Times Record News
Killdares' bagpipe-guitar blend a hit

Lana Sweeten-Shults | March 2006

Take one part electric guitar. One part bagpipe.

Blend.

That's pretty much the modus operandi for the Killdares, the Dallas-based alternative Celtic rock group that does Texas music Celtic style, or Celtic music Texas style, whichever you choose.

The band will be bringing that unique sound to the Iron Horse Pub on March 23 - a St. Patrick's Day epilogue, if you will, to follow up this weekend's downtown St. Patrick's Day festivities.

The mishmash of cultural reckoning called the Killdares came about thanks to founding member and Killdares drummer/vocalist Tim Smith, an admitted child of '80s rock whose rich musical diet was rounded off by his father's eclectic collection of records.

"I played in a lot of bands in the South ... I guess I wanted to do something really different," said Smith, who along with the rest of the band is just trying to stay afloat during St. Patrick's Day season - a season for the Killdares, at any rate. From around February to mid-April, the band is in high demand, playing Irish-themed festivals and St. Patrick's Day celebrations all across the country.

"All my life, Celtic and Irish music was very big in our household ... It was really big through my parents. But I did listen to progressive stuff, too," Smith said.

The introduction to that roots sound mainly came by way of his father and his diverse collection of music, and Smith was also drawn in that direction because of his Scotch-Irish heritage.

Smith said, like any cool teen in the '80s, he was into cutting-edge bands of the time like the Smiths, the Alarm, the Replacements, Soul Asylum and the Kinks. That guitar-driven alt sound from mainly U.K. bands warmed his heart.

"Many of them, I still have on vinyl," Smith said with a laugh.

"I wanted to combine the two styles," he said of his love of British alt bands and Celtic music and somehow fit it into the Texas dynamic.

"A lot of the Texas music and old-time fiddling and bluegrass ... that obviously is a derivative of Irish immigration that occurred," Smith said.

And the Killdares have succeeded in creating a musical recipe that's all their own - edgy, guitar-driven rock always served with a slick underpinning of Celtic sensibilities. The Killdares' formula is like a hearty Irish stew: an amalgam of different ingredients thrown into a pot, but somehow the flavors just meld in the end.

The band combines fiddles and bagpipes with the electric guitar, bass and drums - a sound he hopes one day to bring to Ireland and Scotland. The group has yet to travel internationally.

Smith has said in previous interviews that he loves the idea of combining something as beautiful and melodic as a traditional fiddle or bagpipe with "crunchy" American rock 'n' roll guitar.

But the Killdares might not have achieved the success it has in the 11 years since it first formed if not for the musicianship of the band.

"We have been blessed with a pretty darn good lineup," he said.

In addition to Smith, the band includes bassist Jim Dawson, guitarist Brek Lancaster, Matt Willis on the Great Highland bagpipes, and Roberta Rast, who is the 2005 Grand Master Fiddler Champion and a six-time National Fiddle Champion.

"Roberta, she joined us five years ago, and she's definitely a pillar of the band, has an infectious smile, and the 2005 World Fiddle accolade."

The Killdares is touring in support of its latest CD, Any Given Element, and is in the pre-production phase of the group's next album.

The band, too, has been filming concert footage for a promotional video and, of course, churning out that fine rock-Celtic stew for their fans in grassroots fashion. "We're building our fan base one fan at a time," he said, and all with that same magical recipe: Electric guitar. Bagpipe. Blend.