Gaelic storm is a world famous Celtic style band originating out of Santa Monica, California. Their musical style leans heavily towards traditional folk music that can be found in Ireland and Scotland. Music experts categorize them as a Celtic rock band, or of the Celtic rock genre. There are currently five total band members, with each brining their own unique sound to the band's flavor. Patrick Murphy is the lead vocals, and he also plays the accordion, spoons, and bodhrán. Steve Twigger also does lead vocals, in addition to playing the guitar, bouzouki, and mandolin. Ryan Lacey does some vocals, but is mostly in charge of various percussion instruments. Peter Purvis plays the Highland bagpipes, Uillean pipes, DegerPipes, and the whistle. And finally, Jessie Burns does a bit of vocals, and plays the fiddle. There are also nine former band members, who were all instrumental in shaping the group's current musical path.
The band was first started all the way back in 1996, when Patrick Murphy, Steve Wehmeyer, Steve Twigger, and Brian Walsh got together to perform at the Santa Monica hot spot called O'Brien's Irish Pub and Restaurant. At the time Patrick Murphy was a manager for the pub, and so it was easy to setup the gig. They continued to play on and off for that year, and gained themselves quite the following, especially with anyone of Irish or Scottish descent. Outside of the original venue where they were accustomed to performing, they all bounced around at various other venues within the local Santa Monica area. Word started to get around of the band's unique playing style, and eventually they would catch the ear of Hollywood, which would in turn catapult their success and fame to heights that they never thought possible. If you listen to their music, try and recall where you first heard them perform, as a hint think of a huge sinking ship.
If you didn't guess correctly, the place where you probably first became aquatinted with the band was on the steerage level of the ship Titanic, in James Cameron's epic 1997 film detailing the saga of the sinking ocean liner. Gaelic Storm was the band performing in the scene where Jack Dawson dances with Rose DeWitt Bukater, and eventually the scene breaks into a full fledged beer guzzling party. It was this scene that allowed the band access to a global audience, and they've been a huge success ever since then. From 1997 onward, they began aggressively touring the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Hong Kong, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and even Japan. Their record sales also skyrocketed during this time, and many of their concerts where completely sold out. The videos of these early concerts can be found on YouTube, which I'm sure will take you back to your memories of watching them in the film.
To date the band is still very popular, and they still remain very active, usually playing up to 125 separate venues per year. They have completed seven albums in total, Gaelic Storm, Herding Cats, Tree, Special Reserve, How Are We Getting Home, Bring Yer Wellies, and What's The Rumpus. All of these albums can be purchased online at Amazon, or at various other music stores. I have all of their albums myself, and enjoy listening to their music in just about any mood or setting, whether it be in the car on the way to work, or at a social gathering. If you are interested in learning more about them, then we encourage you to check out their official website, which can be found by typing their name into Google Search. We would like to thank you for reading through this article, we hope that you enjoyed it. For more information on Gaelic and Celtic themed music, please be sure to browse around this section of our website some more.
