Top Stories - Arts & Entertainment

Thursday, June 24, 2004
Fun and games on the road
BY CHRIS CONNORS


LOUISBOURG — While spending long hours in their van, globe-trotting
quintet Slainte Mhath has concocted some unusual ways to kill the
time. And they often go a bit beyond run-of-the mill road games like
I Spy and 20 Questions, according to fiddler and stepdancer Lisa
Gallant.
On one recent tour, Gallant says the main source of entertainment
was to talk about keyboard player and percussionist Ryan MacNeil's
idol Bill Cosby at least once each day. Another game involved The
Wailin' Jenny's, who they met at various festivals. Every time the
Winnipeg-based band hit the stage, Slainte Mhath members hit the
dance floor and tried their best to dance off-time to the music,
leaving fans scratching their heads in amazement over how a group of
musicians could be so tone deaf.

And during a month-long tour through Sweden a few years ago, Gallant
says Ryan, Boyd MacNeil (octave mandolin, fiddle, guitars and
percussion), Brian Talbot (drums and percussion) and John MacPhee
(Highland bagpipes, Scottish reel pipes and Irish flute), started a
contest to see who could talk in falsetto the longest. Since no one
gave in, the boys talked in high voices — even at fuel stops — for
the entire tour.

"It's pretty fun actually," Gallant says of life on the road. "The
van is time when you can't do anything else but hang out. It's a lot
of laughs."

But the band won't likely be hitting too many high notes this
summer.

Unlike past years, their schedule finds them much closer to home
with several local concerts lined up, beginning with an appearance
at the Louisbourg Playhouse Sunday night. And it will be a family
affair Wednesday night when Gallant and her father Roger (a talented
singer) join Barra MacNeil clan members Ryan and Boyd for a square
dance at the Boisdale Fire Hall.

"For the last couple of years we've had to — especially in the
summer — go away and spend our summers traveling in other countries
because it seems that's where all the opportunities are. But this
summer, we are really, really pleased that so many opportunities
happened locally," says Gallant, who is particularly thrilled about
having a chance to share the stage with her father, a high school
teacher who rarely performs publicly.

"It's not too often he steps on a stage so it will be nice to see
him and hear him sing," she says. "He has a load of great songs. He
was singing the other night and I couldn't believe it."

While fans will be disappointed to learn that the band has no
immediate plans to record a follow-up to their acclaimed sophomore
album, Va, members have been busy with various side projects, she
says.

She and Ryan did some recording on Seven Nations piper Scott Long's
latest album, In and Out the Harbour, and John and Ryan recently
recorded a TV special with the Chieftains (and The Cottars) in
Halifax that will be aired on CBC this fall. As well, Brian became
an official endorser of Sabian Cymbals during the fourth annual Cape
Breton International Drum Festival.

For tickets to Slainte Mhath's show in Louisbourg, phone 733-2996.
Tickets for the Boisdale (9 p.m.-1 a.m.) are available at the door.

To learn more about Slainte Mhath, check out their Web site,
www.slaintemhath.com.

cconnors@...