A Conversation with Duncan Chisholm

Fiddler DUNCAN CHISHOLM looks forward to an Eden Court outing with Ivan Drever, and further ahead to a renewed long-term assault on the United States with Wolfstone.

Arts Journal: Duncan, your January concert with Ivan Drever at the Eden Court is becoming a bit of an institution.

Duncan Chisholm: It’s become a bit of an annual event, hasn’t it? Last year we hadn’t done anything together for a wee while before it, but we have been touring in Spain and Denmark over the last couple of months, and everything is well played in. I think you really need that amount of time to get all the connections really working.

AJ: You have also just released a DVD, Long December Night, featuring you and Ivan at home – was that shot in your house or Ivan’s?

DC: That was Ivan’s house. It is quite a cozy, intimate look at our music. We thought of filming a gig, but the best you play is often in the house with no pressure on, and we went down that road. We did it for Highlander Music in Muir of Ord as a DVD and also a CD. It was recorded in December 2003, but they decided to hold on to it for Christmas there.

AJ: You and Ivan seem to work well as instrumentalists.

DC: Ivan is a stunning guitar player, I think. He is unique in his style and in the way he tunes his guitar – he has an unusual open tuning that he uses that blends very well with my fiddle. His fingerpicking is so intricate – when I’m working with Ivan in a situation where you need him to come up with something straight away, he will do. He is very naturally musical rather than highly trained. I always think of him as a guitarist first, and then a singer, although other people probably see it in reverse.

AJ: What’s happening with Wolfstone these days – you have a couple of fairly recent recruits from the jazz world in Ross Hamilton and Alyn Cosker, don’t you?

DC: That’s right. I’m the old man of the band now. Stuart [Eaglesham] and Stevie [Saint] are still there as well. I rate Alyn as a top drummer – he has a great feel, and can find a great range of sounds from the kit. He has brought a great dynamic to the band, as has Ross. They are both heavily into jazz, much more so than the rest of us, and the combination of what we bring to the music and what they bring is very exciting.

AJ: They’ll be infecting you with jazz vibes next!

DC: They actually took us to the Blue Note jazz club in New York to see the John Scofield Trio play – Alyn was over the moon because it was his hero, Bill Stewart, on drums. We all really enjoyed it – it was great to hear that music, especially in New York.

“Things are on the up for us again in the States, I would say, and we are looking now for a record deal over there”

AJ: So what else is happening with Wolfstone?

DC: We had a busy year. We had been touring a lot all over Europe, and at the start of last year we decided to concentrate on Spain and America, and that’s what we did. We spent three months in the States, touring and trying to start rebuilding things to the level they were at when we last toured there, which was 1996. That is a long gap, and at the point when we left things were going really well, but for one reason or another the band never managed to get back over there. We didn’t do much at all in the first three years of that gap, in fact.

AJ: Are responses still positive in the US market?

DC: Things are on the up for us again in the States, I would say, and we are looking now for a record deal over there with a company with good distribution that can get us into the retail market, which never really happened with our previous company, and isn’t really possible with our own label either. That was a frustration when we were with Green Linnet – we were playing to really big crowds in places, but our records weren’t in the shops.

AJ: Are you close to a deal?

DC: We put together a demo and have had some good responses, so we are still talking with a number of companies. Basically we are looking at giving it a real go in the States for the next four or five years, and if it doesn’t happen for us with the effort we are planning on putting into it, we’ll probably call it a day then.

AJ: Is your heart still in Wolfstone?

DC: We have always been committed to the music, and judging by the reaction over there, I believe we can build that audience. We have great band at the moment – I’m pretty much the oldest member now, and the younger guys have given us a boost. There was a time we stagnated in our approach to the music and a lot of people overtook us, but we are looking forward again now, and I am proud of the fact that we have stuck with it through thick and thin.
 

“I want to work on my next solo album quite intensively this year – it’s three years now since ‘Door of the Saints’ came out, and I want to focus on doing the best solo album yet.”

AJ: Does the American assault include the possibility of uprooting and moving over there?

DC: No, I’d never leave Scotland. We might have done it very early on, but not now – I’d never leave the Highlands. It’ll be our aim to tour regularly for a minimum of three months every year. It’s a big country to tour, and you need to have a proper tour bus and production and so forth, which is an expensive business, so we’re looking at things like tour sponsorship for that.

AJ: What about your own solo stuff – are you planning on doing a third solo album?

DC: I want to work on my next solo album quite intensively this year – it’s three years now since ‘Door of the Saints’ came out, and I want to focus on doing the best solo album yet. What I’d like to do is use some of the slower style of tunes that I used on the earlier albums and get that feeling on the record, but also to work on some more Wolfstone-esque tracks with a more modern feel. I want to spend time on that.

AJ: Is there a Wolfstone album on the cards as well?

DC: Yes, we need to have a new Wolfstone album out next year as well, so those will be the priorities, but I would also like to get something down with Iain MacFarlane and Marc Clements. There will be another disc with Ivan at some point as well, but probably not this year.

AJ: You have been doing a few gigs with Ian and Marc since leaving Blazin’ Fiddles – how did that come about?

DC: We have all known each other for a long time, even before Blazin’ Fiddles. I’ve pretty much known Iain since we were kids – he was taught by Donald Riddell as well as myself and Bruce MacGregor, although I knew Bruce better at that time. Although Iain went to Donald for quite a while, his dad was also teaching him, and Glenfinnan is a long way from Inverness. I got to know him again when I started going down to Glenfinnan in my early 20s, and we’ve been playing together on and off ever since.

“It’s a good set up and it gives us both the chance to learn new tunes and have a bit of fun in the process.”

AJ: Again, it sounds like a good musical partnership.

DC: We know each other’s playing so well now, and I’d have to say that of all the fiddlers I play with, I’m probably most comfortable playing with Iain. I wouldn’t say he has a similar style to mine exactly, but the two seem to work very well together, and we get on great as well. Because of that we decided it would be daft not to go out and do some gigs. We got a set together and did a week Highland tour last year and, and it seemed to do go down well. Iain was playing button box and whistles too, and we had Marc’s singing, so there was plenty of variety, and we got a great response.

AJ: But hard to work into the schedules of Blazin’ Fiddles and Wolfstone, not to mention Session A9?

DC: It’s a good set up and it gives us both the chance to learn new tunes and have a bit of fun in the process. We would like to concentrate on it a wee bit more than we have been able to do so far, and we are looking at doing a bit more this year, but both Blazin’ Fiddles and Wolfstone are pretty hard working bands, and it takes up a lot of time, especially when you throw in Session A9 and the other odds and ends as well.

AJ: Was leaving Blazin’ Fiddles simply down to too many commitments?

DC: Absolutely. I do miss the band, but what I don’t miss is constantly juggling dates and letting people down. When Blazin’ Fiddles decided they were going to be a full-time band, there was really no way I could do both that and Wolfstone. They did suggest that I could miss gigs when necessary, but it is hard to call your pals and say I can’t make it. I didn’t want to fall out with anyone over this, and I felt it was for the best that I concentrated on Wolfstone. I do miss it, though, and I do the odd gig with them even now, which is great. They are doing really well, and it was obvious to me they were going to be very busy. I think I pulled out at the right time.

AJ: You did link up with Charlie McKerron in Session A9, but that was presumably a different kind of commitment to be worked in around your focus on Wolfstone and Charlie’s with Capercaillie?

DC: Yes, Session A9 is a different story – again, we are all friends, but we got together on the understanding that our commitments elsewhere would be priority. Again, though, there are more gigs coming in now, and when I can’t do it Kevin Henderson usually takes my place. We would like to do more, but finding the time is very difficult. I feel I have to put my heart and soul into Wolfstone.

“I feel it’s really taken me until now to begin to project what I want to on stage”

AJ: Do you thrive on having these different outlets for your music?

DC: The most important thing for me is that I get musical fulfillment from what I’m doing. Of course, money can’t be ignored and we need to work, but the key thing is to get a different musical satisfaction from each project I am part of.

AJ: You mentioned your old teacher, the late Donald Riddell – do you hear a common foundation in players like yourself and Bruce and Iain that studied with him?

DC: Yeah, I think there is, but I think we have all developed in our own ways, and maybe Bruce and myself have more of a link in our styles – we can play a tune we haven’t played in 20 years and be playing pretty much the same way. The key thing with Donald’s grounding wasn’t so much the style as the way he approached playing tunes and bowing technique and so on – he gave us a way to approach the music we wanted to play rather than teaching us a fixed style, and allowed us to adapt that grounding in our own way.

AJ: Did he actively encourage you to think that way?

DC: He took us all for seven or eight years, and then said, right that’s it, go off and do your own thing now. I feel it’s really taken me until now to begin to project what I want to on stage – I’ve been learning up to this point, and that will continue, but it is about getting the instrument to respond to what you want to get across to people, and the emotion you want to get from it. It is a wonderful thing when you feel as if you are playing the instrument but you are actually singing from your heart. I have a terrible voice, so it is good that I have an alternative!

AJ: Thanks, Duncan.

Duncan Chisholm and Ivan Drever play at Eden Court Theatre on Tuesday 25 January 2005. Long December Night is out on CD and DVD.

© Kenny Mathieson, 2005

Duncan Chisholm website http://duncanchisholm.com 

Wolfstone website http://www.wolfstone.co.uk/