The Unusual Suspects is the brainchild of its musical directors Corrina Hewat & David Milligan.
They first came up with the idea almost a decade ago, but it wasn't until Glasgow's Celtic Connections Festival director Colin Hynd offered them a platform to put their 'folk-orchestra theory' into practice, that this monster band became a reality.
On a Sunday afternoon, late in January 2003, thirty-two of Scotland's finest and most dynamic musicians took to the stage of the main auditorium in Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall as part of the 10th Celtic Connections Festival. What followed was described by the Herald newspaper as:
"...a beautiful noise. A jigging, reeling juggernaut... brilliantly arranged - the putative 'Scottish National Folk Orchestra' walloped off the main auditorium stage in sound waves that thumped into your chest with the impact of a benign piledriver"
The Scotsman newspaper said: "This was the gig that had been generating the biggest advance buzz of Celtic Connections 2003 - and what a total, massive, glorious blast it turned out to be... awesome power - a harmonious, often uproarious dance between full-throttle rampage and orchestrated finess."
The concert was hailed as the crowning glory of that year's festival, and in 2004 The Unusual Suspects made a triumphant return appearance at Celtic Connections. The 2004 festival concert was followed by a UK tour put together by Folkworks, a wonderful organisation based in the north east of England, dedicated to promoting and furthering traditional & contemporary folk music. Due to touring logistics, a mere 22-piece(!) version of the band went on the road, and played to critical acclaim and nightly standing ovations the length of the country, from London to Inverness.
The line-up of The Unusual Suspects' next gig will be:
Corrina Hewat (harp & vocal)
David Milligan (piano)
Eilidh Shaw (Fiddle)
Anna Massie (Fiddle)
Catriona Macdonald (Fiddle)
Calum MacCrimmon (Pipes & whistle)
Donal Brown (Pipes & flute)
Mairearad Green (accordion & pipes)
Rick Taylor (Trombone)
Nigel Hitchcock (Saxophone)
Ryan Quigley (Trumpet)
Colin Steele (Trumpet)
Ewan Robertson (Guitar & vocal)
Tom Lyne (Bass)
Alyn Cosker (Drums)
Donald Hay (Percussion)
OTHER SUSPECTS WHO HAVE APPEARED IN PREVIOUS (AND HOPEFULLY FUTURE!) LINE UPS:
Shona Mooney (Fiddle)
Alistair White (Fiddle)
Olivia Ross (Fiddle)
Clare McLaughlin (Fiddle)
Aidan O'Rourke (Fiddle)
Gavin Marwick (fiddle)
Jonny Hardie (Fiddle)
Chris Stout (Fiddle)
Peter Tickell (Fiddle)
Bruce MacGregor (Fiddle)
Jenna Reid (Fiddle)
Lori Watson (Fiddle)
Gillian Frame (Fiddle)
Sarah-Jane Fifield (Fiddle)
Marianne Campbell (Fiddle)
Annie Grace (Pipes & vocal )
Finlay Macdonald (Pipes & whistle)
Rory Campbell (pipes & whistle)
Fraser Fifield (Pipes)
Fraser Shaw (Pipes)
Mike Katz (Pipes)
Nuala Kennedy (Flutes)
Leo McCann (Accordion)
Emily Smith (Accordion & vocal)
Martin Green (Accordion)
Phil Bancroft (Saxophone)
Konrad Wisniewski (Saxophone)
Eamonn Nolan (Trumpet)
Linsey Macdonald (Trumpet)
Ross Martin (Guitar)
John Morran (Bouzouki & voc)
Mattie Foulds (Drums)
Marc Clement (Guitar)
Conrad Ivitsky (Bass)
Ewen Vernal (Bass)
Kevin McGuire (Bass)
James Mackintosh (Drums)
Iain Copeland (Drums)
Kris Drever (Guitar & vocal)
Karine Polwart (vocal)
Findlay Napier (vocal)
Maeve Gilchrist (harp & vocal)
Malcom Stitt (Bouzouki)