26th February – Skirlie

 Skirlie – no, not the Scottish dish made from oatmeal fried with……..but Skirlie the four-piece band, and they are the welcome guests at Irvine Folk Club on Wednesday 26th February.

Rab Ferris, Kevin Patrick, Alison Tunnicliffe and Eddie McGlone are Skirlie. They play an eclectic mix of trad, celtic and transatlantic material which is reinterpreted using the Skirlification approach! Translated, that means they use their combined talents to enhance established songs and tunes.

The band features a range of instruments. Rab plays whistles and percussion, Kevin is on mandolin, dobro and guitar, Alison plays violin whilst Eddie plays bass and chapman stick. All four of them do vocals.  Rab, Kevin and Alison all come from a background of and involvement with trad music from an early age whilst Eddie has played with various bands including a UK tour with the renowned Soul singer Ben E King.

The origins of Skirlie go back to 2003 when Kevin and Rab met at the Rowantree Folk Club in Uddingston and formed a duo called Quaich. A couple of evolutions in the line-up and in 2016 the present four-piece Skirlie emerged.  They take Skirlification all over Scotland. This will be their first visit to the Irvine Club and that will vary from their other gigs in that Alison’s parents Anne & Gordon are members of the Irvine Club and will be in the audience.

Wednesday 26th February is when to hear Skirlie at Irvine Folk Club in Vineburgh Community Centre. The Club starts at 8pm. The band say that the audience should be prepared ‘to stamp your hands and clap your feet’. All part of helping keep music live!