Over the past three albums and five years, Toronto’s Celtic rock band Enter… Read Full Bio ↴Over the past three albums and five years, Toronto’s Celtic rock band Enter The Haggis has found itself at the center of a grassroots success story ever teetering on the brink of mainstream success. From playing Celtic festivals to headlining them, and from the festival circuit to selling out multiple nights in rock venues, ETH has blazed a path with heavy and almost constant touring up and down the East Coast, to Canada, the West Coast and back again, winning over success one fan, one town, one region at a time.

The band has made waves in the genre, landing high Billboard and iTunes World Music chart positions as well as major television appearances on shows like Live With Regis And Kelly, A&E Breakfast With the Arts and PBS’ popular program Out of Ireland, with its multi-influence style of Celtic rock. It’s the kind of overall sound and devotion package that has created not only die-hard fans, but “Haggis Heads” that follow the band from gig to gig.

The band has been together in its current incarnation since members met in the early 2000s in Toronto, where more than half the band was studying its craft in the city’s colleges and universities. With that kind of classically trained background Enter The Haggis is constantly honing and evolving its sound – blending elements of rock and pop with traditional Celtic fare, an art school eclecticism and a keen sense of arrangement. Past records have seen the band dabble in roots, funk, even adding prog rock elements to the mix, but ETH always manages to bring it home. Alternating between upbeat rock numbers with sing-along choruses and slower, more introspective alt pop songs, the band plays progressive and lyrically driven music that’s strongly rooted in Celtic tradition – from the storytelling to the bagpipes.

“We like to experiment musically, pushing the boundaries of what people think of as Celtic music,” said vocalist and guitarist Trevor Lewington. “Some of our grooves, melodies and lyrics are quite different from other bands that we play with.”

For instance, “Suburban Plains,” one of the songs on the band’s new album Gutter Anthems, mixes an African-inspired drumbeat in 5/4 time with tin whistle melodies and lyrics in English and French. "The Death of Johnny Mooring" combines a fiddle melody with Rage Against the Machine-inspired riff-rock. There’s a fiddle solo in the song in which fiddle player Brian Buchanan uses distortion, wah pedal and whammy pedal on the instrument. Béla Fleck’s done that with a banjo, but fiddle might be a first.

It’s been a long time coming though, and Enter The Haggis has definitely been reworking its music and building success over the past several years. 2004’s release Casualties of Retail (United For Opportunity), not only stretched the limits of Celtic rock musically, but topically as well with straight-shooting socio-political tracks such as “Gasoline” and “Congress.” 2006’s Soapbox Heroes, produced by four-time Grammy award winner Neil Dorfsman (Sting, Dire Straits, Paul McCartney), hit number two during its July release on the iTunes World Music chart and later marked the band’s Billboard debut when it landed at number eight on the World Chart there. 2007’s Northampton (Live) was recorded over four sold-out shows in one weekend at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, MA, and was a testament to the band’s focus on touring, fan participation, and its regional stronghold in the Northeast U.S.

Now, the band’s seventh album, Gutter Anthems, is Enter The Haggis’ most cohesive record to date, yet one that makes the band’s eclecticism shine. Recorded in Fall 2008 at The Hive in Toronto and Metalworks Studios in Mississauga, the record will be released this March on new model indie label United For Opportunity. Expect a combination of rousing drinking songs with well-arranged rock and pop tunes.

Songs like opening track “The Litter And The Leaves” with its upbeat tempo and rousing anthemic chorus see the band embracing a jig-punk direction a la The Dropkick Murphys, while tracks like “Real Life” embrace the more traditional feel of tin whistle and fiddle throughout. “Noseworthy and Piercy” and “The Death of Johnny Mooring” find the band embracing its Canadian roots in true tales from the homeland. There’s also a marked “little guy vs. the world” theme, derived from the trials of being an indie band trying to make it in the current music industry climate.

This year the band plans to focus more than ever on its homeland, and is looking forward to spending a great deal of time in Canadian territory. Gutter Anthems will be released on United for Opportunity on March 24, 2009 amid a March East Coast tour, including a blowout celebration on St. Patrick’s Day at The Mod Club in the band’s native Toronto. “We’ve started feeling nostalgia for our homeland,” said fiddler, keyboardist and vocalist Brian Buchanan. “And this album feels more distinctly and unapologetically Canadian than our previous albums.” This year Canada. Next year the world.

Star
Enter The Haggis Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Near Bantridge town in the County Down
One morning last July
From the wild boreen came a sweet colleen
And she smiled as she passed me by
She looked so sweet from her two bare feet to
The sheen of her nut-brown hair
Sure the coaxin' elf I'd to shake myself
To be sure I was standing there

And as she onward sped
Sure'n I shook my head and
I gazed with a feelin' queer
And said I, says I, to a passer-by
Who's the maid with the nut-brown hair
He smiled at me and with pride said he
She's the gem of Ireland's crown
Miss Rosie McCann from the banks of the Ban
She's the star of the County Down

From Bantry Bay to the Derry Quay
From Glaway to Dublin Town
There's no maid I've seen like the sweet colleen
That I met at the County Down

She's a soft brown eye and
A look so sly
And a smile like a rose in June
And you'd crave each note from
her lily-white throat as she'd
Lilt through an Irish tune
At the pattern dance yo'd be held in trance
As she'd kick through a jig or a reel

When her eyes she'd roll she would lift your soul
And your heart she would quickly steal

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Enter The Haggis's song "Star of the County Down" describe an encounter with a beautiful Irish woman named Rosie McCann. The singer is struck by her beauty as she passes by him on a road in County Down. He stops a passerby to inquire about her identity, and is told that she is the "gem of Ireland's crown" and the "star of the County Down." The singer is smitten with her soft brown eyes, sly smile, and lilting voice, and is entranced by her dancing. The song evokes a sense of nostalgia and romantic longing for a bygone era of idyllic beauty and charm.

Line by Line Meaning

Near Bantridge town in the County Down
The story takes place near Bantridge in County Down.

One morning last July
The encounter with the sweet colleen happened in the morning of a day in July.

From the wild boreen came a sweet colleen
The sweet colleen appeared from a path in the countryside.

And she smiled as she passed me by
She had a friendly smile as she walked by the artist.

She looked so sweet from her two bare feet to The sheen of her nut-brown hair
The sweet colleen had a pretty appearance from head to toe, with shining nut-brown hair and bare feet.

Sure the coaxin' elf I'd to shake myself To be sure I was standing there
The singer was so enchanted by her beauty that he had to remind himself that it was real.

And as she onward sped Sure'n I shook my head and I gazed with a feelin' queer
The singer watched her leave with a strange feeling and shook his head in disbelief.

And said I, says I, to a passer-by Who's the maid with the nut-brown hair
The artist asked a passer-by who the sweet colleen was.

He smiled at me and with pride said he She's the gem of Ireland's crown Miss Rosie McCann from the banks of the Ban She's the star of the County Down
The passer-by proudly identified her as Rosie McCann, a treasure of Ireland and the most outstanding figure in County Down.

From Bantry Bay to the Derry Quay From Glaway to Dublin Town There's no maid I've seen like the sweet colleen That I met at the County Down
The artist admires the sweet colleen so much that he believes there isn't a girl more beautiful anywhere else in Ireland.

She's a soft brown eye and A look so sly And a smile like a rose in June
The sweet colleen had a gentle brown eye, a cunning look, and a charming smile that was as lovely as a rose in June.

And you'd crave each note from her lily-white throat as she'd Lilt through an Irish tune
The artist was entranced by her angelic voice and could listen to her sing Irish tunes for hours on end.

At the pattern dance yo'd be held in trance As she'd kick through a jig or a reel When her eyes she'd roll she would lift your soul And your heart she would quickly steal
At a traditional dance, the sweet colleen's dancing would mesmerize the singer, and he felt like his soul was being lifted when she rolled her eyes. He was so captured by her that she could steal his heart in the blink of an eye.

Contributed by Lillian O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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