Tony Cummings interviewed Calum MacDhonhnaill, better known as Calum MacDonald of the band RUNRIG



Continued from page 1

The Band From Rockall
The Band From Rockall

Calum: In recent years we've tended to stay to Europe and the UK. I don't think there's much of the rock and roll lifestyle! Living in Holiday Inns is a necessary evil. Spending all that time touring, you do get tired: it's pretty boring. You could do without it. But the important thing is that when you arrived somewhere, and for these two hours every night, it really is worth it. That's as fresh as it's ever been - keeps you doing it. But the Holiday Inn is not your natural habitat. Runrig have never got bored with music making. The fact that it is our job is great. You didn't have the mentality you arrived in the pop business, and you were there for your two albums, your five minutes of fame. We always saw it as something you want to do with your life - you cast it, you work at it, like any other worker would do. You go through the phases with it. We've done that, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm very grateful for that fact that it is our job: it's a wonderful way to spend your working life. At the early times it's more of a struggle. But in the last years it's been fantastic: you can relax more, make your own decisions. We're not with a record company now; we're not with agents; we're very much our own bosses. That's how it started. We were like that for a while - started off on our own record label as well. Then things got bigger; there was a desire to step up a gear. We experienced that, for better and worse. Once that contract ran out, we were back to our own decision-making, our own record company - and that's really good. I don't think we would give that up now.

Tony: In England Runrig have been considered as being a mouthpiece for some aspects of Scottish nationalism. Is that a fair observation?

Calum: No, it's not a fair observation. Not at all. There was always a political tag to the band. Donnie Munro, our singer, when he left about 15 years ago, the reason he left was he was standing for election - but wasn't successful. Donnie was Labour and Peter, our keyboard player was SNP, and Peter is still an MP. Obviously politics and issues become part of your content, but not in that party political sense. We certainly wouldn't want to be seen as a mouthpiece for anybody other than ourselves.

Tony: Your music has always found a resonance with Christians.

Calum: I would say if there is a common denominator in our content, it is a sense of the spiritual: I would absolutely endorse that. It's what inspires me the most, if you boil it down to that. It finds its way into things in all kinds of ways. It's a constant feeling throughout.

Tony: What kind of church do you go to?

Calum: My family and I live in an old barn and the church is right beside us - so I've no option, really. I've never been one for bothering about denominations, any of that. I'm part of my local church here in a wee village in the Highlands.

Tony: How do they take a rock and roll musician in their midst?

Calum: I don't think they think of that way. I certainly don't think of myself that way - not at all, not at all. You just do a job, the same as a plumber or a joiner or an accountant, whatever. That really is it.

Tony: But the rock music world seems to draw the worst aspects of human nature.

Calum: I totally agree. You see human nature at its worst excess so often. You see it everywhere.

Tony: It's our faith in the Lord which has helped curb some of those tendencies in us.

Calum: Yes. In life, when you confront stuff like that, you see the imperfection, what human nature is. I suppose it strengthens your desire to seek spiritual answers, to see another way. CR

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.