Capercaillie star on drinking beer in Fort William caravan with Liam Neeson

Press and Journal

15-05-2025

Drinking beer in an old caravan in Fort William with film star Liam Neeson remains a treasured memory for Capercaillie accordionist Donald Shaw
It was also a pivotal moment in the Celtic music trailblazer's career trajectory that propelled the band from the Highlands to a world-wide force.
Not only did Capercaillie provide the music for Rob Roy, they also performed in the 1995 smash hit Hollywood movie alongside leading star Neeson.
In between scenes they passed the time swigging beer – until the producer put a stop to the fun for fear the Hollywood star would get too drunk.
Donald explained: 'Liam Neeson and Jessica Lange were both lovely to work with.
'We hung out with Liam up the Glen in an old caravan in Fort William when they were shooting those scenes.
'He used to come in and have a couple of beers with us until the producer came in and told us off and to stop trying to get the lead actor drunk in case he forgot his lines. So he wasn't allowed into our caravan after that.'
Rob Roy also starred John Hurt, Tim Roth and Brian Cox as the villainous factor Killearn.
Music for the soundtrack to the movie was provided by Capercaillie.
Donald said: 'At that time it was a really big deal Hollywood coming to Scotland.
'There was probably next to no obvious blockbuster movie that had Scottish traditional music in it.
'It was a breakthrough for us and opened up a bigger audience in America.
'It meant that we could think differently how we could produce music because Gaelic music is quite cinematic in itself.'
Capercaillie are set to celebrate their 40th anniversary with their first major Scottish shows for more than a decade.
From their roots in the Highlands of Scotland the band have toured more than 30 countries.
Donald said: 'For the last decade we have been doing what you might call hit and run festivals around Europe.
'We have also played in the United States and Australia but this is the first major venues we have done as a tour in Scotland for a while.
'Over the years we did a huge amount of touring around the world.
'Life catches up with you as we were bringing up kids and doing other projects so we reduced the touring.
'During that time over the last few years we have always remained great friends so it's always a joy to come back together.'
The band originally formed in the early eighties by high school friends Donald and Marc Duff (bodhran & whistles), both from Taynuilt.
They soon added further musicians and Gaelic singer Karen Matheson to the line-up and released debut Cascade in 1984.
Four decades on from that debut the band released ReLoved last year, featuring the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
Donald said: 'ReLoved was taken from a lot of old material and then reorchestrated.
'It was a great feeling to be on stage such a talented orchestra (Scottish Symphony Orchestra).
'It makes the songs big, bold and almost cinematic.
'It's just a shame we can't stick all those guys in a van and take them on tour.
'The musical landscape is changing quite a bit.
'It would have probably have been quite unusual even 20 or 30 years ago for traditional musicians to be working alongside other styles such as orchestral music, jazz or electronica.
'But that is very common now.
'It is a very mixed palette of colours that everyone is using for producing music.
'I'm delighted traditional music is part of that palette.'
Since his formative years rich musical palette is something Donald has embraced, having worked with musicians across multiple genres.
He has collaborated with country great Bonnie Raitt, alt rock trailblazer James Grant, Peter Gabriel and Nanci Griffith.
Donald has also shared a stage with legendary avant-garde free jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman.
He said: 'When I was growing up in Taynuilt my dad, who taught me accordion, had a reel-to-reel tape player.
'He only had about half-a-dozen tapes.
'One was Sibelius, one was Bobby MacLeod the accordion player from Mull.
'Another was Ornette Coleman.
'It was a strange feeling to meet Ornette all those years later and share a stage with him.
'And trying to figure out how to mix up traditional music with free-form avant-garde jazz.
'He was a lovely man full of enthusiasm.
'Ornette had a great approach towards making music.
'His feeling was if we are experimenting over the period of the concert as long as we got one minute of beauty – that is worth the concert alone.
'I think we got more than that.'
The band's major-label debut, 1991's Delirium featured 'Coisich a Ruin', an update version of 400-year-old waulking song which went on to become the UK's first ever Gaelic Top 40 hit.
Capercaillie last released an album of new studio material in 2013 with At The Heart of It.
Fans will be delighted to hear there will be new material this year.
Donald said: 'We're going into the studio when we are all together doing the shows.
'We'll put down some new tracks that we have.
'With the way the world is going with music releases you don't actually have to spend a long time creating a whole album.
'You can just release a couple of tracks digitally and that is what we will do.
'We will get some new stuff out which might see the light of day later in the year.
'There's no going back from the digital world now, that is just the way it is.
'The benefits of that are that as soon as you have a finished track you don't have to wait for the physical process of it being ready on a format.
'You can just drop it on people the next day. I enjoy that side of it.'