Findlay Napier
, (born 1978) in Glasgow, Scotland is a Scottish musician, guitarist and song writer.
|
FINDLAY NAPIER TICKETS
|
Biography
Findlay Napier BA (Scottish Music)
Findlay Napier was born in
Glasgow in
November 1978 and that winter, during coldest winter on record, his parents moved to
Grantown on Spey. It was there that he would spend the rest of his life until 1996 when he moved back to
Glasgow to join the first ever intake of the BA (Scottish Music) course at the
RSAMD.
It is somewhat of a miracle that Napier is a musician at all. After a disastrous false start with piano lessons he had all but given up on music. It was only after attending Feis Spe (part of
Feisan nan Gaidhael) that his love of music was rekindled. In 1994 he was invited to a
Feis for teenagers in
Fort William that brought together young traditional musicians from across the Highlands and Islands. It was there he was introduced to legendary piper
Dougie Pincock and
Jim Hunter who encouraged him to give up on percussion, learn to play the guitar and start singing. Later
Jim Hunter would encourage Napier to start writing songs.
After graduating from the RSAMD in 1999 he played with a series of Scottish traditional music bands in Glasgow. In 2000 he had been working as Margaret Bennett’s accompanist and had toured with her in Scotland and France. After working on the “In the Sunny Long Ago” with producer
Martyn Bennett he was invited by
Gillian Frame,
Hamish Napier and
Simon McKerrell to join
Back of the Moon. That year Back of the Moon recorded their debut album “
Gillian Frame and
Back of the Moon”.
Back of the Moon toured extensively from 2000 till 2007 releasing three albums and finishing with a final gig in the
Kennedy Centre in
Washington DC on the 21st November 2007.
While recording
Back of the Moon’s second album at Watercolour Music in
Ardgour Findlay was approached by producer and engineer
Nick Turner to begin a Song Writing project which they later named “
Queen Anne’s Revenge”. They began writing on the evening of 14th December 2003 (Nick’s 42nd Birthday) and had written four songs by the next morning including “Ship in a Bottle” and “Out All Night”.
Before the demise of
Back of the Moon Napier began working on a project called
Findlay Napier and the Bar Room Mountaineers at first this project was to bridge the gap between the traditional roots of
Back of the Moon and the contemporary song and arrangements of
Queen Anne’s Revenge. However as the project developed it moved further from traditional material towards the contemporary
Indie Folk sound they are known for today.
Discography
Findlay Napier and the Bar Room Mountaineers
- “Out All Night”- BRM/Karmic- 2008
Queen Anne’s Revenge
- “Just One Umbrella?” – Watercolour Music - 2008
- “Queen Anne’s Revenge” – Watercolour Music - 2005
Back of the Moon
- “Luminosity” – Footstompin Records- 2005
- “ Fortune’s Road”- Footstompin Records- 2003
- “Gillian Frame and Back of the Moon”- Footstompin Records- 2001
Margaret Bennett
- “In the Sunny Long Ago”- Footstompin 2001
as a Session Musician
- “Orain Do Mhullie”/“A Song for Mull”- Arrangements, Guitar and Backing Vocals
- “” – Iona Leigh Arrangements, Guitar and Backing Vocals
- “No. 1 Scottish”- RSAMD- Lead Vocal, Guitar
- “” – Mairi Sine Campbell- Arrangements, Guitar and Backing Vocals
- “Glasgow Skyline”- Gillian Frame and Padraig O Neill – Guitar and Backing Vocals
- “” – Finlay MacDonald- Vocals
TV work
- “Garaids” BBC Alba 2008- Performer, Assistant Musical Director
- “Around Scotland” BBC Education 2007- Musical Director, Presenter
- “Scotlands Music with Phil Cunningham” BBC Scotland 2007- Performer
- “” MnE- 2007- Arrangements, Guitar, Backing Vocals
Awards and Nominations
Awards
- Best Scottish Album – “Out All Night” – Irish American
- Best Scottish Album – “Out All Night” – Mid West Irish Times
- Best Scottish Album – “Out All Night” – Blarney on the Air
- Song of the Year- For “Ship in a Bottle”- The Garden Sessions Radio Show
- Folk Band of the Year- The Scottish Trad Music Awards (with Back of the Moon)
- Best Up and Coming Band- The Scottish Trad. Music Awards (with Back of the Moon)
- The Bolad de Loic Raison- Best Folk Band- Lorient Festival Interceltique (with Back of the Moon)
Nominations
- Song of the Year- “George” – The Garden Sessions Radio Show
- Best Live Act- The Scottish Trad Music Awards (with Back of the Moon)
- Album of the Year – for “Luminosity” (with Back of the Moon)
- Finalist “BBC Young Scottish Traditional Musician of the Year 2002”
References