Runrig: Damn critics who took the low road with triumphalist jock rock

Think that’s about it. In a long career, Runrig released 14 studio albums. Six LPs and nine singles made the top 40. They had – have – fans from New Zealand to Canada, and played London’s Royal Albert Hall and New York’s Times Square.

Which is a far cry from a house on the Isle of Skye, where the band’s origins lay in the teenage songwriting efforts of brothers Calum (percussion) and Rory (bass, vocals) Macdonald.

That was in 1973. Soon, they were joined by accordionist Blair Douglas, who persuaded his mum to hire the band for a ceilidh she was organising for the North Uist and Bernera Association in Glasgow’s Kelvin Hall. Deal done, Calum bought a drum kit on hire purchase, and The Run Rig Dance Band let rip.

Donnie Munro joined in 1974 and Campbell Gunn, later a legendary journalist and adviser to first ministers, signed up the following year. Back then, they were playing a mix of Scottish dance music and 1960s pop songs at Highland village hall dances and wedding receptions.

The first time they played to a sit-down audience was in Uig village hall on Skye, where their by now ample amplification ensured that, as Gunn recalled, “the front row of pensioners almost leapt out of their seats in shock”.

Live by the Gunn
Douglas left the band in late 1974 and was replaced by Robert Macdonald in a line-up that continued until 1978, when Douglas rejoined and Malcolm Jones became guitarist. Gunn also left, ascending to the higher moral plane of journalism. 

Meanwhile, a demo tape was picked up by Glasgow’s Lismor Records, paving the way for Runrig’s first album, Play Gaelic.

Said Calum later: “We’d always had the idea that Gaelic could … be accepted in a different environment, not just at home in the Highlands and Islands.” 

Such was the positive response to Play Gaelic that Calum and Donnie gave up teaching, Rory abandoned graphic design, and Malcolm said byeee  to university. They formed their own label, Ridge Records and, in 1979, released Highland Connection, moving more rockwards and including the original version of Loch Lomond, a modified version of which was to become their signature closing song at concerts.

In 1980, drummer Iain Bayne and keyboard player Richard Cherns joined, and the following year saw the release of Recovery. When Cherns left in 1986, he was replaced by ex-Big Country member Pete Wishart fae Fife.

The period 1987 to 1997 was beneficent. Now backed by major label Chrysalis, they released five albums and, on June 22, 1991, played before 50,000 folk at Balloch Country Park.

Alas, lead singer Munro was becoming ensnared in politics and, in 1997, left to stand unsuccessfully for Labour against LibDem Charlie Kennedy, ironically a big Runrig fan.

In 1998, the band unveiled Bruce Guthro as new frontman, he being a singer-songwriter from Nova Scotia, which won new fans in yonder Canada. Guthro was to spend 20 years with the band.

After releasing In Search Of Angels (1999) on their own label to mixed reviews, 2001’s The Stamping Ground saw a return to form, which didn’t stop keyboard player Wishart defecting to Westminster, graveyard of Scottish hopes, after being elected SNP MP for Tayside North, the start of a long and, according to his detractors (who call him “Slippers”), cosy career at Westminster. He was replaced by Brian Hurren.

American dream
IN 2003, Runrig played a 30th Anniversary concert on the esplanade at Stirling Castle and, in 2006, performed their first US concert, a benefit for charity Glasgow The Caring City, at New York’s Nokia Theatre.

In 2007, an outdoor show at Loch Ness was attended by 18,500 punters in heavy rain. This was the first in what was to become an annual Runrig fixture: outdoor shows in Scotia.

That year, the band re-recorded Loch Lomond to raise funds for the BBC’s Children In Need appeal, with Tartan Army backing singers including Rod Stewart. In 2008, this Hampden Remix was named Best Scottish Song Of All Time.

The 2009 outdoor show at Scone Palace was part of Scotland’s Year of Homecoming, with First Minister Alex “Scone Face” Salmond appearing on stage to launch a project called SconeStone, aimed at promoting Scotland as a compassionate nation through the Stone’s “journey of kindness” across the world. Apologies for throwing up there, folks.

Life being unkind, all good things end and, in 2016, the band announced their retirement from studio recording after 14th such album, The Story.

They said: “We are now simply at that point in time where longevity and circumstance have to be balanced against what is right for the art and the muse.” I see.

Founder Calum Macdonald, by then aged 62, told the Daily Record: “Within Scotland, there’s a big-time turn-off for Runrig. We have a problem. I think it’s because we sing in Gaelic and rock bands don’t come from the Isle of Skye.”

Calum revealed their frustration when searching record shop racks for their albums: “We tried so hard to get them in ‘R’ after Rolling Stones and before Run-DMC but we always found ourselves in the Scottish dance bands or pipe bands section alongside The Corries or Jimmy Shand.” The ignominy!

Final curtain call
IN 2017, the band announced one last tour, The Final Mile, taking in Germany, Denmark and the UK, before ending in August 2018 with a show performed in the shadow of Stirling Castle.

Tickets sold out in minutes so a second gig was organised, making a total audience of 52,000. 
The Herald reported fans’ complaints about touts snapping up briefs and reselling them at five times the price.

With many fans travelling from the Hebrides, CalMac warned that ferries were full, while Loganair put on extra flights to Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Original frontman Donnie Munro rejoined the band on stage, performing with his own backing group then with Runrig and the Glasgow Islay Gaelic Choir. Fair to say the rousing rendition of Loch Lomond provided an emotional finale.