The Dead Man's Waltz

The Dead Man's Waltz are four musicians from the Isle of Skye who are re-imagining their traditions into a style they call 'folk-noir'. Their music traces a path through the dance halls of Weimar Republic Germany, Kurt Weill and Hans Eisler, through Tom Waits and the Pogues to more recent acts such as Yann Tiersen and Beirut. Using song, storytelling and film, their work describes a weird arc of destruction and menace through the history of the last century. Theirs is a litany of small-town crimes and dark romances that is fascinating and irresistable.

A Brief History

Hector MacInnes, Leighton Jones, Magnus Graham and David Macleod formed The Dead Man’s Waltz in 2009 to perform an experiment in song, storytelling, improvisation and audience participation for the inaugural Insider Festival. That project has since been performed on the Edinburgh Fringe, at the Southbank Centre’s “Death: A Festival for the Living”, at the Aros Theatre on Skye and as a pop-up installation in the Now Museum, an abandoned ice-cream factory in Glasgow.

In the wake of the project’s success, The Dead Man’s Waltz began performing regularly as a band, touring widely, quickly being asked to provide support for acts such as Buck 65, Devon Sproule, Hans Chew, Franz Nicolay and The Black Heart Procession and appearing live on national and regional radio.

In October 2011 they released their eponymous debut album to wide acclaim, and which included three video singles directed by Johnny Barrington, Retchy and Thomas Hicks.

2012 saw them continue touring to promote their album, begin writing and performing new material and embark on a number of exciting side projects. In early 2013 they will be launching new material with a special live performance at the Glasgow Short Film Festival, and their second album is due for release later that year.

Other Recent Projects

As artists in their own right, Leighton Jones and Hector MacInnes were commissioned to compose and sound-design for Bata Breagha: a major piece of performance art on Skye by Neil Bromwich and Zoe Walker’s “Celestial Radio”. The piece was a Creative Scotland “Year of Scotland’s Islands” flagship event.

Also in the last year, Leighton has composed and performed a new piano soundtrack for the silent film Salome by Oscar Wilde while Hector has co-written for producers Williams and Matt Soren and was commissioned to compose new music and songs for We Have Won The Land, a new play about land ownership in the Highlands and Islands written by Toria Banks and directed by Muriel Ann MacLeod for Rural Nations.

Press Quotes

“Marvellous” - Tom Morton, BBC Radio Scotland

"Macabre and charming." - ?The Skinny
“They fuse Weimar cabaret, the accordion of Yann Tiersen and the theatricality of Beirut and Bellowhead for a series of minor-key ditties that creep stealthily, arm in arm, towards the site of a murder ballad, preferably one beside a stagnant pool in an overgrown forest.” - The Herald

“The Dead Man’s Waltz find the common ground between the bleak tragedy of the island folk ballads and the more flamboyant execution of the European cabaret tradition.” – The Scotsman