Kyle Howie

My first professional appearance was with the Dundee Rep Theatre production of Sunshine On Leith in 2007, where I performed The Proclaimers hit, 500 Miles with professional musicians who have mostly graduated from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.  I played with the show in Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.  The show toured three times and I was asked to perform on the show again for the extra two tours, the third time I was playing and working with Billy Boyd from Lord Of The Rings.

I have performed on the Edinburgh Military Tattoo twice, once with the Black Watch and secondly with the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, staying at Redford Barracks for all of August with the Black Watch and living in Edinburgh Castle Barracks with The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.  I have been asked again by The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards to play with them again this year at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

I was asked to play on the Gordon Duncan- National Treasure 2 concert by Ian Duncan in 2008, playing with musicians who play in Treacherous Orchestra and Salsa Celtica, performing Gordon’s “Jolly Tinker” set to a sell-out crowd in Perth Concert Hall.

In April this year me and my folk band, Two By Sea, were asked to play at Shetland Folk Festival in the Mid-Yell Community Hall, the band shared the stage with The Fred Morrison Trio, Breabach and Pokey La Farge and the South City Three.  The Saturday and Sunday night sessions in the Festival Club consisted of musicians playing for hours and hours, I played musicians such as Ross Couper, Gordon Gunn and Tim Edey.  Me, Fred Morrison, Gerry O’Connor and Steve Byrne were leading a session in the instrument room two nights in a row and they were all very impressed with my playing and instruments, so much so that a couple of weeks later Fred phoned me and asked to borrow my smallpipes and high D whistle for a recording session with a Gaelic singer.

I was also given the honour of being Pipe Major for the Army Cadet Force for Britain for two years on the trot, where I played solos and lead the massed bands in Inverness city centre and Edinburgh Castle Esplanade.

A few years ago the Red Hot Chilli Pipers were playing a gig in Dundee and I was originally asked to play Highland Cathedral with them with my sister but as they arriving I was tuning my pipes and playing some tunes to get some air through them and Stuart Cassells came in for a listen and asked if I wanted to play a set with him playing Gordon Duncan tunes and it went down very well, so much so that I have been asked to fill in gigs part-time.

Interests

Music, the most important interest.  I play a range of instruments and plan on building my collection of instruments when I have more money.  I play The Great Highland Bagpipe, Borderpipes, Smallpipes, high and low whistles, Accordion, Piano and I can also play tunes on guitar and fiddle, although it needs some work. 

Folk music, I love listening to bands like Back of the Moon, Treacherous Orchestra, The Fred Morrison Trio, Breabach and many, many more.  I also help out at my old pipe band on a regular basis with drone tuning and chanters.

I also love composing my own tunes, for pipes and whistles/accordion.  Some musicians have started playing my tunes and asking for more, hopefully over the next two years I will have enough tunes to release a book of my music.  I arrange fiddle tunes for pipes aswell and my lecturers at the RSAMD have picked up on this skill and are keeping their eye on me.