John Renton
By Karyn McCulloch
It never ceases to amaze me how many of our well-known and respected dance-band leaders are completely self-taught. John Renton is one of them.
John listened to Scottish Dance Music from an early age and he recalls feeling an excitement when he heard the music- that’s when he knew he wanted to play the accordion. Again, like so many of the greats, he was born into a musical family. His father, Jock, played melodeon and mouthorgan. Mum, Bessie, who was a champion Highland Dancer, had also been taught to play the pipes – and a “little bit” of the accordion. Even now music still runs in the family. Hamish and Graham, John’s sons, are both very good pipers and between them they can play accordion, guitar, banjo, moothie, banduria (a small twelve-stringed instrument which resembles a lute), Scottish small pipes and tin whistle.
One day while a young John was rummaging around in the loft, he discovered his mother’s accordion, which had “been up there for years”. It was an Azzoz 120 bas piano accordion. John was determined to play it – despite the thing being far too big for him at that time! Nevertheless, with nun’s help he did manage to get a tune out of it. After this John began to teach himself the accordion.
However he didn’t start playing “seriously” until he was sixteen years old. It was four years later that he made his first public appearance – at the age of twenty. He still “cringes at the memory” of that performance, at the Paisley Highlanders Club in Paisley Town Hall. It was here that he first met the young John Carmichael. John remembers being extremely nervous on the night and it took him many years to learn to play despite his nerves. He still gets nervous before gigs, but has now learnt how to use it to his advantage. During his teenage years the Scottish Dance Music was slightly overshadowed by another form of music that had caught his attention. John was “besotted” by Lonnie Donegan and his Skiffle Group – he even tried to learn the guitar and banjo! However, he says he didn’t get very far with them, so when Skiffle faded away, his attention was turned back to Scottish Dance Music. Early influences here were the great Bobby MacLeod and Jimmy Shand, also Adam Rennie, Ian Powrie and Jim Cameron.
Even nowadays, John is still influenced by the older bands, as he feels they are closer to the truth of the music – regarding interpretation, tempos and band arrangements. Some of his great favourites are Andrew Rankine, Ian Holmes, Alasdair Downie, Hamish Menzies, Jim Johnstone and Lindsay Ross.
Each band has something unique to offer – John sometimes picks out “bits” which appeal to him and he tries to incorporate them into his own band arrangements – which he writes himself.
The younger bands today are highly skilled and very accurate, but John looks for emotion and feeling in the music rather than clinical accuracy and sheer skill. “There are subliminal rhythms in the music which have to be implied rather than played” – these tend to be captured by the older bands.
Pipe and fiddle music are favourites that John likes to listen to in his spare time, as well as traditional jazz and a wee touch of classical. He owns two accordions – a Hohner Morino VM 127 bass piano accordion, dated around 1952, which he has had since 1977 and this is the one he plays most often, but he also has a Gaudini accordion which is dated around 1945.
John enjoys playing for all types of dance, but he adores playing strathspeys and this is one of the reasons he especially enjoys playing for Scottish Country Dancing. He has written hundreds of tunes – thirty-three of which have been published. One of his tunes Evelyn’s Strathspey was written for Evelyn Ramwell of Carlisle and is the original tune for “Evelyn’s Dance”, which was published by the Leeds Branch of the R.S.C.D.S. in their 40th Anniversary Book.
The first band John played with was ‘the Bluebell Scottish Dance Band’ back in the early 1960’s. The band was led by Duncan MacKay of Inveraray and had a “very West Coast feel”. This is the only band, other than his own, that John has ever played with.
He has had some success in the competition arena, where he achieved 3rd in the Senior Scottish at Perth in 1970; 1st in the Senior Scottish at Blairgowrie in 1971; 1st in the Own Composition at Perth in 1973 and was 1st in the Band Competition at Musselburgh in 1977. Although he is no stranger to competitions, John has only ever adjudicated once in his life. This was at the Highland Accordion and Fiddle Club in Inverness, where he was asked to judge the Trio Competition, while he was visiting as guest artiste.
Working full time as an engineer, John’s interest in the accordion has always been a hobby. From 1964 to 1969 John was in the Merchant Navy (as an engineer), so didn’t form his own band until 1970. The original line-up was Roddie MacDiamid (second box), George Pert (piano), John Spalding (drums) and John himself on lead box. The line-up then changed slightly with Roddie MacDiamid (second box), Jimmy Porter (piano), Ian Philip (bass) and George Fletcher (drums) This line-up played together for about four years. John’s third band consisted of Ricki Franci (second box), Colin Finlayson (piano), Neil MacMillan (bass) and Gus Millar (drums). This was the line up until john and his family moved to Zambia in 1977, where he worked as an engineer in Zambia Breweries in Ndola until 1982. John didn’t return to Inveraray until 1986 and in 1987 he formed yet another band. This time the line-up was John on lead, Stephen Provan on piano, Dave Provan (Stephen’s dad) on bass and Alistair McIntrye on drums.
John’s first radio broadcast with his band in 1990, and for this he invited two of his longstanding musical pals – Ricki Franci (second box) and Gordon Simpson (fiddle) – to join the band to make it a six piece. All band members still play together regularly, but sadly Dave Provan died in 1994. John has recorded ten radio broadcasts with his band – so far.
In the mid – 1960’s he was involved in a television broadcast – playing accordion on a programme called ‘Songs All the Way’. Also on that same programme were Alasdair Gillies and Mhairi MacArthur. Unfortunately, John never managed to see it on the telly – he was recalled to his ship, as he was still in the Merchant Navy at the time.
The band has played for the St Andrew’s Ball in Geneva for the last ten years and had played in Northern Ireland on three separate occasions. In 1997, the band was asked to record a CD of the music for Book 21 of the RSCDS. In 1999 the band recorded an independent CD called ‘Band Boy’s Choice’. John has no plans to record another CD at the moment, but he hopes to record more radio broadcasts.
Asked if he will even give up playing, he replied, “No but I will slip out of playing in public when I feel I am no longer doing the music justice”. John still would like to compose “a few more tunes” which he hopes will live on, like so many other great tunes. After all, Scottish music has survived and developed for more than five hundred years.
However, the survival of Scottish Dance Music depends on the continuity of demand by dancers. Travelling across the country as many bands do, John has been “forced to realize” that the average age of dancers is getting older. It no longer seems to be an integral part of our national life, the way it was when he was younger. Without an injection of young dancers, John fears for the future of Scottish dance.
Similarly with Accordion and Fiddle Clubs – there is a lack of young players. Each generation of musicians who come into the traditional music scene seem to believe that they can play it better than those before them. John’s own belief is that the music sits above us – challenging us to do it justice – not to distort it for egotistical reasons. What is John’s advice to any young dance-band leaders coming up through the ranks? “Remember that it is DANCE music – and it is at it most glorious when played for the dance. No more challenge is required than this”.
John hopes that the younger bands “still playing in the traditional fashion” will continue to do so for many years to come.
In any event, John Renton is extremely proud to be part of this wonderful music scene.
Box and Fiddle
April 2004
John listened to Scottish Dance Music from an early age and he recalls feeling an excitement when he heard the music- that’s when he knew he wanted to play the accordion. Again, like so many of the greats, he was born into a musical family. His father, Jock, played melodeon and mouthorgan. Mum, Bessie, who was a champion Highland Dancer, had also been taught to play the pipes – and a “little bit” of the accordion. Even now music still runs in the family. Hamish and Graham, John’s sons, are both very good pipers and between them they can play accordion, guitar, banjo, moothie, banduria (a small twelve-stringed instrument which resembles a lute), Scottish small pipes and tin whistle.
One day while a young John was rummaging around in the loft, he discovered his mother’s accordion, which had “been up there for years”. It was an Azzoz 120 bas piano accordion. John was determined to play it – despite the thing being far too big for him at that time! Nevertheless, with nun’s help he did manage to get a tune out of it. After this John began to teach himself the accordion.
However he didn’t start playing “seriously” until he was sixteen years old. It was four years later that he made his first public appearance – at the age of twenty. He still “cringes at the memory” of that performance, at the Paisley Highlanders Club in Paisley Town Hall. It was here that he first met the young John Carmichael. John remembers being extremely nervous on the night and it took him many years to learn to play despite his nerves. He still gets nervous before gigs, but has now learnt how to use it to his advantage. During his teenage years the Scottish Dance Music was slightly overshadowed by another form of music that had caught his attention. John was “besotted” by Lonnie Donegan and his Skiffle Group – he even tried to learn the guitar and banjo! However, he says he didn’t get very far with them, so when Skiffle faded away, his attention was turned back to Scottish Dance Music. Early influences here were the great Bobby MacLeod and Jimmy Shand, also Adam Rennie, Ian Powrie and Jim Cameron.
Even nowadays, John is still influenced by the older bands, as he feels they are closer to the truth of the music – regarding interpretation, tempos and band arrangements. Some of his great favourites are Andrew Rankine, Ian Holmes, Alasdair Downie, Hamish Menzies, Jim Johnstone and Lindsay Ross.
Each band has something unique to offer – John sometimes picks out “bits” which appeal to him and he tries to incorporate them into his own band arrangements – which he writes himself.
The younger bands today are highly skilled and very accurate, but John looks for emotion and feeling in the music rather than clinical accuracy and sheer skill. “There are subliminal rhythms in the music which have to be implied rather than played” – these tend to be captured by the older bands.
Pipe and fiddle music are favourites that John likes to listen to in his spare time, as well as traditional jazz and a wee touch of classical. He owns two accordions – a Hohner Morino VM 127 bass piano accordion, dated around 1952, which he has had since 1977 and this is the one he plays most often, but he also has a Gaudini accordion which is dated around 1945.
John enjoys playing for all types of dance, but he adores playing strathspeys and this is one of the reasons he especially enjoys playing for Scottish Country Dancing. He has written hundreds of tunes – thirty-three of which have been published. One of his tunes Evelyn’s Strathspey was written for Evelyn Ramwell of Carlisle and is the original tune for “Evelyn’s Dance”, which was published by the Leeds Branch of the R.S.C.D.S. in their 40th Anniversary Book.
The first band John played with was ‘the Bluebell Scottish Dance Band’ back in the early 1960’s. The band was led by Duncan MacKay of Inveraray and had a “very West Coast feel”. This is the only band, other than his own, that John has ever played with.
He has had some success in the competition arena, where he achieved 3rd in the Senior Scottish at Perth in 1970; 1st in the Senior Scottish at Blairgowrie in 1971; 1st in the Own Composition at Perth in 1973 and was 1st in the Band Competition at Musselburgh in 1977. Although he is no stranger to competitions, John has only ever adjudicated once in his life. This was at the Highland Accordion and Fiddle Club in Inverness, where he was asked to judge the Trio Competition, while he was visiting as guest artiste.
Working full time as an engineer, John’s interest in the accordion has always been a hobby. From 1964 to 1969 John was in the Merchant Navy (as an engineer), so didn’t form his own band until 1970. The original line-up was Roddie MacDiamid (second box), George Pert (piano), John Spalding (drums) and John himself on lead box. The line-up then changed slightly with Roddie MacDiamid (second box), Jimmy Porter (piano), Ian Philip (bass) and George Fletcher (drums) This line-up played together for about four years. John’s third band consisted of Ricki Franci (second box), Colin Finlayson (piano), Neil MacMillan (bass) and Gus Millar (drums). This was the line up until john and his family moved to Zambia in 1977, where he worked as an engineer in Zambia Breweries in Ndola until 1982. John didn’t return to Inveraray until 1986 and in 1987 he formed yet another band. This time the line-up was John on lead, Stephen Provan on piano, Dave Provan (Stephen’s dad) on bass and Alistair McIntrye on drums.
John’s first radio broadcast with his band in 1990, and for this he invited two of his longstanding musical pals – Ricki Franci (second box) and Gordon Simpson (fiddle) – to join the band to make it a six piece. All band members still play together regularly, but sadly Dave Provan died in 1994. John has recorded ten radio broadcasts with his band – so far.
In the mid – 1960’s he was involved in a television broadcast – playing accordion on a programme called ‘Songs All the Way’. Also on that same programme were Alasdair Gillies and Mhairi MacArthur. Unfortunately, John never managed to see it on the telly – he was recalled to his ship, as he was still in the Merchant Navy at the time.
The band has played for the St Andrew’s Ball in Geneva for the last ten years and had played in Northern Ireland on three separate occasions. In 1997, the band was asked to record a CD of the music for Book 21 of the RSCDS. In 1999 the band recorded an independent CD called ‘Band Boy’s Choice’. John has no plans to record another CD at the moment, but he hopes to record more radio broadcasts.
Asked if he will even give up playing, he replied, “No but I will slip out of playing in public when I feel I am no longer doing the music justice”. John still would like to compose “a few more tunes” which he hopes will live on, like so many other great tunes. After all, Scottish music has survived and developed for more than five hundred years.
However, the survival of Scottish Dance Music depends on the continuity of demand by dancers. Travelling across the country as many bands do, John has been “forced to realize” that the average age of dancers is getting older. It no longer seems to be an integral part of our national life, the way it was when he was younger. Without an injection of young dancers, John fears for the future of Scottish dance.
Similarly with Accordion and Fiddle Clubs – there is a lack of young players. Each generation of musicians who come into the traditional music scene seem to believe that they can play it better than those before them. John’s own belief is that the music sits above us – challenging us to do it justice – not to distort it for egotistical reasons. What is John’s advice to any young dance-band leaders coming up through the ranks? “Remember that it is DANCE music – and it is at it most glorious when played for the dance. No more challenge is required than this”.
John hopes that the younger bands “still playing in the traditional fashion” will continue to do so for many years to come.
In any event, John Renton is extremely proud to be part of this wonderful music scene.
Box and Fiddle
April 2004