Talking To...Rua macMillan
Fatea has a good record of featuring up and coming musicians. We've been very impressed with the Paul McKenna Band and a key part of that group is fiddle player Rua MacMillan, who has just released his debut album "Tyro" under his own name.
I thought it was with the aforementioned band that I first came across Rua when he was playing as part of the Brian McNeill Session at Cambridge folk festival back in 2006 and where his trio made their debut. (As the picture to the right proves)
As well as providing Rua with his festival break, Brian McNeill also got to take control of the desk for Rua MacMillan's debut album. I caught up with Rua when he was on a bus trying to get home in time to do the washing before heading off on a tour of the US with The Paul McKenna Band.
I've been lucky enough to see Rua perform on a number of occasions and it's sometimes frightening as to how good he and the musicians he plays with are and at such a young age. If you do get the chance to see them, do.
#RM=Rua MacMillan #NK=Neil King
#NK First of all, an album in your own name.
#RM Yes, exciting.
#NK Does it make you feel any more pressure?
#RM Not really, 'scuse the pun, but it's like another string to the bow. Obviously I'm best known for playing in the Paul McKenna Band. It's been helped by the award, but it's always been an ambition of mine to have an album in my name. It's sense of achievement rather than more pressure.
#NK "Tyro" where did the title come from?
#RM I was having a nightmare coming up with an album title and ended up googling random words. I had a massive list that I was looking through and I found Tyro. It's Latin for beginning or starting something new, which I thought was appropriate for a first album, which is about stepping out there and starting the whole thing myself.
#NK I'd been wracking my brains for a Celtic connection and just couldn't think of one.
#RM It's also a bit of a play on words, the album's in my name, but it's really about the trio and Tyro's a bit like trio.
#NK You mentioned the award, BBC Radio Scotland Young Musician of the Year 2009, how much of a door opener was that?
#RM It's been a great boost actually, especially in terms of profile, my own profile as a solo musician and with the trio. It has opened a lot of doors for me. It's helped when making contact with festival organisers and agents. It's allowed me to achieve things I couldn't have achieved any other way I don't think or at least got me there quicker.
#NK As I recall the trio is quite widely spread, geographically, does that cause problems?#RM The other two have moved to Glasgow now, which makes the whole thing a wee bit easier. Adam's currently camped in my spare room. It makes rehearsals and getting to gigs a whole lot easier, thankfully. We were talking about our first appearance, which was as part of the Brian McNeill Session in 2006, rather than the festival proper. I was there with Brian, Tia was with Bodega and Adam with NoID. We mentioned to Brian that we were doing this trio and Brian gave us fifteen minutes.
That was 2006 and it's now 2010 and it's been a bit of a nightmare getting the whole thing together, but we've done it, we've got the album out so it's all been worthwhile.
#NK What I like about the album is the balance it strikes between the traditional side of the music and giving it your own feel.
#RM I've always tried to bridge the two worlds with my playing, the really traditional style of fiddle playing and one with more with the times. When I was thinking of the album I started thinking about three segments. A couple of traditional sets, a couple of more arranged sets and a couple of really manic, busy, sets. Bringing the really big string bits into some drums and bass. I'm really happy with it.
One thing I really wanted to do with the album was keep....All of the people playing on the album are people that I've grown up with. Most of which I've been playing with since I was ten or eleven. It was really nice to have that aspect as well. A lot of them haven't recorded that many albums so there was something fresh about it all.
Even the photographers that we use for the cover I've known for years. It makes it seem like a family affair, really close.
#NK It's also one of the things you've done with the tunes, I notice that Matteu Watson gets a tune onto the album as well as tunes from more established names and your own.
#RM Absolutely. It sort of harks back to how the trio formed. We used to be the Matteu Watson band, when we were a lot younger. I don't know what happened or how Matteu found his way out of that, but I sort of stole Adam and Tia from him. Then we used to go out with two fiddles. So yes a Matteu tune and one from Neil Ewart, whose a great fiddle player from the West Coast, a good friend of mine. He writes fantastic tunes, "Traditionally Incorrect" being one of them
#NK How did Brian McNeill get involved ? Did you invite him onboard or did he put the idea to you. He's got a great reputation for encouraging young musicians.
#RM Brian and I have been talking about this for a number of years. We started discussing an album when I was still at Uni. Brian had a course there and we had a conversation. He mentioned that doing an album would be quite good for me and if it happened he'd love to produce. We had chats about it, but at the time I wasn't quite settled and wasn't ready for it then. I wanted to get more used to playing with folk before I put an album out.
It was always going to be Brian. I think about an hour after I'd one the award, Brian bounded up to me at the Festival Club and said that he'd still like to produce my album and I said, yes, absolutely. I've had a great time with him.
photo credit:
Neil King