Steamchicken - 20 Years

Steamchicken, the popular ceilidh band, has now reached 20 years and to celebrate have released 20 years to celebrate this wonderful milestone. The band started with Bill Pound and Ted Crum but has quickly become a family venture with other Pounds, Crums and Wolffs entering the mix as well as other talented individuals.

The twelve piece band swap and change throughout the album to give a good mix of different musical tastes and instruments which helps to make the album extremely fresh, varied and interesting.

As a ceilidh band Steamchicken ensure lots of fast paced tempos and exciting noises cropping up at different times. The large jazz elements thrown into the mix, particularly with tunes such as, Gobby’s Christmas Hornpipes and Wayfaring Stranger gives even greater variety.

Becky Wolff’s vocals in Wayfaring Stranger, Landslide and Ain’t Nobody Here But us Chickens really sell them more and gives us a nice focal point in an otherwise instrumental album.

Morpeth Rant/ The Road to Errogie gives a real mix of styles in one set. In this particular tune too there is the mix of Will Pound’s infamous harmonica playing and the talented melodeon skills of Matt Crum, giving the younger generation a crack being the forefront of the band their fathers started. It is also interesting to hear the melodeon and the harmonica together in this bluegrass kind of tune as it is not a combination many would attempt.

Steamchicken’s collection of tunes, no matter what argument about genre you make, can all be described by one word, catchy. It is very clear to see why they have worked well as a ceilidh band, each tune will have you tapping your feet and running the tune again over and over in your mind.

A great release to mark the 20th anniversary of this band.