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Monster Ceilidh Band
Newcastle has a lot to answer for (and Amy Thatcher
is in a lot of bands!) Emily Portman reports.
N
ow is a good time for monsters; Dave had similar youths musically, being from DJ Kool, Cypress Hill and the Sugar Hill
with Where The Wild Things Are into the metal side of things, which comes Gang, which, far from being gimmicky,
and The Gruffalo experiencing a out in what we put together.” were seamlessly absorbed into their eclectic
renaissance, what better time for
David would be first to admit that he is
sound. What struck me was that, out of all
The Monster Ceilidh Band to cause a wild
an unlikely candidate for a ceilidh band
the bands that night, the Monsters seemed
rumpus with their debut album Make Me
bassist. Originally moving to Newcastle to
the most in their element, showing how
A Dancer. I’ve been hearing rumours for
study for a master’s degree in experimental
today’s dance music need not be a million
some time now of UV dance nights with
music, David soon became a fixture at local
miles away from ye ceilidhs of old.
drum ‘n’ bass sets and beatboxers, so I
folk sessions. “I loved the spontaneous
call in at the flat of chief ‘monster’ and
nature of it,” he enthuses. “There’s a sim-
mandocellist Kieran Szifris to investigate.
ple joy in people getting together and
It all began in 2006 at a house party
playing music which I assimilated into the
A
s Carly enlightens me, “Ceilidh is
a Scottish word that originally
meant a gathering. It’s about a
group of people getting together
in Fenham, Newcastle upon Tyne, hosted
free-improv stuff I was used to.” So has
and having a good time.” But the band
by electronic composer and bass player
David’s influence rubbed off on the band’s
does admit that the finer details of what
David De La Haye. After “a few beers”
overall sound? “I suppose I’m not adverse
makes a good dance differ depending on
Kieran, together with David and fiddler
to discordant use of harmony or to super-
which side of the border they are playing.
Shona Mooney, dreamed up the band in
imposing rhythms from different styles –
For this reason Carly, who is well versed in
the wee hours and soon found it to be
these things all get thrown into our melt-
the intricacies of Scots dances, acts as
one of their better bacchanalian schemes.
ing pot. We pump the bass far deeper than
caller for Scottish ceilidhs. South of the
Before long they had recruited
you might expect from a ceilidh band too!”
border Amy is ‘official caller’, a skill that
accordeonist Amy Thatcher and, when
she has taught herself from scratch since
Shona left for Scotland, chirpy Borders
Of course the Monsters are by no
joining the band. I ask Amy how she
fiddler Carly Blain hopped aboard.
means the first band to stomp all over
tired perceptions of ceilidhs as the wilting
manages to play and call a dance
The Monster Ceilidh Band consider simultaneously. “With some difficulty at
themselves to be a dance band in the
reserve of old men in socks and sandals.
first,” she laughs, “especially when we’ve
widest sense, combining a penchant for
Many a young hipster has been converted
just come up with a new set and then I
driving folk tunes with heavy-metal-
to the joys of ‘stripping the willow’ to the
have to sort out a bunch of drunken
inspired chord progressions and rave
sound of Abba tunes played on electric fid-
people. It’s like ‘Will you all just fuck off
beats. Key to the band’s sound are Amy’s
dles in some muddy marquee. But when
so I can play? This bit’s really hard OK!
own tunes: “I might write something in a
the Monster Ceilidh Band began organis-
Swing your fucking partners!’’’
Megadeth style, with a particular catch,
ing monthly ceilidhs in Newcastle Stu-
When it came to recording their
just something I know will work with
dents’ Union, even they were taken aback
album, David was the mastermind behind
mando and bass underneath.” Kieran’s
by the keen young crowds that flocked to
the CD production: “From the start I
rhythmic muted mandocello style and love
their UV dance nights.
thought that it should run like a dance-mix
of “fairly edgy, crazy sounding” music give When I first caught the band live they
album, with all the tracks segued togeth-
him a reputation within the band for cre- had teamed up with local drum ‘n’ bass DJ
er.” Recorded at David’s house with “one
ating “monster riffs”. “There are a lot of ‘The Touch’ and beatboxer Ash Hobbins for
mic, one room, a mixer and a laptop”,
things nicked from other genres to be a hip-hop-folk fusion night. That evening
Make Me A Dancer is a good example of
honest,” he concedes humbly, “me and the band combined their tune sets with riffs
what can be achieved in the bedroom and
just how far it can go. Their music is cer-
tainly taking them to some interesting
places, not least to Kings Place for the Lon-
don International Festival Of Exploratory
Music. Kieran reasons, “If you think about
it, we’re exploring what we can do within
our genre, so we are an exploratory music
band I guess”. But perhaps the most
unlikely place you’ll find the Monster
Ceilidh Band is on an iPhone application
called ‘iHerd’ (a digital sheep-herding
game, what else?).
But before you iPhone fiends go clam-
bering for your cyber sheepdogs, spare a
thought for where this all began, with the
humble ceilidh. As David reminds me,
“This music lives for being played live” and
with a tour of Russia in the pipeline, not to
mention plans for a “100% electric set” to
be launched this summer, it seems that, for
the Monsters, the party has only just
begun. So grab your dancing shoes (and
glowsticks) and look out for the next mon-
ster ceilidh near you.
myspace.com/monsterceilidhband F
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