Artist Biography
b. 1979, Falkirk, Scotland. Cassells was one of the finest young pipers to emerge from the Scottish folk scene at the start of the twenty-first century. He began playing the pipes at an early age and was a regular winner of junior piping events, before graduating to playing with the Macnaughtons Vale Of Atholl Pipe Band. After leaving school he balanced a degree course in marketing and tourism with a busy schedule playing the pipes at corporate venues, with the latter proving so successful that he set up his own Scottish Bagpiper company in 1999 to supply musicians and dancers for weddings and dances. At the start of the new millennium, he embarked on an honours degree at Glasgow’s Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, majoring in piping. The degree helped immeasurably in furthering his career, and in 2005 he won the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician Of The Year award. During this period Cassells had also formed the Red Hot Chilli Pipers, a three-piper/two percussionists folk rock act that quickly established a reputation for their thrilling and energetic live shows. Cassells helped record the RHCP’s debut album before completing his solo debut. Released in 2006, Blown Away was an excellent, thoroughly modern collection that pitted Cassells’ pipes against an array of traditional and modern instruments.
Hometown
Falkirk, Scotland
Genre
Worldwide