Guitarist leaves Red Hot Chilli Pipers

Jul 29 2010 by Chris Clements, Hamilton Advertiser

THE Lanarkshire guitarist who fronted a world-renowned Scottish ‘bag-rock’ band has left the group to concentrate on a new challenge.

Uddingston man Gregor McPhie (29) was the energetic axeman for the Red Hot Chilli Pipers, an eclectic group of bagpipers and drummers who travelled the world with their unique take on traditional Scottish music.

The group was thrust on to the international stage following appearances on BBC talent show When Will I Be Famous?

Since then, they have toured all over Europe and Asia, gathering thousands of fans and rubbing shoulders with music greats such as Sir Paul McCartney.

The group also played for the Queen a couple of years ago.

However, after four years with the band, Gregor has decided to call it a day with the group to concentrate on his new group, Bags Of Rock.

The 29-year-old told Lanarkshire Live this week that the new band will adopt a rockier, more theatrical approach to the ‘bag-rock’ genre he helped perfect with Red Hot Chilli Pipers.

He explained: “Bags Of Rock are quite similar to the old band, but we hope to take it up a notch, and go down the rock route and branch out.

“However at the same time, it is still unashamedly Scottish.

“I feel my time with the Red Hot Chilli Pipers came to a natural conclusion and I’m really looking forward to an exciting new challenge.”

He continued: “With the old band, I met lots of interesting people when we toured across the world, including Paul McCartney.

“However, the most interesting person I met was Lionel Blair, believe it or not.

“He has such energy for his age, and is full of beans. He’s quite a character. But he did introduce us on stage as the Red Hot Chilli Peppers when we were playing at a festival in Spain.

“That caused some confusion.”

Red Hot Chilli Pipers toured throughout the world, taking in the USA, parts of Europe, China, Thailand, and recently, Saudi Arabia.

However, Gregor will now look to build on Red Hot Chilli Pipers’ success with Bags Of Rock.

“It is a fresh challenge, but it’s one I’m looking forward to,” he said.

“At the moment, we’re only a three-piece, with two bagpipers and me on guitar, with a professionally-produced backing track.

“But we hope to build on that as we get more work across Scotland.”

You can follow Bags Of Rock on Facebook, or if you are looking to book them for an event, email Fiona Goldthorpe on fiona@entertainmentsagency.com