Spotlight on Iain Cathcart
by Karyn McCulloch
B&F May 2005
Click hereI wonder how many people fondly remember watching ‘Thingummyjig’ on the telly? Iain Cathcart certainly does – but more about that in a wee while!
Although his parents never played any musical instruments, music was still around the family home. Iain’s grandfather, Neil McNicol, who originally came from Conisby on the Isle of Islay, was a piper and Iain remembers his grandpa often bringing out the chanter and having a wee tune in the house.
Iain’s grandfather was Pipe Major of the Singer Pipe Band in Clydebank between the wars and was leader of the Islay Pipers, playing at functions for the Glasgow-Islay Association for many years. Another interesting fact that Iain has only recently discovered is that his grandfather was best man at Mairi’s Wedding, yes, as in the well-known song, the ‘Mairi’ in question being Mary C. McNiven from Islay. However the words to the song were originally composed by Johnny Bannerman in Gaelic some six years prior to Mary finally tying the knot. Neil and his brother James were both Champion Solo pipers; in fact Neil McNicol won the Burgh cup at Cowal three years running, between 1921-1923. So normally you would have expected Iain to be a piper. However, when Iain was about six or seven years old, he had been watching ‘Thingummyjig’ on the telly. That’s where he first set eyes on Walter Perrie playing the accordion. His Mum asked him if he wanted to learn the pipes or the accordion – and Iain “quite fancied having a shot at the accordion”.
So, while they were on holiday in Blackpool (or “the annual pilgrimage” as Iain calls it), they visited a music shop, with “rows and rows” of accordions. His parents said if he wanted to learn the accordion, they’d need to get him one. So he chose a red 48 bass accordion which cost about £80. His parents put a payment down on it there an then. Then around six months later, his uncle (who lived in Blackpool) came up to visit and Iain watched eagerly as the car was unloaded. Disaster – no accordion!! The one they had ordered hadn’t been delivered – so he had to wait another three months until his uncle’s next visit before he could have a shot at his new accordion!
Iain started going to George Paxton in Saltcoats for lessons when he was seven years old. He attended lessons there for about two years, but the lessons only ran from September to Aptil – as George was working on cruise ships, with people like Lena Martell, during the summer. One of Iain’s first public performances was in Saltcoats Town Hall, in a concert organised by George Paxton where his pupils played in a ‘mini accordion orchestra’. He doesn’t remember much about it – apart from being upstairs afterwards and getting a bag of cola cubes as a reward!
Soon after this, they were told that George would be working away on cruises for six months. That was going to be too long between lessons, so they started looking for another teacher. It just so happened that Iain’s mum was friendly with a lady called Mrs McCluckie (they had met at Iain’s sister’s Highland dancing class) and both her sons were taught the accordion by Jim Hutcheon in Ayr, so recommended him. (Incidentally, Jim was also my music teacher). Iain started lessons with Jim in 1980, when he was about 10 years old (and had a new accordion – a 72 bass Galotta), he continued until he left school in 1988.
Iain started attending Ayr Accordion and Fiddle Club when he was 14 years old – and soon discovered there were other clubs in the area – so started attending the Beith Club too. He soon became friendly with John and Sheila Strachan (Beith organizers) – and during the summer of 1990 John asked Iain if he would do his first guest spot there – and John would arrange the rest of the band. All Iain had to do was arrange the music – he didn’t even know who would be playing in the band until he turned up on the night!!
On the night of the gig, Iain discovered that the line-up of his band was; fiddle – Andrew Knight; second box – David Hume; bass – John Strachan; piano – Keith Dickson; and drums – George McLeod. Not a bad line-up for a first band!!
Today’s band line-up is Iain on lead accordion; James Coutts (or Shirley Cathcart) on second accordion; Alistair McCulloch on fiddle; Graham Berry on piano; Mark McDougall on bass and Scott Gordon on drums. The band play mainly for ceilidh or old time dances – which suits Iain, as he gets to play his full repertoire of dances and sets. Iain is indebted to James and Graham for the experience he has gained from them, be it musical or otherwise and the encouragement they and other members of his family have given him over the years.
Other bands Iain has played with include James Coutts, Iain Anderson (Gartocharn), Ian Thomson, Bill Black, Marian Anderson, Shirley Cathcart (Iain’s wife), Sandy Legget, Gordon Shand and more recently Ian Muir.
Iain’s first radio broadcast with his own band with his own band (for Take the Floor) was recorded in December 1992, and it was transmitted on 6th February 1993. Again this was a slightly different line-up – same front line with James and Alistair, but Tom Murray played piano, Duncan Henderson played drums and Suzanne Gray played bass. To date Iain has broadcast 9 times with his own band, a similar number with James and two broadcasts with Iain Anderson’s band.
The first competition Iain ever won was in the 1985 Ayrshire Music Festval. This was playing a classical piece – as most of the tuition from Jim was on the classical side. Iain also won the Senior Pipe and Senior Scottish at the ASMa Competition in 1989 and 1990 just after he moved to Dundee to go to College. It was while he was at College that he met James Coutts – and James suggested that Iain should go and see Peter Bruce and get a couple of lessons, just for a ‘wee polish up’, as he was still competing in Festivals, such as Perth and Musselburgh. Soon Iain was becoming more successful on the competition circuit. 1992 was a memorable year with successes at Musselburgh (Senior Pipe), Newtongrange (Senior Scottish & Pipe), Oban (Senior Scottish & Pipe), Mull (Senior Accordion, Bands, Mull composers) and at Perth (Trios, Bands, Senior Scottish Finalist). Not bad for a ‘wee polish up’!!
More recently, Iain has been adjudicating for various competitions and festivals – something he thoroughly enjoys doing! He has adjudicated at the ASMA Festival twice, the Newcastleton Festival and at Musselburgh – which included judging the Band Section and the ‘Open’ competition along with Gordon Pattullo. “A great experience”.
Iain first met his wife, Shirley Campbell, at the Scarborough Festival whilst playing at a dance there with The Glencraig Band. Shirley herself is a talented accordionist who has been both Senior Scottish and Pipe Champion at Musselburgh. They were married at Mouswald, near Dumfries, in June 2001 and have set up home in Kilwinning. Iain has been asked to play at various events such as St Andrew’s Nights in places like Seoul, Jakarta and Bahrain. Unfortunately due to work commitments he had been unable to make any of these trips – until last year. He and the band played in Florence, Italy for a St Andrew’s Night ‘twinning arrangement’ between Florence and Edinburgh, towards the end of 2004. However, the usual band personnel were not available for this trip. The band was Shirley (second box), Shauna Flockhart (keyboard) and Gus Millar (drums). In January 2005, Iain also managed to squeeze in a trip to Lanzarote where he was playing second box for country dancing with Ian Muir’s band.
Iain owns a 1970 Hohner Morino VN, which he has had since he was about nineteen and he played this accordion all the time – until a few years ago. Now he also has a Sonola accordion. However, he originally wanted an SS20 (with tone chamber) but couldn’t get his hands on one for love nor money, so he eventually managed to get an SS15 (which doesn’t have the tone chamber) but has 4 voices – piccolo, bass + 2 treble. He got it converted and had the piccolo reed removed, so it now has 3 treble reeds and one bass. He uses the Sonola for all his lead box work now and the Morino for all his second box work.
He bought his Sonola over the Internet about five years ago from a chap in America called Edo Guidotti – who just happens to be the pianist with Paul Williams – who wrote and played all the music for the film version of ‘Bugsy Malone’. Indeed, this very accordion can be heard playing through the underscore of the film – allegedly!!
Here are a few things you probably didn’t know about Iain Cathcart :-
Iain has three favourite albums of all time - Argyll’s Fancy by Iain MacPhail and his SDB (from around 1985); Fine Fettle by Graeme Mitchell and his band and Slightly Casual from The Wallochmor Ceilidh Band.
His favourite band is Iain MacPhail’s band – he just loves Iain’s playing, his arrangements, his tunes and the sound the band creates.
His favourite solo accordionist is Gordon Pattullo – “his technique is fabulous and there’s just nobody to beat him”.
His favourite tune is one of Jimmy Blue’s – a slow Air called Little Girl.
Iain has worked for Balfour Beatty for the last 13 years, since he left college in 1992. He is a Commercial Manager – managing the finances of Civil Engineering Projects all over Scotland. This means he can be sent to just about any location in the country.
Iain’s ultimate ambition is to meet Paul McCartney – “the most talented guy alive”.
When he’s not listening to Scottish dance band music, you’ll more than likely find him listening to a varied range of music from Prefab Sprout to Frank Sinatra – or even some good old fashioned Country ‘n’ Western – in particular Kenny Rogers (this is noted especially for Iain Anderson!!)
In the early 80s Iain once appeared on Blue Peter when Simon Groom was invited to be chieftain at the long defunct Irvine Highland Games. Iain was caught on camera after being asked to hold Goldie (the Blue Peter dog) whilst Simon attempted to ‘Toss the Haggis’.
As a junior, Iain played competitive tennis to an international level representing his country on several occasions.
While Iain was at college in Dundee, he started going to the Accordion Clubs there. On a visit to the Dundee club around 1988, which was then held in ‘The Marquee’, he met Bruce quirie (who was second box player with The Craigowl Band). They struck up a friendship and Bruce told Iain if he ever needed transport to go to any of the other clubs (Blairgowrie, Perth or Forfar) to let him know, as Bruce would usually be going. It was Bruce who took Iain to his first ‘Stanley Ceilidh’ which was organised by Bill Black.
Iain had no idea what to expect – although he knew who Bill Black was and had heard about this weekend. So he was totally amazed when he walked into this ‘Aladdin’s Cave’ full of fantastic musicians. Iain remember seeing and hearing so many talented young bands – like Simon howie, Craig McCallum, Colin Dewar and Graeme Mitchell – and thinking to himself, “They’re not much older than me – and they’ve got their own bands!” This was where Iain was really inspired to form his own band.
Iain has attended almost every Stanley Weekend since. Bill has retired from organizing the Ceilidh – so Iain has now taken over the running of it, along with his wife Shirley, Scott and Susan Gordon, Lynne Christie, and Dave and Lil Millward. The week consists of the Friday night Session – just like an accordion club night. There’s a “bit of a session” goes on during the Saturday afternoon where some of the same players come back and have a tune. Then it’s the Grand Dance on the Saturday night – where you can dance the night away to some of the country’s “top dance bands”. You ,ay even find some people having a tune for a few hours on the Sunday – or “Survivors Sunday” as it’s commonly known!
All the proceeds from the weekend go to charity – last year’s chosen charity is CHAS. This year’s event will be held as usual in The Tayside Hotel, Stanley over the weekend of 4th – 6th November, 2005.
“As If By Magic” is the title of Iain’s first CD (with his own band), which was released last year – and a cracker it is, too. Iain admits he has been very surprised with the amount of publicity and recognition this has brought.
Although Iain has no immediate plans to record a second album (he’s still trying to “pay off the first one”), he hasn’t completely ruled it out for the future. Meantime, there will be plenty more radio broadcasts (including one with James Coutts’ band in a few weeks) as well as more with his own band, of course. Fingers crossed, he might even get a few more trips abroad with the band!
Iain’s advice to young players is to practice as much as you can – and listen to as many bands as you possibly can, to develop your own style from the various bits and pieces you’ll hear from them. Not just Scottish dance bands – any kind of bands – even music from television and films. It’s amazing how many pieces of music you can pick up this way (just listen to Track 2 from Iain’s new CD and you’ll see what I’m talking about!) It always seems to give the dancers (and non-dancers!) a lift when they hear something just a wee bit different!
Iain feels extremely privileged to have been able to play at some of the events he has been asked to do. In particular The Stanley Ceilidh dance, the Shetland Festival and the Perth Festival dance – the “Top Jobs!” I have no doubt that he will continue to be asked to play at such events – and I’m sure that many people will agree that Iain Cathcart and his band are – and will continue to be for many years to come – one of the ‘Top Dance Bands’ in the country.
.
Although his parents never played any musical instruments, music was still around the family home. Iain’s grandfather, Neil McNicol, who originally came from Conisby on the Isle of Islay, was a piper and Iain remembers his grandpa often bringing out the chanter and having a wee tune in the house.
Iain’s grandfather was Pipe Major of the Singer Pipe Band in Clydebank between the wars and was leader of the Islay Pipers, playing at functions for the Glasgow-Islay Association for many years. Another interesting fact that Iain has only recently discovered is that his grandfather was best man at Mairi’s Wedding, yes, as in the well-known song, the ‘Mairi’ in question being Mary C. McNiven from Islay. However the words to the song were originally composed by Johnny Bannerman in Gaelic some six years prior to Mary finally tying the knot. Neil and his brother James were both Champion Solo pipers; in fact Neil McNicol won the Burgh cup at Cowal three years running, between 1921-1923. So normally you would have expected Iain to be a piper. However, when Iain was about six or seven years old, he had been watching ‘Thingummyjig’ on the telly. That’s where he first set eyes on Walter Perrie playing the accordion. His Mum asked him if he wanted to learn the pipes or the accordion – and Iain “quite fancied having a shot at the accordion”.
So, while they were on holiday in Blackpool (or “the annual pilgrimage” as Iain calls it), they visited a music shop, with “rows and rows” of accordions. His parents said if he wanted to learn the accordion, they’d need to get him one. So he chose a red 48 bass accordion which cost about £80. His parents put a payment down on it there an then. Then around six months later, his uncle (who lived in Blackpool) came up to visit and Iain watched eagerly as the car was unloaded. Disaster – no accordion!! The one they had ordered hadn’t been delivered – so he had to wait another three months until his uncle’s next visit before he could have a shot at his new accordion!
Iain started going to George Paxton in Saltcoats for lessons when he was seven years old. He attended lessons there for about two years, but the lessons only ran from September to Aptil – as George was working on cruise ships, with people like Lena Martell, during the summer. One of Iain’s first public performances was in Saltcoats Town Hall, in a concert organised by George Paxton where his pupils played in a ‘mini accordion orchestra’. He doesn’t remember much about it – apart from being upstairs afterwards and getting a bag of cola cubes as a reward!
Soon after this, they were told that George would be working away on cruises for six months. That was going to be too long between lessons, so they started looking for another teacher. It just so happened that Iain’s mum was friendly with a lady called Mrs McCluckie (they had met at Iain’s sister’s Highland dancing class) and both her sons were taught the accordion by Jim Hutcheon in Ayr, so recommended him. (Incidentally, Jim was also my music teacher). Iain started lessons with Jim in 1980, when he was about 10 years old (and had a new accordion – a 72 bass Galotta), he continued until he left school in 1988.
Iain started attending Ayr Accordion and Fiddle Club when he was 14 years old – and soon discovered there were other clubs in the area – so started attending the Beith Club too. He soon became friendly with John and Sheila Strachan (Beith organizers) – and during the summer of 1990 John asked Iain if he would do his first guest spot there – and John would arrange the rest of the band. All Iain had to do was arrange the music – he didn’t even know who would be playing in the band until he turned up on the night!!
On the night of the gig, Iain discovered that the line-up of his band was; fiddle – Andrew Knight; second box – David Hume; bass – John Strachan; piano – Keith Dickson; and drums – George McLeod. Not a bad line-up for a first band!!
Today’s band line-up is Iain on lead accordion; James Coutts (or Shirley Cathcart) on second accordion; Alistair McCulloch on fiddle; Graham Berry on piano; Mark McDougall on bass and Scott Gordon on drums. The band play mainly for ceilidh or old time dances – which suits Iain, as he gets to play his full repertoire of dances and sets. Iain is indebted to James and Graham for the experience he has gained from them, be it musical or otherwise and the encouragement they and other members of his family have given him over the years.
Other bands Iain has played with include James Coutts, Iain Anderson (Gartocharn), Ian Thomson, Bill Black, Marian Anderson, Shirley Cathcart (Iain’s wife), Sandy Legget, Gordon Shand and more recently Ian Muir.
Iain’s first radio broadcast with his own band with his own band (for Take the Floor) was recorded in December 1992, and it was transmitted on 6th February 1993. Again this was a slightly different line-up – same front line with James and Alistair, but Tom Murray played piano, Duncan Henderson played drums and Suzanne Gray played bass. To date Iain has broadcast 9 times with his own band, a similar number with James and two broadcasts with Iain Anderson’s band.
The first competition Iain ever won was in the 1985 Ayrshire Music Festval. This was playing a classical piece – as most of the tuition from Jim was on the classical side. Iain also won the Senior Pipe and Senior Scottish at the ASMa Competition in 1989 and 1990 just after he moved to Dundee to go to College. It was while he was at College that he met James Coutts – and James suggested that Iain should go and see Peter Bruce and get a couple of lessons, just for a ‘wee polish up’, as he was still competing in Festivals, such as Perth and Musselburgh. Soon Iain was becoming more successful on the competition circuit. 1992 was a memorable year with successes at Musselburgh (Senior Pipe), Newtongrange (Senior Scottish & Pipe), Oban (Senior Scottish & Pipe), Mull (Senior Accordion, Bands, Mull composers) and at Perth (Trios, Bands, Senior Scottish Finalist). Not bad for a ‘wee polish up’!!
More recently, Iain has been adjudicating for various competitions and festivals – something he thoroughly enjoys doing! He has adjudicated at the ASMA Festival twice, the Newcastleton Festival and at Musselburgh – which included judging the Band Section and the ‘Open’ competition along with Gordon Pattullo. “A great experience”.
Iain first met his wife, Shirley Campbell, at the Scarborough Festival whilst playing at a dance there with The Glencraig Band. Shirley herself is a talented accordionist who has been both Senior Scottish and Pipe Champion at Musselburgh. They were married at Mouswald, near Dumfries, in June 2001 and have set up home in Kilwinning. Iain has been asked to play at various events such as St Andrew’s Nights in places like Seoul, Jakarta and Bahrain. Unfortunately due to work commitments he had been unable to make any of these trips – until last year. He and the band played in Florence, Italy for a St Andrew’s Night ‘twinning arrangement’ between Florence and Edinburgh, towards the end of 2004. However, the usual band personnel were not available for this trip. The band was Shirley (second box), Shauna Flockhart (keyboard) and Gus Millar (drums). In January 2005, Iain also managed to squeeze in a trip to Lanzarote where he was playing second box for country dancing with Ian Muir’s band.
Iain owns a 1970 Hohner Morino VN, which he has had since he was about nineteen and he played this accordion all the time – until a few years ago. Now he also has a Sonola accordion. However, he originally wanted an SS20 (with tone chamber) but couldn’t get his hands on one for love nor money, so he eventually managed to get an SS15 (which doesn’t have the tone chamber) but has 4 voices – piccolo, bass + 2 treble. He got it converted and had the piccolo reed removed, so it now has 3 treble reeds and one bass. He uses the Sonola for all his lead box work now and the Morino for all his second box work.
He bought his Sonola over the Internet about five years ago from a chap in America called Edo Guidotti – who just happens to be the pianist with Paul Williams – who wrote and played all the music for the film version of ‘Bugsy Malone’. Indeed, this very accordion can be heard playing through the underscore of the film – allegedly!!
Here are a few things you probably didn’t know about Iain Cathcart :-
Iain has three favourite albums of all time - Argyll’s Fancy by Iain MacPhail and his SDB (from around 1985); Fine Fettle by Graeme Mitchell and his band and Slightly Casual from The Wallochmor Ceilidh Band.
His favourite band is Iain MacPhail’s band – he just loves Iain’s playing, his arrangements, his tunes and the sound the band creates.
His favourite solo accordionist is Gordon Pattullo – “his technique is fabulous and there’s just nobody to beat him”.
His favourite tune is one of Jimmy Blue’s – a slow Air called Little Girl.
Iain has worked for Balfour Beatty for the last 13 years, since he left college in 1992. He is a Commercial Manager – managing the finances of Civil Engineering Projects all over Scotland. This means he can be sent to just about any location in the country.
Iain’s ultimate ambition is to meet Paul McCartney – “the most talented guy alive”.
When he’s not listening to Scottish dance band music, you’ll more than likely find him listening to a varied range of music from Prefab Sprout to Frank Sinatra – or even some good old fashioned Country ‘n’ Western – in particular Kenny Rogers (this is noted especially for Iain Anderson!!)
In the early 80s Iain once appeared on Blue Peter when Simon Groom was invited to be chieftain at the long defunct Irvine Highland Games. Iain was caught on camera after being asked to hold Goldie (the Blue Peter dog) whilst Simon attempted to ‘Toss the Haggis’.
As a junior, Iain played competitive tennis to an international level representing his country on several occasions.
While Iain was at college in Dundee, he started going to the Accordion Clubs there. On a visit to the Dundee club around 1988, which was then held in ‘The Marquee’, he met Bruce quirie (who was second box player with The Craigowl Band). They struck up a friendship and Bruce told Iain if he ever needed transport to go to any of the other clubs (Blairgowrie, Perth or Forfar) to let him know, as Bruce would usually be going. It was Bruce who took Iain to his first ‘Stanley Ceilidh’ which was organised by Bill Black.
Iain had no idea what to expect – although he knew who Bill Black was and had heard about this weekend. So he was totally amazed when he walked into this ‘Aladdin’s Cave’ full of fantastic musicians. Iain remember seeing and hearing so many talented young bands – like Simon howie, Craig McCallum, Colin Dewar and Graeme Mitchell – and thinking to himself, “They’re not much older than me – and they’ve got their own bands!” This was where Iain was really inspired to form his own band.
Iain has attended almost every Stanley Weekend since. Bill has retired from organizing the Ceilidh – so Iain has now taken over the running of it, along with his wife Shirley, Scott and Susan Gordon, Lynne Christie, and Dave and Lil Millward. The week consists of the Friday night Session – just like an accordion club night. There’s a “bit of a session” goes on during the Saturday afternoon where some of the same players come back and have a tune. Then it’s the Grand Dance on the Saturday night – where you can dance the night away to some of the country’s “top dance bands”. You ,ay even find some people having a tune for a few hours on the Sunday – or “Survivors Sunday” as it’s commonly known!
All the proceeds from the weekend go to charity – last year’s chosen charity is CHAS. This year’s event will be held as usual in The Tayside Hotel, Stanley over the weekend of 4th – 6th November, 2005.
“As If By Magic” is the title of Iain’s first CD (with his own band), which was released last year – and a cracker it is, too. Iain admits he has been very surprised with the amount of publicity and recognition this has brought.
Although Iain has no immediate plans to record a second album (he’s still trying to “pay off the first one”), he hasn’t completely ruled it out for the future. Meantime, there will be plenty more radio broadcasts (including one with James Coutts’ band in a few weeks) as well as more with his own band, of course. Fingers crossed, he might even get a few more trips abroad with the band!
Iain’s advice to young players is to practice as much as you can – and listen to as many bands as you possibly can, to develop your own style from the various bits and pieces you’ll hear from them. Not just Scottish dance bands – any kind of bands – even music from television and films. It’s amazing how many pieces of music you can pick up this way (just listen to Track 2 from Iain’s new CD and you’ll see what I’m talking about!) It always seems to give the dancers (and non-dancers!) a lift when they hear something just a wee bit different!
Iain feels extremely privileged to have been able to play at some of the events he has been asked to do. In particular The Stanley Ceilidh dance, the Shetland Festival and the Perth Festival dance – the “Top Jobs!” I have no doubt that he will continue to be asked to play at such events – and I’m sure that many people will agree that Iain Cathcart and his band are – and will continue to be for many years to come – one of the ‘Top Dance Bands’ in the country.
.