“Mudmen, we love ‘em.”
With that ringing endorsement from Ron McLean, of Hockey Night in Canada fame, the Mudmen are toting their bagpipes and Celtic-rock edge to venues across this great nation, with a stop at Sneakers, April 1.
“The last few years have been very good for us again with being a part of the new Hockey Night in Canada theme song… playing Parliament Hill (that) CBC televised last summer, playing at the Commonwealth stadium in Edmonton at For the Love of the Game, featuring all the gold medalists from Team Canada’s women’s and men’s hockey teams in attendance, and a lot of festivals,” said Sandy Campbell, who joins his brother Robby as the two bagpipers in the band.
With such a unique sound and instrumentation, it’s difficult to place Mudmen within any one particular genre, which happens to be one of their strong points.
Both endearing and gritty, the Campbell brothers add an irreplaceable and unique element to the band’s sound, and their image –– they basically look like mean bikers in kilts –– and their prowess on the pipes will literally blow you away.
Also featuring vocalist Mordy Horroch, Alex Maletich on guitars and banjo, bassist Troy Spinney and drummer Dylan Broda, Mudmen’s history is full of high-energy Celtic rock sets, performing coast to coast all over North America and Europe, and for certain members of the royal family.
Last summer they performed for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth 2 when she visited Ottawa for the Canada Day celebrations, and their work with world-famous producer Bob Rock on the new Hockey Night in Canada theme has led the band to develop a more diverse repertoire of music, catering to a universal audience.
This maturation has yielded many successes including a 2010 cross continental tour with Juno Award winning recording artist Johnny Reid, with whom they also performed at the 2010 Canadian Country Music Awards, and on a PBS special.
All this has led to headlining spots on dozens of festivals and highland games performances throughout Canada and the U.S.
The Mudmen’s recorded music has been featured on programs such as NBC’s The Black Donnellys and Showtime’s Shameless, as well as soundtracks for several video games, WWE’s Celtic Tag Team The Highlanders, six music videos in rotation on MuchMusic, Don Cherry’s Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em series… the list goes on.
The boys have also shared the stage with ZZ Top, The Guess Who, Bif Naked, Nazareth, Finger Eleven, April Wine, Avril Lavigne, John McDermott, Korn, Helix, Spirit of the West, Vanilla Ice… this list goes on too.
This year sees the release of Mudmen’s sixth studio album, as well as several tours throughout North America.
Mudmen take the stage at Sneakers Sports Bar at the Village Green Hotel Friday, April 1 at 10 p.m. $5 cover charge. Hotel special, Take the Elevator Home, is $59 (based on quad occupancy.) Call 542-3321 for details.
