Eric Rigler and Bad Haggis
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Eric Rigler and Bad Haggis

Los Angeles, California, United States | INDIE

Los Angeles, California, United States | INDIE
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This band has not uploaded any videos

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"Reviews -- compiled"

"What is really great about Bad Haggis is the variety of the music mix you will hear -- from the upbeat and Latinish Beijo (love those drums) to the tradition-flavored and familiar Rocky Road to Dublin. We recommend a buy for this CD [Wine Dark Sea] -- a solid four stars! Highlander Radio

...“One of the most creative and unique CDs I’ve ever heard. You’ll hear no finer musicians than these guys.” TWKnorris, Gilbert, AZ.

“…the CD [TRIP] is a skirlin’, lowpin’ and deavin’ (sizzling, leaping and deafening for non-Scots) electric ceilidh! If your foot doesn’t tap to this you’re either deaf or paralysed.” www.rambles.net

“This band rocks. The sounds of Eric Rigler’s uilleann pipes are fabulous. The band perfectly wraps around the lead pipes [and] puts chills down your spine. It brings rock and roll and Celtic music into one big show. “ Lexington, KY fan

“…it was fun, their racing bagpipe and guitar lines and rhythmic boogaloo conjuring up a kind of MacMahavishnu Orchestra – with bells on.” Glasgow Herald

“. . . sure proof that Bad Haggis is a collection of fantastically talented musicians.” Megan Warburton for Celtic Grove.

“In their titular track, [Bad Haggis from TRIP] which would seem to have a verse dedicated to each band member, they use electronic vocal effects and present an eclectic and bizarre blend of rock, rap, reggae and reel -–even weirder to relate –and it works!” www.rambles.net

“You must see Eric and crew live … I was convinced that … [ARK] was a great studio album. Having seen Bad Haggis several times in concert now … their spirit carries on long after a concert or the CD is over.” Chris Range for Celtic Grove

“Bad Haggis’ ARK is an eclectic amalgamation of styles propelled by first-class musicians. Rigler and his unisonant mates traverse and merge styles as gleefully as kids set loose in a musical Disneyland. Combining Celtic, African, rock, jazz, worldbeat and nearly any other piping hot genre to toss into its tasty concoction, Bad Haggis is indubitably a kitchen sink of creativity. Not to mention dexterous musicianship and imaginative songwriting.” Dirty Linen

“Over the last decade the generous fruits of Eric Rigler’s multiple musical lives have indeed borne a rich harvest of imaginative creativity; long may it be so.” John O’Regan in Irish Music
- various


Discography

New video from Anchorage, June 2006 -- go to www.Mojoproductions.com

Wine Dark Sea (CD 2005)
New! Eleven songs including "Cinderella Man," Eric Rigler's original closing credits music composed for the film of the same name, and "Barcos," co-written by salsa sensation Rubén Blades. "Sleepy Maggie" combines The Cure's Hot! Hot! Hot!!! with two traditional pipe tunes. "Ventania" and "Beijo" feature Portuguese lyrics and "Barcos" has lyrics in Portuguese and Spanish. Latin rhythms underlay most of the album. "Rocky Road to Dublin" wraps three traditional pipe tunes around Rigler's "Cinderella Man" theme. One reviewer said Wine Dark Sea is chock full of "infectious rhythms, brilliant instrumentals, superb songwriting, hummable melodies, delicious vocals and an unrelenting good time."

Sleepy Maggie
Ventania
Nimble Attitude
Horizon
Love Carry Water
Barcos
Power to Fly
Rocky Road to Dublin
Prayers
Beijo
Hunting with Mirrors

SPAN (DVD 2004)
Live studio concert featuring 11 songs plus interviews, photos, retrospective video, musician biographies, “making of SPAN” and band history. Recorded in 5.1 “surround sound” at 96K audiophile quality, the two-sided DVD offers concert video as well as DVD audio, the latest in high-resolution sound technology. Surprise guests are Latin/salsa superstar/Hollywood actor Rubén Blades and a wall-of-bagpipe-sound from the Los Angeles Scots Pipe Band. Nominated for two Surround Music Awards by High Fidelity Review magazine.

Mysterious Integratron
Templo de Agua
The B-52
Monkey tree
The Hag at the Churn/My Love is in America
La Gallega
Rip Hop
Bad Haggis
When She Drives
Walking the Plank
Barcos

TRIP (CD 2001)
Twelve tracks ranging from original songs “Water Church” to traditional reels to “Hymn to the Sea” from the film Titanic. A www.Rambles.net review said "If your foot doesn’t tap to this you’re either deaf or paralysed.”

Bad Haggis
Level 4
The hag at the churn
Little Spark
The B-52
Reels Part One: The boys on the hilltop
Monkey Tree
Rip Hop
Reels Part Two: My love is in America
While you’re asleep
Hymn to the Sea from Titanic (James Horner)

ARK (CD, 2000) – Eleven tracks featuring mostly original songs. Dirty Linen said: “Bad Haggis’ ARK is an eclectic amalgamation of styles propelled by first-class musicians. Rigler and his unisonant mates traverse and merge styles as gleefully as kids set loose in a musical Disneyland. Combining Celtic, African, rock, jazz, worldbeat and nearly any other piping hot genre to toss into its tasty concoction, Bad Haggis is indubitably a kitchen sink of creativity."

Walking the Plank
Swan
Mysterious integratron
When She Drives
Get out reel
Well
Summer Breeze (Seals & Crofts)
October
Paddy’s
La Gallega
His tomb

Eric Rigler and Bad Haggis are featured artists on TradTunes, PlanetPipe and Celtic Grove streaming radio

Photos

Bio

Like their namesake Scottish dish of animal innards, oatmeal and seasonings cooked in a sheep's stomach, Eric Rigler and Bad Haggis are an unexpected combination of instruments, musical styles and personalities they call "visionary, rocking, cutting-edge Celtic meets grooving, jazzy, world fusion." The brainchild of master piper Eric Rigler, Bad Haggis formed in 1998 and tours regionally, nationally and internationally from a base in Los Angeles. Bad Haggis has appeared in Scotland and Spain where their concerts were recorded, filmed and aired by the BBC and Spanish TV. Eric Rigler's pipe and whistle sounds are heard on more than 50 film soundtracks from "Braveheart" and "Titanic" to "Million Dollar Baby" and "Cinderella Man," for which he composed and performed original closing credits music. He's on more than 100 recordings with artists such as Phil Collins, Barbra Streisand, Tracy Chapman, Rod Stewart, Josh Groban and Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. He's seen and heard on television's "Crossing Jordan," "Jag" and other programs. He was the piper at former President Reagan's burial, broadcast worldwide. Even those who may not known him by name have heard his work dozens of times. Eric Rigler is in demand at recording studios from Hollywood to Nashville to Abbey Road. A high-energy band in live concerts as well as on recordings, Bad Haggis delivers highly innovative original material with a sonic twist and infectious good humor, raising audiences to their feet.

Eric Rigler biography

One of Celtic music’s most sought-after artists, Eric Rigler brings the timeless, haunting sonorities of uilleann pipes, Great Highland Bagpipe, Scottish small-pipes and Irish whistle to film, television and recording audiences around the world.

Best known for his work with composer James Horner as a soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra on the Oscar-winning films Braveheart and Titanic, Eric is featured on the soundtracks of more than 50 motion pictures including Cinderella Man (for which he composed and performed original closing credits music), Million Dollar Baby, Troy, Ladder 49, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, The Road to Perdition, Death to Smoochy, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, The Negotiator, Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius, The Devil’s Own, The Fugitive, Must Love Dogs and the IMAX documentary Everest.

Among his television credits are Crossing Jordan for NBC, Battlestar Galactica and JAG, “The Star Spangled Banner” with Faith Hill for NFL Superbowl XXXIV, The 1999 Grammy Awards performance of the Titanic theme with James Horner, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (with Josh Groban and Charlotte Church), Newsradio for NBC, South Park for Comedy Central, Northern Exposure for CBS and a score of commercials, including Titleist golf. He is also one of the few non-Scots ever featured on the prestigious BBC Radio Scotland programs “Pipeline” and “Music for the Pipes.”

As a testament to his proficiency and reputation The Reagan Family and Foundation asked Eric to lead former President Ronald Reagan’s casket with the melody “Amazing Grace” to its final resting place on June 11, 2004, witnessed by millions of worldwide television viewers.

Familiar to concert audiences as a member of the Celtic supergroup “Skyedance”, Eric has played to sold-out houses throughout the world. As guest artist Eric tours with Grammy-winning salsa legend Rubén Blades, is featured on the live DVD “Josh Groban In Concert,” has appeared with Michael Sembello’s “The Bridge,” Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells 2,” Paul McCartney’s “Tripping the Live Fantastic” and with one of Scotland’s longest running folk groups, “Battlefield Band.” His current band Bad Haggis fuses the ancient sound of pipes with guitar, bass, vocals, ethnic percussion and drums, pushing the envelope into what’s called, “cutting-edge Celtic for the new millennium.”

Eric’s exceptional traditional playing and extensive studio experience yield a fluid style so much in demand that he is undoubtedly the most recorded piper in history -- a top session
musician constantly working in studios from Hollywood to Nashville and Abbey Road. His most recent work is heard on the 2003 Grammy Award- winning recording (Best World Music) Mundo by Rubén Blades as well as on CDs by artists as diverse as Robbie Robertson (Ladder 49 – the original motion picture soundtrack), Charlotte Church (Enchantment), Phil Collins (Testify, …Hits), Barbra Streisand (Higher Ground), Ben Harper (Both Sides of the Gun), Tracy Chapman (Telling Stories, New Beginning), Rod Stewart (When We Were the New Boys) and Whitney Houston & Mariah Carey (The Prince of Egypt – the original motion picture soundtrack).

Eric’s career on the Great Highland Bagpipe began at age seven, and he won the California state amateur championship while still in his early teens. He later moved to Scotland for further study and new competitive opportunities. Among other top individual honors he subse