With all the recent Kickstarter success stories about album funding, you got to wonder – how the heck did that “bar band” get that kind of cash raised…. let alone in these tough times?
Toronto roots rock band Enter The Haggis reached their goal and then some while nailing it in- house through their own fundraiser, where to their astonishment, $40,000 came in over just a couple months to record their sixth studio album Whitelake. Bar band, they are not. Enter The Haggis are an established international touring act whose Amazon ratings for Whitelake kill it on two pages with five stars. Having been together since 1996, these Canadians are no upstarts, but they are doing something right to elevate their place in the game with each new album.
Recorded at a rustic cottage surrounded by Canada’s picturesque landscape, Whitelake captures the band at its most lyrically pure to date, while adding more instruments to round out their sound. Mandolin, accordion, trumpet and ukulele complement mastery of fiddle, bagpipes, harmonica giving the band an overwhelming rugged Celtic flavor. We caught up with the band following St Patrick’s Day…
Congratulations on the release of Whitelake – I noticed you guys are going to Ireland for a few shows – what spurned that and is it something you’ve been meaning to do for awhile? Speaking of Ireland – how was St Patrick’s Day 2012?
Our music is diversified but it often has a Celtic edge to it, which appeals to many Americans of Irish descent. We found that many of these folks were interested in visiting their ancestral homeland. A few years back, we discovered that other bands had been successful with band tours to Ireland and, as the demand seemed to be there, we became sold on the idea. This will actually be our fourth Ireland tour.
St. Patrick’s day 2012 was a shillelagh of a day for us. We were in Utica, NY on a float blasting our music, waving and bantering with the crowd. We followed this up with a sold-out show at the Uptown Theatre.
How else have the recent shows been going? Does the new material offer any type of creative challenges that weren’t presented prior?
Shows have been great lately. There has been good reception in Albany, NY, Philadelphia PA, and in Washington, DC. As for the newer songs, they do come across well in a live setting. We had a good bit of airplay before the tour, and audience familiarity and participation is always a superb enhancement to live performance.
As for creative challenges – I would say that this album came together more easily than previous ones. Whitelake was truly written "from the heart". With previous albums we worried about fitting an expected set of parameters. "Is it celtic enough"; "Do we have enough bagpipes? Fiddle?" and so forth. We didn’t worry about these things with Whitelake. It was more just a case of "What’s the overall vibe?".
Whitelake lyrically takes on a somber tone with messages about an all or nothing – beginning of the end theme – where did this stem from and is there a central theme to the album?
It was really a lyrical musing on how the album and our band would do. How the search goes on to write engaging music. How we’ve become part of the highway we’re on and the venues we play in. If there’s a central theme to this album, I’d say that it’s the theme of survival, because, without getting too dramatic, this band is a travelling survivor’s group. Metaphorically, the album reflects this with a bit of "trial by water" and, if we hadn’t hung on to our common belief that we’d make it in this business, we would have sunk by now.
Your press release name drops both Radiohead and The Band – obviously good company to keep – was there any album or artist musically that you used as inspiration when recording and writing Whitelake?
There are many bands that we’ve listened to heavily over the years, including the aforementioned Radiohead and The Band. The Decembrists, Band of Horses and Mumford and Sons were also on ipod rotation. I can’t speak for the other guys, but I was spinning a lot of jazz too, because I was playing trumpet again and needed to encourage myself to get my lips back in shape. Miles Davis and the great sax player Maceo Parker lent me some good vibes.
You raised $40,000 in just a few months through a fundraiser for the recording of your new album – obviously you have loyal fans (Haggis Helpers) – who helped you generate this money through some interesting stunts.. Where is your fan base most heavily located and what other support does your fan base provide that other bands may not be so lucky to have?
Our people have stuck with us through many years and changes, and they really are the foundation for us. I think they feel the same need for us that we feel for them. Similarity in diversity or whatever. We know so many of them on a first-name basis that we’ve become a kind of family that just keeps growing. Most of our fan base is in the Northeast US – Maine, New York, Massachusetts, PA, NH and now things are heating up in DC.
Enter the Haggis is quite a bold and unique band name – what is the meaning behind it?
Haggis is a collection of sheep intestines, lungs, other organs, oatmeal, roadkill (just kidding) and oatmeal boiled in the lining of a sheep’s stomach.. It’s a successful exercise in culinary resourcefulness. Hopefully we’ve achieved similar palatability in the musical sense, with an odd collection of instruments and musicians brought together and broiled inside a smelly touring van.
How have your live shows evolved in recent years in terms of improvisation, set-lists and stunts?
Well, a few years back, we sprayed the audience with "Silly String". As for improvisation, there is always a bit of that when we take our various solos. Our multi-instrumentation is increasing too, with our bass player Mark Abraham now playing mandolin and keyboards as well.
At the beginning the band was labeled a Celtic party band to a now a worldclass Celtic-fusion act – do you think that’s a fair assessment? What songs best represent how far Enter The Haggis has evolved?
I really don’t know just what I’d call our band’s style today. World roots-rock with a celtic edge? I would say that we’ve gone from being a "dessert" band to a "full course" band if that makes any sense. In the old days, we had a great deal of bagpipes and comical songs, which is just not enough to musically sustain long – term interest. It’s tough to pick songs that represent more evolution than others. The whole of Whitelake seems to do this. I would say “Headlights” l & ll; “Basket and the Blade,” and “Whistleblower” show some amoeba-to-primate tendencies.
You always seem to be keen on adding new instruments to the mix and embracing all types of musical risks – what would you consider your biggest musical risks of the past few years and what have been your greatest rewards?
Well, Whitelake has probably been both our biggest musical risk and our greatest reward thus far. Not force-feeding Celtic elements into our compositions was both a risk and a necessity.
If you were to curate a festival – what bands would you invite?
Hmm…probably The Decemberists, Band of Horses and Mumford and Sons. Some lesser – known bands like The Spring Standards.
What else does 2012 hold for Enter The Haggis?
Keep your eyes on the press! We have some interesting, yet still secret plans! I can tell you that we’ll continue to experiment and push the boundaries. Well, okay then I’ll tell you…we’re becoming an all-kazoo orchestra! Wanna join?
