The Project
Rockall is a rock outcrop, lying 300 miles west of the Scottish mainland – 250 miles west of St Kilda and the Outer Hebrides. Ownership of Rockall has been disputed by Denmark, Iceland, Ireland and Great Britain over the centuries, but in the 1950s, it was annexed to the British crown. It is the most westerly part of Europe.
The Band From Rockall project is the first solo recording from Runrig songwriters, Calum and Rory Macdonald. Calum and Rory have had a long held desire to record an album, centered on the songwriting, with a musical ethos that was all about getting to the heart of the song. The inspiration for the songs and the musical context is the experience of growing up in the Western Isles in the late 50s and 60s, at a point in time when rock ’n’ roll and the emerging pop culture impacted on the Gaelic community.
Rockall is apt as a piece of symbolism for the project – a place of transient identity – lying half way between the Hebrides and America – half way between rock ’n’ roll and the ceilidh house.
