Festival favourites Monster Ceilidh Band have created a sound full of head-banging, glowstick-waving energy – and it’s epic!
Their experimentation with electronic beats, rock and funk has its roots in the traditional but produces something innovative, contemporary and truly unique.
“Monster Ceilidh Band, a five-piece outfit from Newcastle, are no strangers to experimentation, and they continue to demonstrate a great talent for producing innovative yet accessible music. They are a band which pushes the boundaries of contemporary folk in all the right directions, Monster Ceilidh Band never retreat into a pastiche of funk , rock, metal, drum and bass or folk. Their synergy respects all genres, and this results in a sound that is both credible and really good fun. The real talent here is that Monster Ceilidh Band’s style is clearly club influenced, yet light enough to still be enjoyable for those who are not natural followers of dance music. Their sound is like the cool sibling of traditional folk, the one with the band t-shirt and heavy eyeliner. In short, Monster Ceilidh Band have created a sound full of head-banging, glowstick-waving energy – and it’s epic.” Martha Buckley Folk Radio
Monster Ceilidh Band features virtuosic traditional accordion and violin players backed by octave mandolin, bass, drums and laptops.The band bring a modern, non-patronising approach to ceilidh music, the traditional music of the British Isles. Their powerful and uncompromising celtic folk fusion has brought them to the attention of many of the major UK and European Festivals over the past 12 years.
Their last album Mutation caught the ear of Kathryn Tickell which got extensive play on BBC Radio 2 leading to a live performance for her Old New Year’s Night Celebration. The collaboration was a success and led to Kathryn inviting Kieran and Joe to play alongside their band mate Amy in her new project BBC folk award nominated “The Darkening”. Their continued successes include releasing a second album which debut at No. 4 in the folk chart.
The band continues as festival favourites with performances at Audio Soup Equinox Festival, Edinburgh; HowTheLightGetsIn, Hay on Wye; Eden Festival, Scotland; Internationales Straßenkunstfestival Pflasterspektakel, Austria; The Great Exhibition of the North, Gateshead; Kendal Calling Festival, Cumbria; Sidmouth Folk Week, Devon; Green Man Festival, Wales; DigNation Festival, Lindisfarne, Northumberland; Bearded Theory Festival, Derbyshire; Kendal Calling Festival, Cumbria; Camp Bestival, Dorset And Boomtown Fair, Hampshire.
2023 saw the fantastic Shetland born fiddler Catherine Geldard join the band for an as yet unnamed fifth album.
