One of the most dynamic, exciting bands touring throughout North America will perform on October 11, 2024, at the Algonquin Theatre, starting at 7:30 p.m. For lovers of Irish-Scottish music, featuring both bagpipe and fiddle, with a modern edginess, including comedic interludes and stories, this is a must-see event.
The seven-member traditional folk-rock band has only two scheduled shows in Muskoka this year. They are rounding off a year of hectic, far-ranging travel, playing to sold-out audiences throughout Canada and the eastern United States.
For Ian Irmisch, founder, Emcee, singer, and bodhran player, the opportunity to bring their show close to his Port Sydney home is a welcomed occasion. Ian, along with drummer Charlie McKittrick, also a Port Sydney resident and active local Huntsville musician, met with Doppler to enthusiastically chat about the Algonquin Theatre show and their nearly thirty-year history as a band.
Founded in 1996 by Ian Irmisch and his sister Ellen Wilkes-Irmisch, both of whom trained as dancers at their mother’s dance studio, named the band after an affectionate nickname their father bestowed upon them as the “wee Tartan Terrors.” The band is a loving tribute to the music, dance, and theatre that they both mastered and cherished. Ellen Wilkes-Irmisch passed away in 2019.
Comprised of several vocalists, two guitarists, bass, fiddle, bagpipe, drummer, and bodhran, their music is powerful, stirring, and magnificently elevating. Derived from traditional Scottish Highland marches and Celtic folk songs, blended with Irish jigs and reels, the band’s energy and drive can only be defined as breathtaking. “A fun, high energy, cultural experience,” says McKittrick with a laugh.
McKittrick a phenomenal drummer, vocalist, guitarist and songwriter, has been active in Huntsville as a solo act for a number of years in between his work with Tartan Terrors which he has been a member of for seven years.
Irmisch, who holds impressive credentials in film and dance, explained that the origin of the Tartan Terrors was inspired by the legendary “Godfather of Celtic Music”, John Allan Cameron, who brought his love of Cape Breton music into the mainstream through a decades-long career. It’s a chance to “get off the phones and share some fellowship”, stating that “laughter is good medicine”, Ian explained. With his dancing days behind him, Ian’s role is largely now as ring-master, raconteur, and jokester, but it is clear that he is a vigorous, vital force in the band’s concert productions.
With seven released albums and countless miles of touring, Ian Irmisch promises a magical night of music for the whole family with something for kids and adults alike, including some extraordinary songwriting from band members, including two from McKittrick.
Tartan Terrors – Perfect Storm (C. McKittrick)
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