Enter BAD HAGGIS, a band that fuses cutting-edge Celtic with influences of rock, alternative, jazz, pop, groove, world beat, African and Latin influences to produce a hearing-is-believing sonic experience. From the dual leads of the "bagtar" (bagpipe & guitar) by Eric and guitarist Mike Hoffmann, to the deeply grooving rhythms laid down by bassist/vocalist Mick Linden, Brazilian drummer/vocalist Rogerio Jardim and Colombian percussionist Alberto Lopez, BAD HAGGIS employs a new musical vocabulary to create an exciting fusion of sound.
WINE DARK SEA, the band's fourth CD (2005), joins the previously released TRIP, ARK, and BAD HAGGIS albums and the award-nominated DVD SPAN featuring salsa sensation RUBÉN BLADES. The 11-song disc includes original end credits music "Cinderella Man" that Eric wrote and performed for the 2005 film of the same name starring Russell Crowe, as well as "Barcos" co-written by Rubén Blades.
For fans of Eric's world-famous pipe skills, the blazing Irish medley "The Rocky Road to Dublin" combines Eric's composition "Cinderella Man" with traditional South American drumming. The album's opening number "Sleepy Maggie" sung by Mick is another barn-burner, seamlessly blending three ancient traditional Scots/Irish tunes with the 1980's hit by The Cure, "Hot! Hot! Hot!!!"
Three tracks feature vocals by Rogerio in Portuguese and/or Spanish: "Ventania" (Gale Wind), "Beijo" (Kiss) and "Barcos" (Ships). "Nimble Attitude's" clever lyrics describe Los Angeles traffic, complete with screeching brakes, crunching metal and shattering glass. "Power to Fly" soars futuristically with the double leads of Mike's electric guitar and Eric's uilleann pipes while "Hunting with Mirrors" takes no prisoners with its rocking Scottish bagpipe and guitar showdown. The soulful songs "Love Carry Water", "Prayers" and "Horizon" invoke water imagery, a theme linking WINE DARK SEA to Bad Haggis' previous albums.
Spreading their music across the world, BAD HAGGIS anscends the boundaries of continents and musical genres with their sonic vision. Based in Los Angeles, the band has toured across the USA as well as Europe where their concerts were recorded, filmed, and aired by the BBC and Spanish TV. In recent years the band has been featured twice on TV's Blind Date , which has aired several times to over 77 million viewers in North America. In 2004 BAD HAGGIS released the DVD, SPAN , nominated the same year for the SURROUND MUSIC AWARDS in two categories, sharing their "Best Additional Features" category with fellow nominees THE GRATEFUL DEAD, THE WHO and THE ROLLING STONES.
"...Rigler and his unisonant mates traverse and merge styles as gleefully as kids set
loose in a musical Disneyland. Combining Celtic, African, Rock, Jazz, World Beat and nearly any other piping
hot genre to toss into its tasty concoction, Bad Haggis is indubitably a kitchen sink of creativity."
-- Dirty Linen
magazine, April/May 2001
