A recent article in an English newspaper about the Western Isles sparked the mother of all brouhahas among residents.
It havered about the remoteness of the locale and how there was the sound of silence wherever the author travelled. As a capsule review, it might as well have dismissed Lewis and Harris as one giant Trappist monastery where the locals observed the Sabbath every day, studied their bibles and eschewed the arts as some pagan vice.
Of course, anybody who has ever visited Stornoway or Tarbert will soon appreciate there is a feast of music, dance and other forms of entertainment in the howffs, hostelries and halls which host ceilidhs and hootenannys on a regular basis.
The islands may still observe some of the old traditions, but if you want an inkling of how they’ve been melded with modern culture, you only have to say one short phrase.
‘A marvellous type of bonkers’
Peat & Diesel. Got it? Yes, the band comprising fisherman, Calum “Boydie” MacLeod, airport electrician, Innes Scott, and delivery driver, Uilleam “Uilly” MacLeod, who have attracted a global audience for their idiosyncratic mix of Celtic punk and stomping rock.
Their rise has been the stuff of Tinseltown dreams, transforming the lives of lads who once performed at children’s parties to becoming sell-out sensations at Glasgow’s Barrowlands and headliners at high-profile festivals such as Belladrum.
Earlier this year it emerged the band had been asked by Disney for use of their music in an episode of superhero comedy series Extraordinary.
A BBC documentary in 2020 highlighted their journey from local heroes to international stars – and although a little pandemic put a spanner in the works, they will return next week to the venue which featured in that revealing programme.
As they told me, they’re still composing, creating, collaborating and cutting CDs, even if they occasionally look at one another and ask: “What the hell’s going on?”
There aren’t many people these days who aren’t familiar with at least some of the songs on their CDs Uptown Fank and Light my Byre, but Boydie, the most extrovert of the triumvirate, could never have envisaged the furore which the self-styled “kitchen band” would provoke when he posted one of their songs online – and woke up eight hours later to find it had attracted 25,000 views on social media.
But that’s one of the great things about these douce islanders. There’s no look-at-me prima donnaism in their psyche: what you see is absolutely what you get and if fame has helped invade their privacy – Boydie recalls when he found himself signing autographs for two hours when “I only went out to get a burger” – they have managed the switch from the daily grind and life on the croft to performing in packed arenas by sticking to the same response. That “it’s bonkers”, but it’s also a “marvellous type of bonkers”.
And they are as excited now as in the pre-Covid days about the Barrowlands revival.
‘It’s all for a great cause’
They told me: “We have had an incredible few months on tour and it’s really good getting back into the swing of it. We’re looking forward to a busy summer getting out and playing gigs and festivals.
“[The] Barrowlands always feels like a home from home, the crowd are always up for a good time and the place is rocking from the moment we start….so we can’t wait and it’s all for a great cause [as a fundraiser for the Western Isles Island Games Association].
“I don’t think there’s any escapism anymore for any of us. We still get people coming up to us at home asking for pictures and just coming to talk to us about life on the road.
“We’ll never get used to the attention, because we’re still getting our heads round how it’s all happening, and we still get shocked at the reaction of a lot of people.”
Yet, while they are providing enjoyment to fans from Tarbert to Tasmania and Stornoway to San Francisco, they will continue with their unique recording process.
It’s raw, but it seems to suit us
Innes Scott explained: “Boydie writes all the songs, so there are times where we don’t have a clue what we are doing.
“He will send us a video of a new song on his phone and, although we have never played it together, he will suddenly decide to sing it in the middle of a concert.
“But that means there is nothing synthetic about our music. Yes, it’s raw, but it’s real and it seems to work.
“When we walked in there [the Barrowlands for the first time] and saw the size of the arena while it was empty, and thought about all the big bands who had played there, you could sense there was something special about it.
“It was daunting to know that the place would be packed later on but, once we were on stage and we had done two or three songs, we loved it and the crowd and the atmosphere was fantastic.”
New songs and another documentary
One senses the exhilaration which these characters are deriving from having broken the shackles and having the opportunity to kick up a storm in the months ahead.
When he’s in front of an audience, Boydie in particular can make Lewis Capaldi seem like a shrinking violet, but his high-voltage, bring-the-house-down displays are the fuel on which Peat & Diesel have sparked since they burst to prominence.
So what can we expect from these three amigos? Well, plenty as it transpires.
They told me: “We are very busy over the next three months and we’ve tried to limit the gigs on either side of the summer. There’s a lot of festivals and big headlining gigs over the summer and we look forward to bringing our set to some new ears across the UK.
“On the new music front, we’re currently working together on practicing some new stuff and hopeful that we can have a single sometime in the not too distant future.
The documentary was good fun and we really enjoyed making it with the crew. We’re in the process of making a new one right now and we can’t wait to bring it to you.”
Back on the road to somewhere
They might be unlikely pop sensations, but this group tick all the boxes when it comes to embracing the spotlight and being inspired rather than intimidated by knowing there seem to be cameras following them around on a constant basis.
It’s another universe from those early days in Stornoway and, in some respects, the ubiquitous Boydie is still processing the adjustments from working at sea to making waves wherever he ventures. But he has rationalised it in very personal fashion.
As he said: “I’ve gone through a lot of emotions, from happiness to fear to struggling to understand it all.
“But whether you get a full lift of prawns at sea or a full crowd at a venue, it’s the same.”
Further information about the band is available at: www.peatanddiesel.band
Five questions for Peat & Diesel
1. What book are you reading?
“The fishing news and Land Rover mag is probably our favourites and the odd truck mag never goes amiss either!”
2. Who’s your hero/heroine?
“From a musical perspective, we’d have to say Runrig. They were truly incredible and their music was inspiring to the three of us growing up.”
3. Do you speak any foreign languages?
“Aye, we’re mad for the Gaelic! Uilly does some Spanish on Duolingo and Innes is busy learning the Gaelic phrases too.”
4. What’s your favourite band or music?
“Our playlists are very eclectic. We love everything from Roxette and Dire Straits to Runrig, Blondie and loads more.”
5.What’s your most treasured possession?
“The wee studio van and its driver Keith. Without them, we’d be nothing!”
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