Gaelic Storm is a Celtic band founded in Santa Monica, California in 1996. Their musical output includes pieces from traditional Irish music, Scottish music, and original tunes in both the Celtic and Celtic rock genres. The band had its first big break in 1997, appearing in the film Titanic and recording songs on the movie's. Their most recent album, Go Climb A Tree, was released on July 28, 2017.
History
Gaelic Storm's origins can be traced back to 1996, when Patrick Murphy and Steve Wehmeyer joined with Steve Twigger, drummer Shep Lonsdale, and Uillean piper Brian Walsh to perform at O'Brien's Irish Pub and Restaurant in Santa Monica, California, of which Murphy was the manager. Samantha Hunt joined them on fiddle. This led to a number of pub performances for the next year.
In 1997, Gaelic Storm appeared in the film Titanic as the steerage band, performing "Blarney Pilgrim", "John Ryan's Polka", "Kesh Jig" and "Drowsy Maggie". The first two were published on the second soundtrack album as "An Irish Party in Third Class", while the band's second album, Herding Cats, featured "Blarney Pilgrim" and "Drowsy Maggie" as "Titanic Set ". After this film appearance, Gaelic Storm started touring, and have performed in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Japan. The group has released 13 albums since its inception, including the compilation albumSpecial Reserve. The band is known for their energetic renditions of traditional Irish music and Scottish traditional music, and for their albums which consistently top the Billboard world music charts. Gaelic Storm's fifth album, How Are We Getting Home?, was released in August 2004 and debuted at #3 on the Billboard World Music Charts, #10 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart, and re-entered the September 2005 World Albums Chart at #3. The band's sixth album, Bring Yer Wellies, was released on July 25, 2006 and debuted at #2 on the Billboard World Chart, #16 on the Internet Sales Chart, and #31 on the Independent Album Chart. Gaelic Storm's next album, What's the Rumpus? was released on July 8, 2008 on the band's own label, Lost Again Records. It reached #1 on the Billboard World Chart. In January 2006, the band released their first DVD, Gaelic Storm: Live In Chicago, filmed live at the House of Blues in Chicago. A Simlish version of the song "Scalliwag", from the albumBring Yer Wellies, was recorded and featured on the World music channel in the expansion pack, , for the PC Game, The Sims 2. Over its history, the band has replaced its fiddle player a number of times, its drummer once, and added Highland, Uilleann, and Deger bagpipes to its instrumentation., original members Murphy and Twigger are still in the band, joined by Ryan Lacey, Pete Purvis of Merrickville, Ontario, and Katie Grennan of Pittsburgh.
