Aussie punk rock buskering bagpiper gives new meaning to “down under” when he dons his kilt and combat boots
Excuse me mate, I believe
your bagpipes are on fire.
When I was a kid my father used to terrorize me by putting on the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards bagpipe album that featured the hit single Amazing Grace. The odd thing was that it wasn’t the bagpipe music that terrorized me, it was my poor tone-deaf dad’s quarter-step-flat droning voice as he sang along. The bagpipe music I loved. Yes, in spite of jokes like “Why do bagpipers walk when they play? To get away from the sound“, and the fact that the original purpose of bagpipes was to scare the enemy off the battlefield when conventional weapons weren’t doing the trick, I’ve always felt a certain connection with the reedy drone of the instrument. At the same time I’ve never found true gratification with its use; in spite of a lengthy list of bands that have put the pipes to use, no-one’s quite hit the mark for me. You’ve probably heard the more familiar examples like Peter Gabriel’s Come Talk to Me (that link is an awesome stage clip by the way), half the catalog of Afro Celt Sound System, or more recently Eminem’s Bagpipes From Baghdad, but I bet you’ve never heard of Cam McAzie, the BadPiper. Leave it to a country founded by criminals and scoundrels to produce the world’s most rebellious player of the world’s most outcast instrument. McAzie brings new meaning to the term “down under” when he dons his kilt and combat boots, preens his mohawk, and starts pumping his punk rock pipes. Check out the vids below, and another one I threw in for fun, by the Mudmen. Know of any cool uses of bagpipe you’d care to share?
[...] they are in the film & music industry. In the obscure artist department, we explained how Aussie punk rock bagpiper Cam McAzie gives new meaning to “down under” when he dons his kilt and combat boots, and took a look into [...]
Posted by Best Of 2010 at dissociatedpress.com on 07.18.10 1:49 pm
[...] they are in the film & music industry. In the obscure artist department, we explained how Aussie punk rock bagpiper Cam McAzie gives new meaning to “down under” when he dons his kilt and combat boots, and took a look into [...]