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In for the long Hauler: Cape Breton contemporary Celtic trio performing in Donkin
Christopher Connors | Posted: Nov. 26, 2021, 11:10 a.m. | Updated: Nov. 26, 2021, 4:02 p.m. | 4 Min Read
The members of Hauler will be performing in Donkin today. From left to right, Mike Lelievre, Colin Grant and Steven MacDougall. CONTRIBUTED
DONKIN, N.S. — Steven MacDougall will return to his musical roots in more than one way this weekend.
While he's likely best-known as frontman for Slowcoaster — an enduringly popular, genre-bending Cape Breton band that's been blending rock, reggae and ska for more than 20 years — MacDougall says his first musical idols were traditional fiddle players.
"When I was probably 10 years old, my great-aunt Georgie would be like 'This is Howie MacDonald, this is Brenda Stubbert, this is Sandy MacIntyre' — people like that," said MacDougall, who grew up in Donkin, a coastal coal-mining village.
"So when I was first learning to play guitar, I would sit down and I would learn to pick out these fiddle tunes."
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Now, as singer for contemporary Celtic trio Hauler (https://www.facebook.com/HaulerMusic), MacDougall said he can't wait to put those early influences on display for family and friends today at the Donkin Volunteer Fire Department.
"I'm playing the fire hall where I bobbed for apples at Halloween. It's six buildings up from the house I grew up in and I'll be looking out into a crowd of people I've known since I was born," he said.
'New' artist
Featuring MacDougall, Slowcoaster bandmate Mike LeLievre on guitar, bass and vocals, and acclaimed fiddler Colin Grant, Hauler released its self-titled debut in 2020, earning an East Coast Music Award nomination for best new artist.
"To be in this industry for 20 years now and be nominated for a Rising Star award— I was like 'This is amazing.' It's like a circle back, though, because Mike and I, we're both from Cape Breton obviously, and we met through the scene in Cape Breton but then we both ended up playing for this Celtic band called MacKeel in the late 1990s. We weren't in it together but we were both pitching songs to these guys and they weren't really biting on them so we held onto these song ideas for 23 years. When we put Hauler together, this was our chance."
The first song MacDougall brought to the group was an arrangement for "The Wind that Shakes the Barley," an 1860s Irish ballad about a young couple torn apart during the 1798 rebellion.
Bringing Celtic back
"You can take these lyrics, and you can just put a groove behind them and everything really old becomes new again. That's how I carried it around. I never forgot that song — I still listen to versions of it from the '60s, '70s and '80s. It was the first thing I brought to the band. I was like, 'Guys, I have this two-chord thing, I've been carrying it around for 23 years, this is what it sounds like,' and, of course Mike and Colin said instantly, 'This is a great idea.'"
Although you won't hear words like "bonny," or "lass" in the band's original songs, MacDougall said they are committed to crafting authentic Celtic compositions that can captivate modern audiences.
"I always found that a solid original song will take you really far, if you look at a song like the 'Widow's Vow,' I wanted our original songs in this group to sound like they were 200 years old," he said.
"Sometimes I feel like I'm bringing Celtic music back to places where it's been forgotten about."
The Donkin concert takes place at 8 p.m. with Brian Cathcart of Pretty Archie as the opening act. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased online through the band's Facebook page or at the door.
Chris Connors is an enterprise reporter with the Cape Breton Post.
Updated Oct. 4, 2018 |6 min read
Celtic musical traditions alive and well in Cape Breton
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