Tim Benson
Yes, bagpipes can rock
Tim Benson is cooler than you. Anybody who combines rock and roll with bagpipes, ok, technically Uilleann pipes, is cooler than you. Stop staring at your pedal board, or scrolling through your favorite drummer’s Insta feed, or wishing you could riff like Arianna. Go get your hands on a set of pipes and try to figure out just what in the heck he’s doing. You probably can’t.
Let’s get one thing very clear. This is not a gimmick - like the way AC/DC put pipes at the back end of “It’s a Long Way to the Top” - yes, that’s a gimmick, don’t get mad, you’re wrong, listen to it again. We’re talking about using the pipes as the main instrument in rock - taking the lead and solos - and working with prog time changes, to create something very unique. And Tim has been at it for decades.
“I knew I wanted to put bagpipes in a rock band since I was 16...in fact, I told my first bagpipe teacher that at my first lesson. I had this sound in my head, but the folk/traditional side of things took over, and I quit playing guitar and drums, travelled to Ireland for workshops, and eventually learned to make pipes and toured and performed playing pipes.”
The album that this track is on took him over a year to compose and record, it’s called "Scarlet Sunrise”. Most of it was done at his house, and in addition to the pipes, he tracked all the guitar and rhythmic parts. This dude is as meticulous as he is creative. It’s a really cool project, here’s our review of the track “High Noon.”
Track jump starts with a 2 bar drum phrase before the pipes come in, in tandem with a lead guitar line. We’re in E major, around 86 bpm. The melody is complex - filled with trills and runs - the type you’d expect to hear from pipes, but what’s cool is that he’s also emulating a bit of hammer-on’s from the guitar with his pipe fingering (if that’s what you call). I also love the phrasing and the way he can bend the notes of the pipes. We’re not even a quarter into the song and you can tell that not only is he a master of his instrument, but you’re beginning to understand what he’s been hearing in his head since he was a teenager.
There’s some really nice added textures to mix - maybe a violin or highly processed guitar line that’s adding some pads? Right around 1:00 we get a really cool break down with the pipes, bass and drums taking the lead. They’re backed up by some tones that remind me of an organ in a reggae feel. Really love the different guitar tones we’re getting, and I think he’s using two different sets of pipes on this track - there appears to be a softer tone in one of the bag lines at 1:20 and again at 2:05.
To be honest, it’s hard to break this down into traditional sections, like a verse / chorus / verse / chorus thing - or even ABA from jazz, etc. I can hear the head being repeated several times, but there’s also some great solo sections spread between the pipes, lead electric and drums. In many respects, it’s like a jam band improvising around a head. The head first appears via the lead guitar at 0:36, then with the pipes at 1:00 and again at 1:42. If you’re a regular reader, you know that I get bored with songs that I can successfully predict on the first listen. If I guess correctly a few times, I skip the track and move on. I guess that’s one of the reasons I dig this so much - because I’ve listened to it now probably ten times and I still get surprised. That, and I’m a sucker for the pipes thanks to my heritage, but, that’s a different story.
Do yourself a favor and listen to this project (scroll down). My other favorite track on this record is “Grand Prix,” it’s got some great organ lines in it that remind me of Kansas or Boston. The melody is beautiful and the syncopated parts add tremendous depth. You’ll be hard pressed to find something this original, and I hope you’ll agree that Tim is really on to something. The tone of the pipes works perfectly in the rock world, and it would be great to see Tim take this to a main stage. I know I’m going to share this a boatload of my friends. Great work Tim, thanks for introducing us to your craft!