Fire on McGinnis is pleased to announce out first live shows since the beginning of the pandemic! Jeni McDaniel from the Alaskan Scottish Club in Anchorage contacted us to perform June 25th and 26th at the annual Scottish Highland Games. We are super excited of course and the band has begun holding regular rehearsals in anticipation. We have been working on probably the most complex song FOM has ever tried to play. It's called "Mrs Elliot" a cover originally performed by Enter the Haggis. It's almost 4 songs inside one song with fun bagpipe solos. We have a new peppy song by Ed Sheeran and a 3rd song by a band called "The Darlingside." Their version is great but we thought we could do one better by adding real guitar distortion and original bagpipe solos!
Mike is so excited he bought a digital bagpipe chanter so he can practice his technique at home but rest assured, his wonderful highland bagpipes will be on stage!
Again we are super excited about re-surfacing and we are honored to play such a prestigious event! -FOM
Our sets will be short but we will have 4, possibly 5 sets at the games.
More about the Scottish Highland Games
When: Saturday, June 25th and 26th
Where: Alaska State Fairgrounds
Featuring: All things Scottish. Bagpipes, Heavy Athletics, Celtic Dance, Drumming, Kilted Mile, Scotch Tasting, Tea Ten, Salmon Tossing, Highland Coo. Tug-of-War, Vendor, Historical Demonstrations, Musical Guest, Axe Throwing, Children's events and more!
Checking in. I guess we are just doing what everyone else is doing. Some of us, like our piper, have taken things to the extreme of course! We have managed to have a few socially distanced practices in Kelly's garage which has been both a mental and musical life saver! It's amazing how songs just start to slip away when you haven't played them in a long time? We are having fun with a new cover of a song called "Mrs Elliot" by "Enter The Haggis." The song has a lot of moving parts so learning it has not been an easy task. Martha brought in a song by a band called "The Darlingside." Yes, I'm sure they are popular to somebody but wee folk in Juneau, Alaska had never heard of them. They have a song called "The Best of the Best of Times." Their version is a pretty stripped down instrumental with kind of a "drone" quality to it. Martha saw the potential of this song using the unique instruments and capabilities of FOM. In other words, sonic curtains of guitar distortion and bagpipes! We are having a lot of fun with it. Martha has another song that she wrote called "Glass House." It's very new, so new in fact, some of us are still trying to understand what the chords are! 
We are sad to announce the cancellation of the March 14th Red Dog show in a effort to curb the spread of the Covid19 virus. The band is super bummed of course as we have been working hard to get ready for this. We planned on playing, for the first time, 4 new songs that we think are high energy and very fun to listen / dance too! No plans for a reschedule as of now. We, like everyone else, will be watching the development and the eventual end to this scary virus. -FOM
Join us at the Red Dog for Corned Beef and Cabbage, Drink specials, costume contest and live music. Sat. March 16th - 9:30 pm. No cover!!
From snowstorms to avalanches to the dark of night, Fire on McGinnis historically has not been lucky with shows and weather. Pier 49 was an exception. Nice, sunny warm evening with light winds at Juneau’s newest semi outdoor eatery, Pier 49. We had a great time playing to a large and enthusiastic crowd. Our thanks to Pier 49 and Charlie Harrington for organizing the event and to Molly Tankersley for taking all the great photos (including the “money shot” of Mike piping on the tables!). Also, huge kudos go to Keith Giles, Clint Davis and the boys from Alaska One for providing the sound equipment and sound engineering for the show. Alaska One has always played a key role in the development of Fire on McGinnis and has been there from the start. 
