Rathkeltair
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Rathkeltair

Jacksonville Beach, Florida, United States | INDIE

Jacksonville Beach, Florida, United States | INDIE
Band Rock Celtic

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"Here's The Buzz About Rathkeltair!"

"Somehow this band makes it seem like whatever is going on musically is the most natural thing on earth even though this is something many long-time bands in the genre never manage to achieve. Truly ground-breaking-- Rathkeltair is really something to hear." Celtic MP3s Music Magazine

"...talented and creative...able to jump between genres without sounding artificial...high-energy performers who bring a fresh touch to this often-explored territory." Dirty Linen

"If you see only one Celtic rock band this season, make it Rathkeltair." Aurora Borealis

"It may be dangerous for me to say, since I have so many great bands on my e-mail list, but I will unapologetically state that this is one of the very best acts ever to grace our stage." Pat Byrne, Byrne's Pub, Columbus, Ohio

"I passed by as they were playing on stage only heard a few seconds of a song and was hooked. Bought a cd before I left and am buyin more asap. Never been into this kinda music before but RATHKELTAIR is different- in a good way." Dan L., entry on our Facebook page after Celtic Fling, 2010

"Combining the fluid, quietly humorous song writing of Trevor Tanner and the mind blowing bagpipe playing of Neil Anderson, Rathkeltair is one of the best Celtic rock bands touring the festivals today." Christopher Hivner, Amazon Reviews

Check out more fan comments on our Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/rathkeltair

- assorted quotes


"Rathkeltair Wins Big in 2nd Annual Celtic Music Audience Poll"

Results of the 2nd Annual Celtic MP3s Music Magazine Audience Poll were recently released, with Celtic Rock supergroup Rathkeltair taking honors as Best Celtic Rock Band of 2006. Audience members also voted Rathkeltair's guitarist and lead singer, Trevor Tanner, Best Celtic Rock Vocalist and 'piper Neil Anderson Best Traditional Instrumentalist. Rathkeltair's frequent guest fiddler Vic Gagnon was voted Best Rock Instrumentalist. The annual poll is hosted by Marc Gunn's Celtic MP3s Music Magazine, one of Celtic music's most popular and widely viewed music download and review websites. http://www.celticmp3s.com/awards/ - Celtic MP3s Music Magazine


"Rock-n-Reel"

“Among the performers I will most remember this year...Neil and his band had audiences going wild during both their Folk Fest sets.”
- Pennsylvania Musician Magazine


"Celtic rockers Rathkeltair stand up to be counted"

As the all-too-common collage approach to band categorization goes, the self-portrait offered by Celtic world-fusionists Rathkeltair is perhaps better than most: A description on their Web site promises listeners "acoustic trad mixed with spine-tingling Euro-Pop as performed by jaded ex-rock stars."
Rathkeltair's piper/vocalist Neil Anderson and drummer Nick Watson were founding members of Clan Na Gael, now Seven Nations and arguably the best-known Celtic-rock band around. Watson also toured for years with the Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band, four-time World Pipe Band Champions based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, near his hometown...guitarist/vocalist/native Londoner Trevor Tanner was the front man for influential '80s band The Bolshoi, contemporaries of such Goth-tinged rockers as the Cult and Echo & the Bunnymen (and presumably the "jaded ex-rock star" in question).
But for all his band's attempt at pastiche in their press bio, Anderson, in a recent interview, described himself as "essentially a jazz musician. Beyond all of the bagpipes and whistles, I play sax and clarinet."
"We're all very well-rounded musicians. Whether we're talented or not is all from your point of view."
But the piper has definite ideas when it comes to the catch-all drift net that is the Celtic-rock genre. "A lot of what I've heard classified as Celtic rock through the years is either pretty good Celtic musicians who can't play rock, or pretty good rock musicians who can't play Celtic," he says.
"The great weakness," Anderson goes on, "is that the two styles don't meld unless you understand them equally. I'm not saying that we do – but it just seems to work out better for us. I grew up playing both rock and Celtic, and so did the other three guys. That may be an advantage: I look at a bagpipe the same way I look at a Strat or a horn.
"I approach it as a lead instrument," he explains. "And I play it that way."
Tanner's stint with The Bolshoi isn't exactly the background one might expect in a Rathkeltair member, though.
"He came up at the tail end of the English folk revival," Anderson says. "He was real familiar with the music of Richard Thompson, Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span and Horselips, a really influential Irish rock band. [So] he was really conversant in the folk idiom, even though The Bolshoi were real Goth kind of rockers."
- Mountain Express


"Rathkeltair"

"...talented and creative...can powerfully play everything from relatively quiet pieces to on-the-edge originals...able to jump between genres and sounds without sounding artificial...high-energy performers who bring a fresh touch to this often explored territory.” - Dirty Linen


"Review: Rathkeltair, "Everybody""

This popular band debuted in 2003 and has been engaging audiences ever since. From the Celtic lead in on the first track on "Everybody" to the mix of instruments, this band is one that truly fuses rock with Celtic sound for something that is altogether their own. Sometimes their style is referred to as "Celtic Rock Jam Fusion," but it is truly the rhythm that captures you and stands out strong in the songs included here on this CD.

A perfect example are the staccato sounds that pump and punctuate throughout track 2, "Night Visit/Brenda Stubbert's Reel. Full of Celtic sound, it transforms in the middle of the song and morphs into a true stew of musical styles. One fades and in another comes to take its place, but it is never forced.

Somehow this band makes it seem like whatever is going on musically is the most natural thing on earth, even though this is something many long-time bands in the genre never manage to achieve. The pipes are expertly played in the hands of Neil Anderson; former member of the band "Seven Nations" along with fellow Rathkeltair band member Nick Watson, who plays drums and the tin whistle.

If you are a Celtic rock lover--this is not the CD to pass on--it's just the right mixture of songs and sounds. Truly groundbreaking--this award-winning band is really something to hear. Have a listen. Make yourself happy.
- Celtic MP3s Music Magazine, 2007


Discography

Rathkeltair currently has four full-length CD's and one EP/CD in distribution. All titles are available on rathkeltair.com and the full-length titles are also available on iTunes.

"Something Good For A Change"
(2011 CD) released May 21, 2011

"Scenes From the Dragonfly Eye"
(2011 EP/CD) released February 20, 2011

"Organic"
(2009 CD) released October 21, 2009

"Big White Van"
(2008 CD) released July 25, 2008

"Everybody"
(2006 CD) released March 17, 2006

Photos

Bio

RATHKELTAIR** blends compelling and catchy original songs with tight, driving straight-ahead rock-n-roll, while never forgetting its Celtic roots.

Based in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, Rathkeltair has been on the road full-time since 2003. Highly regarded for its extraordinary energy, showmanship and professionalism, Rathkeltair enjoys a loyal and rapidly expanding community of friends and fans.

Rathkeltair features three veteran road-warriors from England, Northern Ireland and America. Noted singer-songwriter/guitarist Trevor Tanner, former front man for The Bolshoi, a mainstay of the UK club scene at the height of the MTV era and the subject of a rabid international underground cult following, writes most of the band's original material. Drummer Nick Watson (formerly of the Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band) and bagpiper/multi-instrumentalist Neil Anderson are two of the original members of Clan Na Gael (7 Nations), the NYC-based band that kicked off the "kilt rock" phenomenon in the US in the mid-90's and inspired many of the groups working in that genre today.

Rathkeltair's name-sake is a famous historical site in County Down, Northern Ireland, also known as the "mound of Down." Besides being close to the village where Nick was born and raised, the band chose the name as a tip of the hat to its Celtic heritage.

"Something GOOD for a Change," Rathkeltair's latest recording (May, 2011), delivers the extraordinary energy and dynamics fans have come to expect from one of the most talked about bands on the North American festival circuit. "Something GOOD for a Change" combines Tanner's critically acclaimed songwriting and guitar work with world-class performances by Anderson, Watson, and bassist Billy Thornton, who has been touring with the band since 2006.

Rathkeltair fans made their voices heard during Bonnaroo Festival's Annual Road to Roo competition (April, 2011) propelling Rathkeltair to a very respectable 13th place finish out of over 1,000 entries. Rathkeltair was also voted "Best Celtic Rock Band" in the Celtic MP3 Music Magazine Annual Audience Poll.

Rathkeltair has been featured at many of the biggest and best-known Celtic Festivals in North America including the Dublin Irish Festival (Dublin, OH), New Hampshire Highland Games (Loon Mountain, NH), Long's Peak Scottish-Irish Highland Festival (Estes Park, CO), Grandfather Mountain Highland Games (Linville, NC), and the Glengarry Highland Games, Ontario, Canada.

As thousands of festival-goers will tell you, Rathkeltair always delivers and never disappoints.

Rathkeltair is coming soon to a festival near you- accept no substitutes!

More Info: www.rathkeltair.com

**(pronounced rath-KELT-ur)