MAD PUDDING​

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Vancouver Celtic-Funk combo Mad Pudding has performed over a dozen times at The Rogue. Their unique blend of instrumental swagger, impeccable harmonies, and powerful original songs and tunes - not to mention rollicking traditional medleys of jigs and reels - they were not only the darlings of The Rogue / Roots / Celtic crowd in Vancouver, but also popular attractions at festivals and concerts and dance halls across Canada and into the USA. They released four CDs plus a 10-year retrospective. The best-loved and most enduring line-up of the band reunites on rare occasions. This is one of those occasions!

 

Amy Stephen (harp, accordion, vocals) and Andy Hillhouse (guitar, vocals) they were soon joined by fellow UBC music student Cam Wilson (of Van Django, Joe Trio, Pastiche fame) on fiddle. The rhythm section evolved into Allen Dionne (drums, percussion, accordion) and Boris Favre (bass, piano, accordion, etc.) and the band's last studio albums, Grand Hotel and Rattle On The Stovepipe, stands as a testament to the range and ability of this fine band. Cam, Boris and Allen performed as Pastiche, opening for Genticorum once at The Rogue, and we are delighted that Amy and Andy are teaming up with them once again for this Mad Pudding reunion!

 

Andy has gained a Masters and PhD in Ethnomusicology, and he is now Artistic Director of the Harrison Festival. Amy has been leading choirs and recording solo CDs and duo CDs with her Persian husband Amir. Boris is a music teacher and instrument maker (perhaps he will play some of his own French or Swedish bagpipes at this concert) and Allen has been playing in a variety of different bands. Meanwhile Cam has been going from strength to strength as principal arranger and virtuoso fiddler with the wonderful gypsy jazz band Van Django (who recently performed at a major jazz festival in Nanjing, China, and regularly tour in Europe. (They are also mainstays at our own festival of gypsy jazz - April In Paris).

 

Mad Pudding play Celtic music with great drive and imagination, blending influences and genres seamlessly - however improbable they might appear to be! (e.g. Leonard Cohen's First We Take Manhattan with a Brahms tune!)