Elephant Sessions is a five-piece band that doesn't sing, but they don't need to. Just ask the crowds who saw them play the main stage at the Woodford Folk Festival at midnight on New Year's Eve to welcome in 2020. Or the crowds at Bluesfest for the last two years.
These talented Scotsmen carry the traditions of Scottish music with an intense "neo-trad" twist. With the release of their third album (What Makes You) in 2019, they have strengthen their international reputation for pioneering electronic "traditional" music.
The band plays the Stag & Hunter Hotel in Mayfield this Sunday, January 5, as part of an extensive tour that began at Woodford and will take them down the east coast, including the Cygnet Folk Festival in Tasmania and the Illawarra Folk Festival in Bulli.
"We had a month off at the end of November," says Alasdair Taylor, mandolin player and co-founder of the band with fiddle player Euan Smillie. "We couldn't wait to get away again. It's great to be back on the road again. We love Australia."
With six gigs over five days at Woodford, as the festival celebrated the beginning of the Year of Scotland in Australia, the boys had plenty of time for "partying, and walking around exploring" onsite, Taylor says.
"Aussies and Scots are remarkably similar, other than the heat," he says. "We have the same kind of life. Laid back. Partying. We like having a laugh. That's partly why it feels like home, people are so similar. I think as well, they are very open to what we do. We come from an old culture, with a modern twist."
The mainstays of the band have been mates for more than a decade, and they're still under 30 years of age. The fact the founders met in a fiddle class gives an indication of the importance their mutual musical threads have been to the band's life.
Eight years after they began, the five members are still together: Taylor (mandolin), Smillie (fiddle), Mark Bruce (guitar), Seth Tinsley (bass) and Greg Barry (drums).
Their creative energy has produced three albums by Elephant Sessions in five years, each one refining their approach. Their roots in the Scottish Highlands still shine through in the music, with a layer of sophistication adding a glow unlike any other band.
We come from an old culture, with a modern twist.
Alasdair Taylor
The unique approach has garnered them a worldwide audience - though they are very popular at home in Scotland, selling out venues like The Garage in Glasgow.
"We have a much more electronic sound than when we stated off," Taylor says.
Elephant Sessions has won a tonne of awards, including a 25,000-pound bursary from Belhaven Brewery (and a pale ale named in their honour).
The latest album, What Makes You, is a reflection on another year of touring. Among the nine tracks is Tyagarah, a tribute to Bluesfest.
"A lot of the new album was written about being away all of last year," Taylor says. "Tyagarah was from Bluesfest. It was such an important show for us, a big one, to come out and get a reaction like that - our music is inspired by us being away."
