Skye band hints at Hogmanay show CD release
● Niteworks looks at options ahead of new album launch
It was a special show for a spectacular event, watched by a thronging live crowd and a TV audience running into millions.
In any young band’s career, there are defining moments, and playing Edinburgh’s Hogmanay Street Party was just that for Skye trad band Niteworks.
But so successful was their orchestral collaboration with composer and sound designer Dan Jones for their Scottish and international fan base, the acid-croft outfit have revealed they could soon release it.
Drummer Ruairidh Graham said: “Watch this space. We’re still toying with the idea of releasing the orchestral arrangements of our stuff from the Hogmanay show.”
Ironically, the hugely successful gig didn’t go according toplan.allanmacdonald,who plays bagpipes and keyboards,
0 Niteworks will be one of the star attractions at next month’s Hebridean Celtic Festival on Stornoway said: “It was funny, when we were first approached to do it, our initial thought was not to include any of our own music and instead do a mash-up celebration of Scottish traditional and Gaelic music.
“Licensing restrictions, however, meant we could only use our own music. So, we ended up working with composer Dan Jones who re-scored a bunch of our stuff that was then recorded by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and played back to the biggest firework display ever hosted in Edinburgh. All quite surreal, to be honest.”
Niteworks, who formed ten years ago in Skye, launched their much-acclaimed debut album NW at Glasgow’s SWG3 venue in 2015.
Allan said: “We were sitting in the back getting ready to go on. We looked out the window and there was a queue as far as we could see of people waiting in the pouring rain. We ended up having to delay our stage time by almost an hour to give people the opportunity to come in.”
They will be one of the star attractions at next month’s Hebridean Celtic Festival on Stornoway. “We’ve always absolutely loved coming back to Hebcelt after we were offered a great slot at the festival early on in our career in 2011”, said vocalist and keyboard player Innes Strachan.
“We’ve just returned from a stint in the studio working on our set, transferring our new material to the live environment, so expect plenty fresh tracks and a live set which we feel is as energetic as we’ve produced yet.”
The new material includes songs from the much-anticipated follow-up album released on 24 August, overseen by acclaimed techno producer Alex Menzies (Alex Smoke) and features appearances from notable acts such as Julie Fowlis, Iain Morrison, Ellen Macdonald, Sian and Kinnaris Quintet.