I recently signed up for a Toronto Scottish Alumni Facebook group. Their page has a post about a time capsule with items that reflect the Regiment in 2021. This got me thinking.
Why not do a written time capsule covering items in my box of ‘treasures’?
The blog also mentions 19 cases of the 1975 record made by the Pipes and Drums sitting in storage. Apparently, they are from the wrong era and don’t qualify for inclusion.
So why include the record in my stories?
It so happens that in my box of treasures I have a couple of items related to that record. They include a record sleeve (pictured below) and a share certificate of the entity set up to raise funds for the recording.
The registered entity was called Blue Hackle Scottish Sales (Toronto) Limited. Never heard what happened to it. Wonder if I’m rich? Judging by the leftover 19 cases – maybe not.
The album was titled PIPES UP! – Canadian Champions.
The record jacket explains the Canadian Champions connection. The band had won 3 competitions at the grade 2 and 3 levels that had been tagged as Canadian championships. So technically we were Canadian champions.
Marketing at it’s finest. I didn’t have anything to do with the album cover.
Two of the ‘Canadian Champion’ competitions were held in Ottawa (1975 and 1976). I remember playing at Lansdowne Stadium and staying at the university student residences. Funny enough, work saw me transferred to Ottawa from Calgary over 25 years later.
The Recording Session
The session took place in an 1800’s heritage stone building located in downtown Toronto. St Andrews Church is an extraordinarily beautiful building and known for its amazing acoustics.
Everyone showed up for the recording session in good spirits. This lasted as long as it took to get into the building – it was freezing inside. The central steam plant was undergoing repairs that weekend which meant no steam for the radiators.
The equipment was on already onsite, and more importantly paid for, so it was decided to go ahead with the session.
It never did warm up. Anyone opening the main doors during that day received much verbal abuse. You see as cold as it was inside – it was colder still outside.
The pain is real.
For those that don’t know about bagpipes, I can tell you that they tend to get kind of temperamental when the temperature drops. My memories are of a constant battle to keep reeds dry and in tune and many takes and retakes.
As a drummer, things start to go a bit sour at the point where you can’t feel your hands anymore. Players kept dropping out as hands froze. Eventually we were using just two drummers to record the takes – myself and the Drum Sergeant – Andy Baillie.
I remember being physically and mentally drained at the end of the day. For me it was and still remains something I am extremely proud of having participated in.
After all how many 15 year old’s get to make a record?
Funny the things you remember 35 years later isn’t it?