It might be the Year of the Rooster in China, but in the rest of the world, it's the year of the
Old Blind Dogs
RW's Helene Dunbar takes a walk on the OBD side.

The Old Blind Dogs ended 2004 by being crowned Folk Band of the Year at the Scottish Trad Music Awards, a win made sweeter by singer Jim Malcolm's parallel Songwriter of the Year award. Not ones to rest on past achievements though, the first half of 2005 has brought a new tour, a new website and a new live album, appropriately titled play live (Green Linnet).

The album, the ninth from the group formed in Aberdeenshire in 1990, continues the Dog's trademark blend of 4-part vocals, Jonny Hardie's fiddling which somehow manages to be simultaneously gritty and heartbreakingly lyrical, Rory Campbell's soaring pipes and whistles and the earthy beats of Aaron Jones on bouzouki, guitar and bass and Fraser Stone on djembe and conga.

A live album is particularly appropriate for a band who has spent much of the last few years touring, but it came to be almost by accident. "We were working with American sound engineer, Nathan Milner and he had just bought this hard disk recorder so we thought we'd try it out." explains Malcolm. "We recorded about 10 shows and picked out the two venues which had the best acoustics; one in Tulsa and one in Chicago."

"You can't hide behind a live album at all, it is what it is. And there's that performance aspect and the adrenalin. There's always a bit of adrenalin going about," Hardie laughs at the understatement. "We like to make a show out of it if we can."

Surprisingly, this is the Dog's first official live album, although one was released in 1999 without the band's consent. Due to a list of line-up changes, founding member Hardie is the only musician on both. Yet while losing key members can often sink a band, the Dog's have weathered change by holding onto a common vision of their music.

"It actually helps to keep things fresh…there's a stalemate you reach and when someone else comes in, it opens the channels up quite a bit," explains Malcolm who replaced original Dog's singer Ian Benzie in 1999. "But the music hasn't changed much. We've always had a certain formula that has been maintained."

"When a band member leaves, you have to make the decision whether you want to carry on or not and if the other option is oblivion, I don't think people who support the group would like that." Hardie continues: "We've been fortunate to never have gone through auditions; the people coming in have known the band and have known what's expected. If you listen to the very early albums, yes, there are differences but there are also a lot of similarities."

The flip side is being the one to walk into the spot held by a popular founding member. In 2003, Aaron Jones replaced fan favourite Buzzby McMillan. "I used to tour with Craobh Rua and the guy I replaced had a fairly big and vocal fan base too so it's not an alien experience for me," Jones laughs. "When you're stepping into a band to replace someone who's been there from the top, you're going to have people who wish he were still in the band. The important thing was to earn everybody's trust; for them to know that I wasn't going to come in and shake it all up. Initially it was about being sympathetic to what Buzzby had contributed to the band over the years and trying to almost slip in at the back so no one would really notice. By and large, almost everybody we've met who was a big Buzzby fan has said 'You're a good addition to the band. If Buzzby's being replaced, we're glad it's you.' For them to feel that the band's in safe hands is cool."

Aside from his extensive strumming abilities, Jones has led the group into the computer age. A co-founder of the TradMusic.com website, Jones also revamped the Dog's site (www.oldblinddogs.co.uk) with a decisive nod to their fans. "So many bands create a site and it's where you go to get their contact details or buy a cd but there's nothing new to see. I wanted one that gave the guys the ability to add news from wherever they are; even if it's about our own projects or the fact that somebody got married. Then the fans keep coming back and it becomes a community."

The rabid community of Dogs fans also has two internet fan forums which are visited by the band. "What I find very strange is that we get the reaction 'wow the band actually come on here and participate' but it's the least we can do. I think a lot of bands forget that your fans support you. They travel good distances to see you; they buy your cds. The good thing about touring is that we're able to put faces to these names. You're able to catch up with people and give them something back whether that's getting them into concerts or a t-shirt or going for a drink after the show."

One element that has always been a part of the band is that each member continues an active solo career. In fact, Jones released an album with his partner flutist and singer, Claire Mann, the week before "play live", Hardie's solo album is out in June, Cambell has one planned for a summer release, Malcolm expects one in the next year and both Stone and Hardie are involved with theatrical productions.

"You'd implode musically if you just wrote for each other all the time," says Hardie. "You've got to get inspiration from other places to take into the group."

Malcolm is a little more direct. "Being in a band is always a compromise, it's like a team and that can be constraining in a way. In my solo thing I don't have to negotiate and bargain and I think everybody likes to have that opportunity. As a songwriter, I'm very much just a slave to whatever songs just pop into my head. The band has historically shied away from anything too sentimental; there usually has to be death and pestilence involved," he laughs.

That being said, the most recent Dogs' albums seem altogether... happier. "I think the boys used to have a much bleaker outlook on life but basically, they just did the more well-known songs from the Northeast of Scotland in the early albums," explains Malcolm. "We've since had to cast the net a bit wider and dig deeper. I just think that the songs that we have discovered or adapted are slightly more cheerful but it wasn't a conscious decision."

Yet Hardie promises the band "isn't finished with death and famine and war just yet. I'm going to have to speak to the boys about that. Apparently we've run out of very sad music…. we'll get on the case."

Whatever the outlook of their songs, the Dogs have found a particular niche in the US where their concerts take on the feel of a rock concert with people dancing in the aisles and cheering. "It's that live performance thing," says Hardie. "There's an honesty about it and we work pretty hard on the stage, perhaps we err on the side of being too frenetic. We don't really pace ourselves; we just go for it. I think it's very immediate music. We try to have a sound that can be really big in all different sorts of ways."

There are also issues of culture. "I think Americans are less bound in the tradition," muses Malcolm. "There are a lot of people in Britain who don't enjoy things being contemporized as much as we do."

"In the States people are much more open to different approaches to the music," continues Jones. "When the dogs formed originally, I think the guys had traditional grounding but they also were all into punk or ska or reggae so that sound they created had all those influences in it. I think that appeals to American audiences because the indigenous music here, if you like, is rhythm and blues. They're hearing our indigenous music combined with there's."

"But that's also why we enjoy it so much. At home it's a folk concert; whereas here, it's a real buzz. This is not people sitting very quietly and intently, analyzing every roll and ornament. This is an audience coming to join in and participate."

To caste a ray of hope to their fans in Great Britain though, the US dollar's fall is putting a major dent into the bands' profits and they also have a new UK agent so they do hope to play closer to home more often.

But in the meantime, at the time of this writing, they're enjoying some of the benefits of the US's West Coast. "It's awful sunny weather we're having to deal with," says Jones. "We'll make the most of it while we can. We're the really obvious pale guys with the shorts and flip-flops on when everyone is wearing parka jackets.

You can find out more about the band, hear some music and read the blogs at www.oldblinddogs.co.uk