BROTHER is watching you

and another year runs it's course.
more shows than last year
and more again coming in 2011.
i still marvel that BROTHER is now a 3 piece.
i never would have imagined.
but here we are and it feels damn good.
we captured the new sound on a live album.
happy with that but ready to be in the studio again.
a good few shows with the 2 piece in 2010 too.
tribal trance experimentation.
and with drew on his way west soon,
many more angdrew shows to come ...

interesting times we're in.
i was thinking of reading 1984 again.
but it seems i don't need to.
it seems we're living it.
being a dad, this is on my mind.
where are we heading?
was it ben franklin that said
he who forsakes freedom for safety deserves neither?
but fear not. BROTHER is watching you too ...


getting on the floor and laughing with my son.
walking in the snow with him
as he watches it fall for the first time.
imagining him being a big brother.
these things are real,
in a world that feels quite unreal sometimes ...
but i feel a powerful year coming.
it will be what we want it to be.
and we want it to be happy, do we not?

angus

chimney smoke

despite the challenges of these times i give thanks for an amazing year.
lots of good people along the way.
some we've known a long time, some we've just met,
and many we knew long ago who have somehow found us again.
the feedback has been wonderfully uplifting,
one of the things that keeps me on this path.
being a part of the ever evolving animal that is BROTHER is a trip in itself.
i've enjoyed the continuing focusing of the sound and show with the fellas.
we are 3 different and quirky individuals but we like each others' company.
and the vision is shared.
here's to our last show for this year!
back at the coach house for the 'out from under' release party.
and back on stage with brother jack. another quirky individual.
i give thanks for being able to make some music with him again too.
and i give thanks too for my amazing little family, soon to be a little larger.
the best paradigm shift ever.
and thanks to you all for a great year.
long may your chimney smoke ...

angus

blown again

misty cold weather here in southern oregon.

warms the cockles of my celtic heart.

good to be home again, tho only for a couple more days.

far flung florida next. sun to spare there.

we played dunedin with brother hamish years ago.

the memories are good. of the people and the place ...

every time i return home asa is more a person.

bigger stronger faster. cheekier and funnier.

and i am always more enthralled.

by him. by the process.

and now he is to be a big brother.

he doesn't really get it yet

but we certainly do.

i know it will be similar

and yet different in so many ways too.

and so the world will turn.

and our minds will be quietly(or not so quietly) blown again ...

anxious to have that rascal drewski living here.

somehow we've managed to keep the BROTHER beast breathing,

across the years, across continents, across seas.

but it is always easier to move quickly when we're closer.

seems he will drive across the country early in the new year.

here's to a safe journey mate.

angus

flying

at the airport last night.

arrived to find i hadn't checked in online, so i was on standby.

and somehow my id had important pieces of info missing,

or kind of flashing in and out, so it wasn't usable at all.

and of course, i had somewhere to be,

a show to play, bread to win ...

then i realized i was dreaming,

and i was indeed already on the way to somewhere,

telling dalbo about the dream.

the stress of flying nowadays,

now that we're all terrorists not tourists,

not like the good old days,

when i loved to fly ...

then i really woke up, at home,

to the sound of asa talking to himself in his crib.

the cheeky, tough little dynamo that is my son,

engages me in this life more and more every day.

he loves tractors, drumming, blackberries straight off the vine,

jumping, dressing up in hats and the moon.

he brings me close to the ground,

(where any good taurus should be, eating the flowers)

when flying these days, even in my dreams, is so often a drag.

pleasanton last weekend. 6 shows in 2 days.

like so many of those celtic festivals,

lots of hard playing, lots of sweating.

and lots of good people, old and new,

reminding me why i still go out and do this.

jamming with the lass and lads of albannach on our final tune.

a mighty way to end the day.

and we will do it again next week in new hampshire.

in the meantime, the boy sleeps again after a long and busy day.

sweet dreams little matey.

and lang mae yer lum reek.

angus

lucky man

last weekend we played Faerieworlds.

and we were transported to another world indeed.

to play music to a pleasure seeking audience in such a setting?

sublime.

next day, a jamming set on the neverworlds stage, in under the trees.
afterwards, dalbo had asa up on his drum kit.

he played there, engrossed, for a good half hour.

and did protest much at having to leave.

boy has rhythm.

first time jamming with my son.

i am a lucky man ...

home then, for a backyard barbie.
i enjoy hanging with the fellas as much i do playing with them.
a very good thing ...

angus

turning gold

idyllic weather here in southern oregon.

big blue skies, light breeze.

countryside turning gold,

like summer on the farm in oz.

some early morning gardening, ably assisted by asa.

best time of day to have our hands in the dirt.

a magnificent brekky from lovely lichey.

playing music just now with brother drew.

good to have him here, creating something new.

tribal trance.

bringing the green room alive.

we play the bandshell in the park tomorrow, july 4th.

independence day.

indie day.

sounds like us.

making it up as we go along.

the only rules are the ones we follow.

enjoy your independence

day.

angus

now, we have done it

home at last.

2 weeks is

too long to

not have you around ...

i am

sublimely happy to be with my family again

after an intense, very full, very memorable time.

there was much planning and work to get to the coach house.

then suddenly we were there.

with brian back on live sound

and guy(pax romana producer)

recording the evening with yossi and shai.

we even had a few cameras rolling.

and leels and james were there from arizona

making sure everything ran smoothly behind the scenes ...

we had a wonderful audience.

very touched that so many people came from so far.

some across the country ...

i hadn't heard my brother play live in many years.

he sounded great.

keeping it in the family,

jack had dalbo on drums and guy playing bass.

dare i say an arse kicking band?

dare

dare ...

we'd decided to be more rehearsed than usual.

more than we've ever been?

after listening to some of the recorded music of the night

with the fellas the next day,

i am very glad we did.

it is certainly the peak of a steady evolution

over the last 2 and a half years.

the plan is still to have a live recording available sometime ...

so, how did it feel,

playing onstage again with my brother?

heart warming. surreal.
and the reaction of everyone there

made it all the more poignant.

jack joined us for the end of the set

for a few of the old favourites.

making music is a blessed thing,

especially with a brother.

jack had suggested the idea earlier in the year

when he and family met my son.

now, we have done it.

and we shall do it again ...

(photos by lisa callamaro)

a happy giving of thanks to you all.

angus

my brother

you may remember him as fergus.

or as bur, the name we called him growing up.

he is jack avalon.

he is my brother.

it has been 11 years

since we shared a stage,

my brother jack and i.

i am excited to finish the year

with a double bill at the coach house with him.

to hear his music live.

to play together again.

makes me feel good ...

and now i head out the door for the airport

and northern california.

see you there?

angus

halifax revisited

so, i'm back in halifax for the buskers fest.

we play on the waterfront surrounded by wonderful old stone buildings.

it is a whole different world, playing on the street,

the audience right there with us, ready to be entertained.

BROTHER first played here in 94. the last time was 2001. 

many good memories.

this is the first time here with no brothers

and it is kind of weird to have no one to share those earliest memories with.

gives me a glimpse of the solo performer experience ...

but soul brothers drew and t are with me and the playing feels good.

and best of all, i'm on the road with the family again.

asa proves himself to be a natural for the gypsy lifestyle.

holding the little fella, now so much bigger, so much more aware,

never fails to make everything okay.

all those other tiresome things just fall away.

a beautiful day out there.

time to go make some more music ...

angus

costa mesa, celtic fling footage

we returned to 3 very different celtic festivals these last few weeks.

costa mesa scottish, arlington scottish, manheim celtic fling.
many years between visits.

long hot sweaty tiring weekends on funny little stages.
just as i remember.

wonderfully welcoming big crowds.
just as i remember.

here's some celtic fling footage from jen,
costa mesa footage from dick and cecilia ...

BROTHER At Costa Mesa 2009 from BROTHER on Vimeo.

family on the road

home again after 9 days on the road.

i only had to be apart from asa and lichey 2 days at most,

for costa mesa last weekend and for our show in oshkosh wisconsin.

otherwise we were together in old LA,

catching up with friends and family and chilling in the warm weather.

but 2 days is long enough for me. he changes perceptibly even in that time.

he expands like his own little universe.

his new squirming body. and his awareness.

i have realized my main mission in life is to keep him smiling.

nothing takes me higher than to see joy emanating from his little face.

so you see, it is quite a selfish mission. i want to feel good.

and his happiness makes me feel really good. thank you, littlest of maties ...

costa mesa revisited was a pleasure.

a funny little stage in place of the grand old gazebo.

but great sound for us, which makes the playing easy.

and dalbo got to use his own kit, big woody, which doesn't happen often.
drewski continues to expand his world and his sound,
and so the celtic tribal 3 piece comes more and more into its own.

i was touched by all the feedback from new and old fans.

this thing called BROTHER has evolved so much over the years.

- out of necessity with departing brothers and changing circumstances,

and because all things change with time.

but people seemed to like what they were hearing.

many hadn't seen us in a decade or more.

i picture the strapping young kilted man,

now in a pipe band and playing several instruments, including didge,

because he heard us at costa mesa a generation ago.

stories like this make me glad i've found a way to keep doing what i do.

take me outside my own perspective of it all ...

revisiting waterfest in oshkosh,
one of those midwest festivals by a river on a perfect summer evening.
dare i say idyllic? and a wonderful welcome after 3 years away.
thinking about a followup show there sometime soon if we can swing it ...

aunt, grandmother, great grandmother, and grandfather
on lichey's side were introduced to asa in his first few weeks,
visiting us here in the mountains for some truly special time.
almost all my family is on the other side of the world. 

not the easiest commute.
i'm happy to say asa has now also met the first of his family on my side.
a delightful afternoon with my brother jack and family whilst in LA.
makes me realize i want more family time, 

especially for him, as time rolls on.
after years of growing up in each others' pockets,
on the farm, in the city, on the road,
gradually the distances between
- sometimes literal, sometimes figurative - grew.
often it seems that's the way with family.
and of course there's always reasons for being apart.
then of course there's always reasons to come together too.
seems like a we have good reason ...

we now have a good number of 'BROTHER looks' photos
from down the years. can you believe there's been 19 of them? years, that is.

soon i will show the best of the rest we've received and the winner.

yes, i believe we may have the one. prepare thyselves ...

angus

costa mesa 1997, this weekend

                3 rather clean cut brothers, 1997. our last year sharing a stage.

in california with the family.

asa was a champion flying for the first time .

very proud of him. to have him on the road is a dream.

don't wake me up ...

back to costa mesa this weekend with the fellas.

so many memories there.

it will inevitably be very different after 11 years away.

well, we are different too. aren't we always?

all these photos are from '97,

the last year all 3 brothers appeared in BROTHER.

we're all looking rather clean cut,

following some particularly shaggy years.

dalbo's back there too, somewhere off screen,

no doubt looking his usual dashing self.

thanks to imaar and marisa for these ones.

my, what cool pants i had.

i'm told the gazebo we played in no longer exists. 

what other surprises await us? 

however things look i anticipate a joyous sweaty couple of days.

angus

 

archive photos, sentimental fool, costa mesa

 i stepped out with the bleach look sometime in the year before the accident that took us off the road for 9 months. so this must be late '98, early '99? thanks to leila for this shot. i particularly like my joe cocker interpretation.

this was at the vegas renaissance celtic festival. it was so hot the war paint was running into my eyes. i could hardly see. my old bagpipes too, before they fell apart. i'd like to get back to this festival. anyone?  also from leila. what year here leels?

hamish's dreads, not long off the starting block. thanks for this one jude. 2002?

i have had it pointed out

that most archive band photos are most likely not digital,

requiring tiresome format changes, scanning or some such wizardry.

they may also be hidden away somewhere in boxes, in closets, in storage. 

not to worry. 

we shall make this search for classic BROTHER 'looks' an ongoing enterprise. 

when you stumble upon the one that gets you smiling tho,

do send that puppy our way ... info@brothermusic.com

here in the mountains. man, woman, child.

i am very grateful to be around in these early days.

he's still so tiny but growing and changing every day.

it is a privilege to be an eye witness to the evolution of a whole new human.

inspiration for another song today. 

'sentimental fool'. a hint of zeppelin in this one.

which of the new ones to do with drew at the colonial games next week?

a warm up for our return to costa mesa the following weekend with dalbo ...

costa mesa was the first celtic festival we played.

and we ended up having a dream run there from 1994 to 1998.

the only non traditional entertainment. we had quite the monopoly.

costa mesa witnessed our early evolution as a band.

they were incredible days. incredible crowds.

and we? we were pretty clueless. well, i know i was.

there's gotta be some classic archival photos

floating around from those days, n'est pas?

onstage or behind the scenes. 

ladies and gentlemen you have 2 weeks to find your favourites.

spring is truly here. 

new colour - gold, purple, red, white, and a very virgin green -

has pushed thru everywhere.

kind of like the insistent thrusting limbs of a new little human i know.

what a time to be in the moment.

angus

a show with kirk and the boys

   Drew, Struby from 7 Nations and Angus enjoy the spring sunshine pre show

monday morning at drew's folks place in PA.

getting ready for the show with 7 nations tonight.

i am excited for the new songs we'll be airing.

a song for lichen, a song for asa.

excited too for the new sound drew and i are creating with just the 2 of us.

also for the first ever double bill with the nations boys.

i hear tell kirk is playing his pipes again. we may have to jam.

asa is on the road for the first time.

the little fellow powers on, 

getting to know his new body and life on the outside

more and more each day.

and he shows me a new world, constantly ...

for now he sleeps. 

i change my strings for the show tonight and watch the rain fall outside.

angus

some things i'm noticing ...

it's snowing. admittedly not a lot, but there they are,
cheeky white flakes engaging in a flurry outside my window.
feels strange after the warm tease mother nature has given us recently.
you never know what that foxy lady will be up to next in these here parts ...

my eleven day old son is out on his first trip to town with mum and auntie.
i know he's a very brave little fella but that doesn't make it any easier for dad.
i finished a song for asa last night. feels good to sing it.
i may have to quicktime it soon and send to drew in PA
so we can play it at brittinghams. and that's the other thing ...

drew and i just confirmed a double bill show with 7 nations.
the first time we'll be sharing a stage not at a festival with the lads.
having first crossed paths in 1995 at a nashville college showcase,
we've found ourselves playing many of the same festivals.
long we've talked with kirk of doing a show together
but it has never worked out. until now it seems.
brittinghams is an irish watering hole both bands have played often
and i am particularly excited for this meeting,
having not heard kirk and the fellas play in a long while.
drew and i will be unveiling a whole new sound following on the heels of drew and dalbo's groundbreaking shows at the sonora celtic festival last month. BROTHER re imagined. with a hint of nations perhaps.
and this will be my first time performing as a father,
already the source of much inspiration.
it will definitely be a large celebration of a night for me ...

so there they are. the things on my mind.
or those things i can actually interpret.
and now i will continue to smell the gluten free bread baking,
strum my guitar
and await the return of my son.
my sun.

angus