Findlay Napier (UK)
Findlay Napier
Glasgow, Scotland. UK
Folk, Singer-Songwriter
Watercolour Music
Discography: VIP: Two Men in A boat (2014) VIP: Very important Persons (2014) Glasgow (2017), The Story Song Scientists (2019)
Contact:
Website: http://www.findlaynapier.com/
Findlay Napier was born in Glasgow in November 1978 and that winter, during coldest winter on record, his parents moved to Grantown on Spey. It was there that he would spend the rest of his life until 1996 when he moved back to Glasgow to join the first ever intake of the BA (Scottish Music) course at the RSAMD.
After attending Feis Spe (part of Feisan nan Gaidhael) that his love of music was rekindled. In 1994 he was invited to a Feis for teenagers in Fort William that brought together young traditional musicians from across the Highlands and Islands. It was there he was introduced to piper Dougie Pincock and Jim Hunter who encouraged him to learn to play the guitar and start singing. Later Jim Hunter would encourage Napier to start writing songs.
After graduating from the RSAMD in 1999 he played with a series of Scottish traditional music bands in Glasgow. In 2000 he had been working as Margaret Bennett's accompanist and had toured with her in Scotland and France. After working on the "In the Sunny Long Ago" with producer Martyn Bennett he was invited by Gillian Frame, Hamish Napier and Simon McKerrell to join 'Back of the Moon'. That year Back of the Moon recorded their debut album "Gillian Frame and Back of the Moon".
Back of the Moon toured extensively from 2000 till 2007 releasing three albums and finishing with a final gig in the Kennedy Centre in Washington, D.C. on 21 November 2007.
While recording Back of the Moon's second album at Watercolour Music in Ardgour Findlay was approached by producer and engineer Nick Turner to begin a Song Writing project which they later named "Queen Anne's Revenge". They began writing on the evening of 14 December 2003 (Nick's 42nd Birthday) and had written four songs by the next morning including "Ship in a Bottle" and "Out All Night".
Before the demise of Back of the Moon, Napier began working on a project called Findlay Napier and the Bar Room Mountaineers at first this project was to bridge the gap between the traditional roots of Back of the Moon and the contemporary song and arrangements of Queen Anne's Revenge. However as the project developed it moved further from traditional material towards the contemporary Indie Folk sound they are known for today.
With help from Creative Scotland and Hands Up for Trad Findlay began a mentoring project with singer songwriter Boo Hewerdine. The project's initial aim was simply to improve Napier's songwriting. Exceeding all expectations the pair ended up writing seventeen new songs and recording and releasing an album called VIP: Very Interesting Persons. Each song on VIP is about a real life character who has led an interesting life and was researched predominantly on wikipedia.
Findlay has hosted the 'Late Night Session' at Celtic Connections since 2011 and is the organiser of Hazy Recollections a mini festival that celebrates and connects acts whose music meets at the boundaries of the indie, folk and roots scenes.