Enter the Haggis keeps the fun going

“When you are a touring band that doesn’t get a whole lot of radio support and you bring something new to people, it keeps them excited,” said vocalist and fiddler Brian Buchanan. “We haven’t done a new album for the past few years, so the next one is really important.”

Since the band’s members have divergent musical tastes and backgrounds, it’s a good bet the next album will mix and match many influences, with pieces taken from up to 18 various genres. As always, the sound will be something akin to the music of The Pogues, The Chieftains and even Dropkick Murphy. But don’t think Enter the Haggis is anyone’s musical shadow.

“With all of these influences, there is a high risk of confusion and running around with no direction home. But this band takes these influences and unites them into a seamless whole,” wrote Bob Gottleib for Folks & Acoustic Music Exchange. “Yes, you can pick out the parts, but the sum of the parts rules and is greater than the individual components.”

That type of development takes time because the members continually debate if they should branch out in more musical directions or further refine the band’s signature sound.

But whatever the decision for the album, expect to hear a bit of rock, a bit of jazz, a bit of soul, a bit of Celtic punk and plenty more sounds discovered — and rediscovered — by the members.

“I never really exposed myself to the Celtic punk scene [before this band],” said Buchanan. “When we toured with Dropkick Murphy I was more impressed than I expected to be by their energy and their connection with the audience. But don’t think we will release a Dropkick Murphy album. We just found it interesting.”