Enter the Haggis


Enter the Haggis is a Canadian Celtic rock band based in Toronto. The band was founded in 1995 by Craig Downie, the only remaining original member in the lineup, which currently consists of Downie, Brian Buchanan, Trevor Lewington, Mark Abraham, and Bruce McCarthy. For about a year starting in late 2014 they recorded and performed under the name Jubilee Riots and released their eighth studio album Penny Black, before returning to the original band name.

History

Formation and early years

Craig Downie was born in Scotland and raised in Canada. He started playing bagpipes when he joined a pipe band at 12 years old. After pursuing an acting career in the early 1990s, Downie formed Enter the Haggis in Toronto in 1995 shortly before the band's first performance. The name was chosen as a humorous reference to the 1973 kung-fu film Enter the Dragon.
The band's first release Let the Wind Blow High was released in 1998 on Rel Records. This was followed by Aerials in 2002, which was the first studio release with the lineup consisting of Downie, Buchanan, Lewington, Abraham, and drummer James Campbell. This lineup would remain unchanged until Campbell's departure in 2010.

Increased following

In July 2003 the band played a show to about 20,000 people at the annual Mayor's Cup festival in Plattsburgh, New York. At the show, the band was approached with the offer to film a live show for release as a DVD special to PBS. In December that year, the band returned to Plattsburgh and recorded two nights of shows at Plattsburgh State University's Hartman Theater. The Live at Lanigan's Ball special was released on DVD and to PBS and aired on many stations across the US.
Enter the Haggis' third studio album Casualties of Retail was released in 2005, followed by Soapbox Heroes in 2006, both on the United for Opportunity record label. In 2006 the band performed two songs on Breakfast with the Arts, "Gasoline" from Casualties of Retail and "One Last Drink" from Soapbox Heroes. In March 2007 the band performed on Live with Regis and Kelly, playing "One Last Drink" and "Minstrel Boy". Their next album Gutter Anthems was released in 2009.
On August 10, 2010 James Campbell, the band's drummer of eleven years, announced that he would be retiring from professional music and from Enter the Haggis. Campbell cited his desire to work in air traffic control and the lack of time he would have to be trained in the coming years as he grew older as the primary reasons for his retirement. Following his final performance on September 18, 2010, long-time friend Bruce McCarthy has since assumed the position as the band's percussionist.
Starting with Whitelake in 2011, Enter the Haggis's next three studio albums were funded using online crowdfunding techniques, using Bandzoogle, Kickstarter, and PledgeMusic, raising over $150,000 to finance and promote the records. The band raised over $40,000 which they used to produce Whitelake. The album was named after White Lake, Ontario near where the recording studio was located, in which Buchanan capsized his canoe in the near-freezing water and had to swim to shore.
In July 2012, the band launched a campaign on Kickstarter to raise the funds needed to produce The Modest Revolution, a concept album with songs all inspired by articles from a March 30, 2012 edition of The Globe and Mail. The band achieved their initial $20,000 goal within the first 12 hours and reached a total of $66,035 from 895 backers by completion of the campaign. The album was released in 2013, along with the Live at Saint Claire live album and concert film that was funded by the same campaign.
On November 1, 2013, Enter the Haggis launched a campaign on PledgeMusic, called "The Penny Black Project", to create a new album based on story submissions from their fans.

Jubilee Riots

In September 2014, it was announced via social media and their website that the band will be retiring the Enter the Haggis name and recording and performing as Jubilee Riots. The name change was made to reflect the changes in the band's sound away from Celtic rock to include other influences. In the announcement they described their old name as "paint a one-dimensional picture that doesn't represent our varied musical influences." Buchanan explained in an interview that the name "Enter the Haggis" was confusing to new fans who would come to the music with a preconceived notion of what the band would sound like, and that the new name allowed them to redefine their identity in the types of music they played. "Jubilee Riots" is a reference to the 1875 riots in Toronto that Buchanan described as a "formative event in Canadian-Irish history".
The band's last show before changing their name took place on October 11 at the Westcott Theater in Syracuse, New York, which was recorded as the live album Live at the Westcott and released the following year.
Penny Black, the first album incorporating the marked change in sound, was released under the Jubilee Riots name in November 2014. It peaked at #9 on Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart the week of November 22.

Return to Enter the Haggis

In November 2015 the band announced a return to Celtic rock influences and the Enter the Haggis name. The announcement coincided with the release of Cheers and Echoes, a compilation album to mark the band's 20th anniversary, consisting of songs spanning the period of 1998 to 2015. An EP titled Broken Arms was released in late 2016.

Band members

Current members
Former members
Studio albums
Live albums
Compilation albums
Extended plays