| Barikada
- World Of Music - Svastara - 2007 |
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THE WATERBOYS
P o r t r a i t
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The Waterboys
P o r t r a i t |
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The Waterboys are from
London, Sligo (Ireland), Findhorn, Scotland,
United Kingdom. Benda memberas are:
Mike Scott - vocals, lead and rhythm guitar, piano;
Steve Wickham - fiddle, electric fuzz fiddle, mandolin;
Richard Naiff - piano, Hammond organ, keyboards;
Mark Smith - bass and
Damon Wilson - drums.
My name is Mike Scott and I formed The Waterboys in 1983.
The Waterboys' philosophy is to follow the music and my songwriting wherever
the inspiration leads, wherever
the adventure unfolds.
We've been based in London, Dublin, Connemara (Ireland), New York and Findhorn
(Scotland), and made a dozen albums or so, including "A Pagan Place" (1984),
"This Is The Sea" ('85), "Fisherman's Blues" ('88), "Room To Roam" ('90),
"Dream Harder" ('93), "A Rock In The Weary Land" ('00), "Universal Hall" ('03)
and "Book
Of Lightning"
('07).
It's been a wild and beautiful ride, and it's taken us some
wonderful places. Among the peaks: playing the Glastonbury Festival in 1986
and feeling
the
spirits of the troubadours of the ages singing through me... the wedding
of traditional
music and rock at the Olympia Theatre, Dublin in 1989, during that amazing
summer when our seven-piece band played a non-stop music session that lasted
for weeks - in cars, airports, hotel rooms, backstage (we would take a
break to play the show, then go back to the session)... coming out of
the Findhorn
spiritual community in the mid '90s with a headful of new illuminations
and a one-man show... non-stop touring since 2000, during which my musical
soulmate Steve Wickham rejoined the band, and I finally learned to stand
in my shoes and sound my own unique note (everybody has one) with the power
and
mastery I always sought.
Oh yeah, that ever-changing line-up: over 3 dozen
players have passed through the Waterboys, some for days, some for years.
They've included fiddler
extraordinaire Wickham, sax / mando man Anto Thistlethwaite, keyboardist
Richard Naiff, Irish
accordion whiz Sharon Shannon (the wicked little sister I never had),
World Party's Karl Wallinger, Lunasa's Trevor Hutchinson, a golden horde of
brilliant
drummers - Jay Dee Daugherty, Kevin Wilkinson, Jeremy Stacey, Carlos
Hercules, Geoff Dugmore to name a few.
My favourite covers of Waterboys' songs
are Great Aunt Ida's "Fisherman's Blues", George Hamilton IV's "Has Anybody
Here Seen Hank" and the gay
disco version
of "The Whole Of The Moon" by Boys Of A New Age. Our songs have been
featured in lots of films too, including "Good Will Hunting", "Waking
Ned", "Riding Giants"
(a great surfing movie), "D.O.A." and "Dream With The Fishes".
The
current line-up is myself on vocals and guitar, Steve Wickham on
electric fiddle, Richard Naiff on keyboards, fab bassist Mark Smith
and a terrific
new drummer called Damon Wilson.
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