Rising from the Ashes in Braes

BLAIR DOUGLAS has his first CD since A Summer in Skye in 1996 released this month. The Skye-based accordionist, keyboard player and composer tells Kenny Mathieson about his new work and his return to music after a disastrous fire at his home in 1997.

BLAIR DOUGLAS was a founder member of bands as diverse as Runrig, Mactalla and Cliar, and has created a series of idiosyncratic and highly-regarded recordings under his own name. The latest, Angels from the Ashes , marks a return to top form for a musician who admits he reached a low ebb in the wake of a fire that destroyed the family home, and all of his instruments and music in 1997.

KENNY MATHIESON: Blair, the title of your new CD is clearly a reference to your own misfortunes as well as a composition inspired by the horrors of 9/11. You seemed to drop out of sight after the fire at your home – can you tell us how that affected you?

BLAIR DOUGLAS: After the house burned down and I lost everything it was a really bad time for me, and for the whole family. It took me a long time to get back and get going again. One of the things that really helped was the kindness and generosity of people – that was incredible. We literally lost everything – in terms of just the musical stuff, I lost all my instruments, my written music, CDs, records, the lot.

It was a devastating thing, and it took a long time for me to work up the heart to start over again, to be honest. My mother had died earlier that summer as well – I was in Barbados at a Celtic music festival at the time and she had a massive stroke, and was dead before I got home, so it was a tough time. We were literally left with the four walls, and we rebuilt. It was our family home, and we wanted to stay there.

“I went through some bad times, and it took me a long time to get going. I hadn’t been doing real gigs for a while, but that is my intention now.”

Just to top it all off, I was working with Cliar at the time, and we went to Ireland for a week and we all caught this really bad flu virus. It really floored me for weeks – I thought for a while it was something like ME. After that I just stopped for a while, but the plan is to put something together live and do some gigs on the back of this CD.

KM: You’re not a reluctant performer, then?

BD: No, not at all. In fact, I really enjoy it. I’ve done my time in bands, and the novelty does wear off – it has to be said that as you get a bit older the back of a van loses its charm, but it’s really been more circumstances than any reluctance to get out and play. I went through some bad times, and it took me a long time to get going. I hadn’t been doing real gigs for a while, but that is my intention now. The CD is coming out on Runrig’s label, Ridge Records, and they are keen that I do something with them, so we’ll see.

KM: You were part of the original line up of Runrig with Calum and Rory MacDonald. What kind of experience was that?

BD: A lot different to the band as it became. We were still students, and having a bit of fun. It was a completely different band than it is now – we were the Runrig Dance Band, and that is what we did. For the dances you had to cover a bit of everything, really. Calum was the singer – Rory refused to sing at that time. I went back for six months or so later on when they went full time, and we’ve remained good friends over the years.

KM: How did you get interested in traditional music in the first place – was there a family connection?

BD: Yes. My late mother was a very good dance band pianist and a good Gaelic singer as well, and my dad’s brother was a Mod gold medallist and a grand fiddler. I didn’t really start until I was about 15. My dad was a teacher, and we moved to Glasgow about then. I remember going to a ceilidh dance with my folks and was really taken with the guy playing the box – I’m not really sure why, but I wanted to give it a go. It was quite a late start, especially by current standards. I had tried fiddle, but that was a disaster!

KM: Okay, let’s talk a bit about the new CD. This one has  large cast of supporting musicians, not only from folk music but also from the Scottish jazz scene, and even some guests from the Cajun scene in Louisiana. I’m intrigued to know how you go about putting your albums together?

BD: Slowly! In fairness, this album would probably have been done a couple of years earlier if it hadn’t been for the fire and so on. I produced this one myself along with Robert Rankin, the keyboard player, and an engineer. Basically I have a studio set up here and home, and I lay down the initial tracks here just by myself, then I approach the musicians I want to use and send them tapes and let them work out their own ideas.

“I’m pretty much writing all the time, that’s really what I do, and probably one of the reasons why I haven’t done a lot of live playing recently.”

I then take the basic tracks into the main studio – in this case Cava Sound Workshops in Glasgow – with the particular musicians, and they add their thing to it. I like to allow the musicians to express themselves rather than tell them to play this or that, and that was how we did this one. It’s a process of building it up bit by bit, really.

KM: You have quite an eclectic spread of styles and influences going on in the music – does that reflect your own tastes?

BD: Very much so – I have a very catholic taste in music. My main interest is in traditional music, but from Runrig onwards I’ve been interested in the rock and electric side of things as well. And jazz – on the last album I worked with Brian Kellock and Phil Bancroft, and it was good to get Phil back for this one – I tried to get Brian as well, but he’s very busy these days, but I was able to use Paul Harrison.

KM: Do you compose for specific projects, or are you writing continuously?

BD: I’m pretty much writing all the time, that’s really what I do, and probably one of the reasons why I haven’t done a lot of live playing recently. I’ve done music for television programmes as well, where you are literally writing to order, as well as my own stuff.

KM: A number of tunes on the new album have a very obvious external stimulus, like 9/11 in the case of ‘Angels from the Asahes’ or the disappearance of Alison MacDonald in Kashmir in 1981 in ‘Sonamarg (Meadows of Gold)’. Is that usually the case with you?

BD: Usually there is something specific, yes. I have a number of actual vocal songs I would like to do on another album, but when it comes to the instrumental material, I tend to think of them as songs as well.

KM: Songs without words, to pinch a phrase from Mendelssohn?

BD: Exactly that. They are stories as I see them, and in that sense they mean a little bit more, I think, because they do have a story attached to them.

KM: What drew you to the Alison MacDonald story?

BD: Alison disappeared mysteriously in Kashmir in 1981 – she went out to post some cards, and was never seen again. Her father, Kenny MacDonald was a good friend of my mum and dad. He is a Free Church minister in Skye, although maybe not a very typical one – he is quite radical in some ways. He is having health problems himself now, but he still has a great faith and belief that they will be reunited, and he has been over a lot looking for clues. There has never been a final answer either way, but he’s never lost that faith. There was a book written about her disappearance which I had and then lost, and I got out of the library again. Rereading it I started to think of writing something, and all of these things came together.

KM: On a lighter note, there is a strong Cajun presence on some of the tracks – where did that interest come from?

BD: From away, way back. I’ve had a great love for Cajun music for a long time, and I’ve done bits and pieces with it before. I got into it in a big way this time, and bought myself a Cajun accordion made in Louisiana. I had written three instrumental pieces, and I got in touch with the band Balfa Toujours when they were due to come to Celtic Connections in Glasgow and asked if they would do a session for me at Cava.

“My idea was to bring together the Gaelic and French elements, and I’d like to do more with Balfa Toujours sometime.”

They came back and said they hadn’t time on the trip, but if I sent them the sound files they would do their bit over there. They really liked the waltz I had written in particular, and came back and asked if I would mind if they put a lyric to it for a young fiddler and singer, Courtney Grainger. I said fire away, and that’s what they did.

KM: Do you see a musical connection there?

BD: I see a lot of similarities between Gaelic and Cajun music and culture, and it is strong in Breton music as well – a lot of the original settlers that became the Cajuns were from there. My idea was to bring together the Gaelic and French elements, and I’d like to do more with Balfa Toujours sometime.

KM: What are the differences in the Cajun accordion to our own instrument?

BD: It’s diatonic, more like what we would call a melodeon over here, with a push-pull style of playing. Their style of playing is very different as well, and it’s a hard style to crack!

KM: Finally, Blair, what are your plans once the album is out there?

BD: The plan is to put something together for live performance on the back of the album. Runrig’s management are keen to do something, and that might involve going out with Runrig, doing both my own stuff and possibly two or three tunes with them, but it’s all still being discussed at the moment. They are keen to get me involved, and I am keen to get out, so I’m hoping something will come of it soon.

Angels from the Ashes is released on 19 August on Ridge Records

© Kenny Mathieson, 2004

Related Link

• Ridge Records website