and it was the last big outdoor gig we did before Donnie left, so we had that association already with the place. There is something about castles and Runrig that seems to work well together, and we though that would be an appropriate location.

The concert will focus very much on the older material, looking back through the years, then the new album will be released on the Monday after the show. It’s called Proterra, and it’s a new studio album which also includes a couple of older tracks in rearranged versions. We had Paul Mounsey working on some of the album with us, and he produced and arranged some tracks for us.

We have asked all ex-members of the band to come along and be part of it. Some can make it and some can’t, so we are still not entirely sure who will be there on the night. We’re still organising things, but there will be lots of wee special things going on. We have Phil and Aly on the bill, and also Ricky Ross. It should be a great night.
Calum Macdonald spoke to Kenny Mathieson

The current line up of Runrig is:
Rory Macdonald (bass, vocals, acoustic guitar)
Calum Macdonald (percussion, vocals)
Bruce Guthro (vocals, acoustic guitar)
Iain Bayne (drums)
Malcolm Jones (guitar, flutes, accordion, vocals)
Brian Hurren (keyboards)

Runrig’s 30th Anniversary Concert is at Stirling Castle on Saturday 23 August 2003. Proterra is released on Monday 25 August 2003.

Related Links

• Runrig website