About Enter the Haggis
Enter the Haggis is a Canadian Celtic rock band based in Toronto. The band was founded in 1995 by Craig Downie, the only remaining original member in the lineup, which currently consists of Downie , Brian Buchanan , Trevor Lewington , Caroline Browning , and Tom Barraco . For about a year, starting in late 2014, they recorded and performed under the name Jubilee Riots, and released their eighth studio album Penny Black under that name, before returning to the original name.
Craig Downie was born in Scotland and raised in Canada. He started playing bagpipes when he joined a pipe band at 12 years old. After pursuing an acting career in the early 1990s, Downie formed Enter the Haggis in Toronto in 1995 shortly before the band's first performance. The name was chosen as a humorous reference to the 1973 kung-fu film Enter the Dragon.
The band's first album, Let the Wind Blow High, was independently released in 1998. Their next was ETH Live! which, on its website, the band says was "recorded over three nights at the end of an insane pub tour in 2001." That was followed, also in 2002, by Aerials, which was the first studio release with the lineup consisting of Downie, Buchanan, Lewington, Abraham, and drummer James Campbell. This lineup would remain unchanged until Campbell's departure in 2010 .
In July 2003 the band played to 20,000 people at the annual Mayor's Cup Festival in Plattsburgh, New York. At the show, the band was approached with the offer to film a live show for release as a PBS special. In December of that year, they recorded two shows at Plattsburgh State University's Hartman Theater. The result, Live at Lanigan's Ball, was released on DVD and to PBS and aired on many stations across the US.
Enter the Haggis' third studio album Casualties of Retail was released in 2005, on Firebrand Entertainment. It was followed by Soapbox Heroes in 2006, and Gutter Anthems in 2009, both on the United for Opportunity record label.
In 2006 the band performed two songs on the A&E show Breakfast with the Arts: "Gasoline" from Casualties of Retail and "One Last Drink" from Soapbox Heroes.
In March 2007, the band performed on Live with Regis and Kelly, playing "One Last Drink" and "Minstrel Boy" . Also that month, on March 9 and 10, they recorded shows at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, Massachusetts, then released the live album, Northampton.
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