The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Drumming up support
Michael Alexander meets the world-famous Brit Award-winning Pipes and Drums of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, based at Leuchars, ahead of the 2016 Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.
Ahead of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, Michael Alexander meets the Fifebased troops preparing for the spotlight.
They’ve appeared on Top of the Pops, performed at the Sydney Opera House and won a Classical Brit Award – it’s fair to say the Pipes and Drums of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards are not your average military unit.
And now this musical band of brothers are preparing for a homecoming gig on one of the most spectacular stages in the world.
Having toured Australia and New Zealand this year, these “soldiers first, musicians second” are set to play to thousands as part of the Massed Pipes and Drums at the 2016 Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.
The annual showcase, which opens on August 5, all feels very close to home for the regiment this year.
The SCOTS DG – the country’s only regular cavalry unit – have been based at Leuchars since they returned from Germany last summer so it’s just a short journey across the Forth to the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle. When The Courier arrives at the Fife army base to meet some of the 18-strong band, the usual assortment of military battle honours telling the SCOTS DG’s illustrious history is on display.
But the walls of the small indoor training area are also festooned with musical awards, including dozens of military tattoo medallions and gold discs. They include the 1972 accolade presented to a previous incarnation of the band after it topped the charts for five weeks with Amazing Grace, ousting Nilsson’s Without You from the top spot, before making way for T-Rex’s Metal Guru.
There are trophies galore from British, European and World championships.
And let’s not forget the 2009 Classical Brit Award for the album Spirit of the Glen: Journey, part of which was recorded in an airconditioned tent in sweltering heat while the regiment was in Basra, Iraq, in 2008.
The Pipes and Drums saw off albums by Katherine Jenkins and Andrea Bocelli to take the gong, making them the first nonprofessional musicians to win the award. It’s a “pretty cool” object to count among your honours, admits Leuchars Station Commander and SCOTS DG commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Dom Coombes.“There’s not many army people rocking one of them,” he laughs.
But while upholding the rich legacy of the SCOTS DG Pipes and Drums is important to the regiment, the real achievement, he says, is maintaining high standards in music alongside their primary role as highly trained soldiers.
“SCOTS DG are extremely proud of the Pipes and Drums,” he says.
“They are a small band of very talented men who literally have global appeal.
“They are undoubtedly the most successful military pipe band in the world but the most impressive part is that they are all primarily accomplished and skilled soldiers the same as the rest of us. Their band
commitments are just an aside, albeit a very important and impressive aside.”
Pipe Sergeant Major Alan “Pipey” Mowbray, 38, from Dunfermline, transferred to SCOTS DG from The Black Watch in 2004.
A veteran of 16 Edinburgh tattoos and four overseas, he couldn’t play a note before joining the army but “became hooked” after a piping presentation at Catterick training barracks. So much so that he gave up the chance to attend the Hong Kong handover parade with The Black Watch in 1997 in favour of going to the Army School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming at Redford Barracks in the capital.
There, he learned how to read music and get to grips with the pipes before working his way up to become pipe major.
Something of a showbiz veteran, Pipey was involved in the recording of the Brit Award-winning album in 2008 – and the subsequent awards ceremony in London.
It’s an extraordinary episode to look back on, he explains and the SCOTS DG route to the stage of the Albert Hall was quite unlike the journeys of the other award contenders.
“We did an album just before we went to Iraq and then recorded the second album when we were there,” he recalls.
“We are soldiers first so it was a case of coming in off patrol, an hour to get ourselves showered and then we did a recording. The recording studio was set up in a normal tent. We had a sign on the front that said ‘recording in progress’ and that was it.
“When we did the Brits it was surreal to be honest. It was a one off. We were treated like proper rock stars. Myleen Klass and Katherine Jenkins were there then we came on and rocked the place!”
Music has always played an important role in regimental life, from the iconic images of kilted soldiers piping their colleagues into battle to the stirring strains of the pipes and drums on ceremonial occasions.
Drum Major Gordon Prescott, 27, from Stirling, acknowledges it can be hard to strike a balance between the usual soldierly responsibilities – training, exercises, overseas duties – but insists it’s worth the effort.
“You are away a lot more than the average soldier,” he explains. “But on the plus side, you get to visit countries you wouldn’t otherwise visit doing a job you love.”
He is eagerly looking forward to being part of the band as it proudly marches down the brooding Edinburgh Castle Esplanade as part of the Massed Pipes and Drums alongside others including the Scots Guards, Royal Dragoon Guards, Royal Tank Regiment, Artillery, and civilian bands from Australia and South Africa.
“The first time you come out and you see the lights, camera flashes, smoke and stands, it’s awesome,” he says. “It is an experience and we are all looking forward to it.”
Continuing the tour of the Pipes
and Drums training building, we arrive at the “wall of fame” which includes photographs of all the pipe majors and drum majors who have held the top jobs over the years.
The bar area is filled with random artefacts, mementoes from tours and other events and band members are often invited to play at weddings and funerals, explains Pipey.
More recently, they’ve been experimenting with incorporating keyboards and guitars into their tunes to give them a rockier vibe and everyone from the German Bundesliga to the Military Wives Choir have been in touch seeking permission to reproduce their music.
Right now though there’s serious practice to be done ahead of the Edinburgh tattoo – and beyond – and a group of soldiers are seated in a neighbouring room reading music and chanting in the Gaelic style of Canntaireachd – the ancient Scottish Highland method of notating.
They are practising for a twomonth concert tour of Australia, encompassing 43 venues, which is due to kick off in October.
Equipment and uniform is an essential part of the SCOTS DG Pipes and Drums identity.
Still in use are the silver and ivory pipes that were bought for Top of the Pops in 1972. The drums, hand-painted with battle honours and colours, tend to wear out more often. Money from the sale of CDs is pumped back in to help cover replacement costs.
Retired Brigadier Melville Jameson, 71, of Perthshire – a former producer and chief executive of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo – was pipes and drums president when the Royal Scots Greys merged with the 3rd Carabiniers to form SCOTS DG in 1971. Amazing Grace was part of an LP recorded by RCA Records in a room at Redford Barracks in 1970 and only expected to sell 1,000 copies.
It was only when the recording was given an airing on TV in early 1972 that stardom followed. It eventually sold seven million copies worldwide, earning eight gold discs.
SCOTS DG went on to perform with the big names of the day at the Royal Variety Performance in front of the Queen.
Looking back, Brigadier Jameson regards Amazing Grace as a “watershed moment in making military music digestible to the public.”
Former SCOTS DG commanding officer, now colonel of the regiment, Brigadier David Allfrey MBE, has been chief executive and producer of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo since 2011.
He insists he is professionally impartial but admits it’s “particularly special” when the SCOTS DG perform.
“My regiment is in my DNA,” he says. “We have a very special relationship.
“This year’s theme at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo is Tunes of Glory, to reflect on the history of military music in this, Her Majesty the Queen’s 90th year.
“I hope the audience will be thrilled.”