Gillian Frame

Hamish Napier

Ali Hutton

Findlay Napier

THE BAND IN BRIEF...
Back of the Moon are a traditional Scottish folk band, with both new and traditional tunes and songs cast in fresh modern sounding arrangements. Since forming in 2000, the band have rapidly gained a reputation for their dynamic live performances, touring annually throughout the UK, Canada, USA and eight different European Countries. Back of the Moon create their giant acoustic sound through a tightly woven frontline of Scottish border pipes and fiddle, an intimate pairing of low whistle and flute, the distinctive rhythmic force of their guitar/piano rhythm combo, at times augmented by bodhran and Cape Breton Stepdancing, and awesome three-part vocal harmonies in their Scottish songs - in which each unique singer takes the lead. 2005 saw them win 'Best Folk Band' at the Scottish Trad Music Awards, having received "Best Up and Coming Act" at the awards back in 2003 and "Best Celtic Group" at Lorient Interceltic Festival 2003.

The story of Back of the Moon so far...

	In Autumn 2000 the three founder members of Back of the Moon: Gillian, Hamish and Simon McKerrell (the bands original
piper now replaced by Ali Hutton) were finalists in the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award under the title 'Frame, McKerrell and Napier'. Findlay later joined the band after he, Gillian and Hamish had played that summer on Margaret Bennett's solo album 'In the Sunny Long Ago' produced by Martyn Bennett (released on Footstompin' records).

Their debut album (also released on Footstompin' Records) was recorded in July 2001, and was part of Gillian's prize for winning the Young Scottish Traditional Musician of the Year 2001. 'Gillian Frame and Back of the Moon' won 'Album of the Week' on BBC Radio Scotland's Travelling Folk programme. Promotion of the album took them to large festivals in Canada.

	Their second album 'Fortunes Road', was produced by Johnny Hardie (Old Blind Dogs) and was even more well-received by press and fans on its release in summer 2003. Fortunes Road really paved the way for Back of the Moon's success at home, now having performed at most of the major British folk festivals (including Celtic Connections, Cambridge and Sidmouth
Festivals, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. They are touring extensively around the British Folk Clubs, having played all the folk clubs in Scotland, many of them more than once. On BBC Radio Scotland, they have performed a live set and been interviewed three times on Trad Music shows 'Travelling Folk' and 'Celtic Connections'.

Abroad, Back of the Moon have tour agents in Italy, Holland, Germany, Denmark and Switzerland, and have appeared at Music Festivals and Concert Halls in eight different European countries. They made their third Lorient International Celtic Festival appearance in summer 2004, and during their second year there lifted the trophy for the 'Best Celtic Band' at the festival's prestigious Celtic group competition (won previously by groups such as "Danu"

and "Capercaillie"). In February 2005, they went to Austen, Texas to promote themselves for US touring at the 'Folk Alliance 2006', a massive multi-cultural world music conference and festival event that showcases the latest in roots, folk and world music in America. They now have an US agent and expect to there tour annually over the coming years. Also, Back of the Moon will return to Canada in summer 2006 for a 6 week tour, performing at Goderich, Mission, Harrison and Calgary Folk Festivals.

At the Scots Trad Music Awards 2003, the band won the 'Best Up and Coming Band' award. At a live concert in Slovenia they were filmed by the BBC for Burn's night 2005, and their live set at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall during Celtic Connections 2003 was broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland. Multi-instrumentalist Ali Hutton joined the band for their third album 'Luminosity', released in August 2005. The album was nominated for 'Best Album' at the Scots Trad Awards and reviewed with four stars in the Herald and Scotsman. The awards in 2005 also saw a nomination for Hamish Napier as 'Best up and Coming Artist', but most impressive of all, after 5 years of hard work and touring in Canada, Europe and up and down the UK, Back of the Moon received 'Best Folk Band'.