Latest News
02/09/10
New Job
Next week I take up my new position as fiddle tutor at the Lochgoilhead Fiddle Workshop. I first did some teaching for the Workshop back in 2007, and am delighted to have been asked back.
Here is a lovely article from Mark Morpurgo of the Lochgoilhead Fiddle Workshop outlining my duties!
forargyll.com
15/08/10
'Wait What' Album review from Folkworld.de
Label: Greentrax; CDTRAX349; 2010; 9 tracks; 51 min
Averaging almost six minutes per track, Malinky fiddler Mike Vass and guitarist Dave Wood have produced an album of big numbers. It's smart, it's smooth, and it's probably going to win them a lot of friends. Mike plays in a sweet, unhurried style, seriously graceful fiddling, following the lead of such solo stars as Duncan Chisholm, Anna-Wendy Stevenson and Lauren MacColl. Occasionally the groove grows a little stale - the fourth time through Covering Ground, the fifth time through St Kilda Wedding - but mostly the music just flows fresh and clean.
42 Beech Avenue is a microcosm of this recording. One of seven Vass tunes here, it's a gentle slow reel handled superbly by both fiddle and guitar. The opening arpeggio riff is held for thirty seconds, just longer than is comfortable, and Mike pulls the same trick in the middle of this five-minute track: challenging, effective, and memorable. Vass and Wood are masters of understatement, letting their music simmer on a low heat. They also know how to mix the new with the old, setting some sparkling traditional gems alongside their own material.
Things do hot up in places, but fireworks are thinly spread on this album. There's a spark or two in Gion's, and the Strathfleet March kicks off three lively compositions by Pipe Major William MacDonald ending with the impressive reel The Colonel. You'll find humour and joie de vivre too in Michael Rankin's, one of many great pieces by the late John Morris Rankin. Wait, What? finishes with a truly beautiful pipe march, The 24th Guards at Anzio, and a couple of explosive Scott Skinner tunes. Mike and Dave enlist a few friends, particularly Damien O'Kane whose tenor banjo adds guts throughout and who sings a stylish version of The Hills of Donegal at half time. Exceptional control, enchanting melodies, and exemplary arrangements: this is one for repeated listening.
www.mikevass.com
Alex Monaghan
buy it here!
mikevass.com/shop
24/07/10
Summer Months
Golspie Feis and Ceilidh Trail
I spent the first two weeks of July in Golspie (Sutherland in the north of Scotland) teaching at their Feis and Ceilidh Trail - both were a great success. Thanks to Ian Murray and his team for having me back again - I look forward to next year!
Keep up with the ceilidh trail on facebook Feis Chataibh Ceilidh Trail
Malinky Canada and USA summer 2010
On Thursday I fly to Canada with Malinky to embark upon our summer tour of Canada and the USA!
for more details check out the Malinky website malinky website
26/06/10
How to make the perfect cup of instant coffee
Add water to your kettle, plug in the kettle, boil the water
Add a heaped teaspoon of instant coffee to your favourite mug (if clean)
(this quantity may vary depending on your taste)
Fill the mug up using the water from the kettle
stir
add milk if required
21/06/10
Wait What? on Take the Floor.
Robbie Shepherd played some tracks from 'Wait What?' on Take the floor yesterday.
To listen again visit the BBC Take the Floor mini site here:
www.bbc.co.uk
to purchase the album click here:
mikevass.com/shop
15/06/10
Engagement!
Congrats to my twin sister Ali and her fiancé Adam Rudd who got engaged on Saturday.
The whole family are delighted.
01/06/10
Mike Vass and Dave Wood - 'Wait, What?'
In March, Dave Wood (Who plays guitar and bouzouki along side me in Malinky) and I took our fiddle and guitar to Castlesound Studios in Pencaitland for 5 days. The result is 'Wait, What' a collection of 8 Instrumentals and 1 song. Its out on the Greentrax label (cdtrax349) and can be purchased here:
www.mikevass.com/shop
You can hear some samples from the album on the music player at the side of this page
It features the phenomenal Damien O'Kane who sang 'The Hills of Donegal', and added some gorgeous banjo and tenor guitar elsewhere on the album.
please check out Damien's own solo album which has just been released on Kate Rusby's Pure Records Label.
www.damienokane.co.uk
www.katerusby.com
www.purerecords.net
The Album also features the mighty James Lindsay on Double Bass, and the awesome Steve Fyvie on Drums and Percussion
James' bands:
Skalder myspace.com/skaldermusic
Breabach www.breabach.com
Steve's band
www.pipedown.co.uk
Hope you like the album! We certainly had fun making it.
arra best
Mike
15/01/10
Mike Vass. Super String Theory, Sunday Jan 24th 2010, 1pm Strathclyde suite, Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow
'A current favourite among scientists in search of an all- encompassing hypothesis is super string theory, according to which elementary particles are likened to the notes sounded by a violin string under varying tension. Acclaimed young fiddler Mike Vass co-opts this concept with poetic licence for his New Voices premiere, which seeks to unite the disparate elements of his own creative universe in cahoots with some of his favourite musicians. Within an eight-piece line-up including his pianist sister Ali, piper Calum MacCrimmon and multi-instrumentalist Anna Massie – with everyone also enlisted on vocals – each individual’s response to Vass’s written parts will feed integrally into the performance.'
(Sue Wilson)
Featuring:
Ali Vass: Piano, Vocals
Anna Massie: Guitar, Banjo, Fiddle, Mandolin, Vocals
Dave Wood: Guitar, Bouzouki, Vocals
Calum MacCrimmon: Whistle, Bagpipes, Vocals
Megan Henderson: Accordion, Fiddle, Vocals
Stevie Fyvie: Percussion, Vocals
Mike Vass: Fiddle, Guita, Vocals
James Lindsay: Bass
Pieces:
42 Beech Avenue and other stories of sofa surfing
Waking Life
Inspired by Richard Linklater’s film of the same name
Man’s Search for Meaning
Inspired by the Viktor E Frankl’s book about his experiences in a Concentration Camp during World War Two
Arden Street Suite
Inspired by being at home
Some wee sound clips of the previous rehearsal can be found here:
http://www.myspace.com/mikevass