Acoustic, caustic and melodic Northern European folk-rock, provider of white hot gigs that make most evil speed-trash-death-doom-heavy-indus-aaaaaargh hairies sound like a bunch of retired accountants since 1996. That's what you might say to describe Ceilí Moss in a few words. Perhaps it is Genevieve Williams from Widdershins who said it best: "They are not as punk as The Pogues, but they have a bit of that attitude and it gives them an edge many folk groups lack".
If back in the early days, we were one of the "drunken Danny rover of the County Down in the jar" playing bands, Ceilí Moss has evolved into a steaming cauldron of Celtic, Flanders, Scandinavia, klezmer, medieval music, French chanson, Eastern Europe, ska, Balkanbeat, kleinkunst, rock, blues, original material with scathing English, French or Dutch lyrics or (mistreated) traditionals. Yep, we take whatever we fancy and whoever says it's not bloody "orthodox" or poxy "as it should be" gets a smack bottom...
Latest News
Working on a special tour for the band's 20th anniversary in the fall of 2014!
The story so far...
CEILI MOSS is an acoustic folk-rock band from Belgium founded in 1996. We describe ourselves as acoustic folk-rock with guts and melodies, with a Northern European edge, not afraid of colouring a bit outside of the lines. Perhaps it is Genevieve Williams from Widdershins who described us best : "They are not as punk as The Pogues, but they have a bit of that attitude and it gives them an edge many folk groups lack". Other frequently heard comparisons are Ambrozijn, Tri Yann, Jaune Toujours, Les Ogres de Barback, the old Clannad ...
Like many, we started with (and still enjoy playing) a "Spanish drunken Danny rover of the County Down in the jar" repertoire, we have nevertheless constantly broadened our musical spectrum: Celtic, Flanders, Scandinavia, klezmer, medieval music, French chanson, Eastern Europe, ska, Balkanbeat, kleinkunst, singer-songwriter, blues, we take whatever we like, put it in our cauldron and whoever says it's not "orthodox" or "as it should be" gets a smack bottom... We play an approximately 2/3-1/3 mix of our own tunes sung in English, French or Dutch, and of mistreated traditionals.
Ceili, I guess most of you know, is an Irish word for a party with traditional dance music. Moss was the nickname of Alain Mossiat, boss of the pub "L"Eblouissant", in Namur, where we first learned to deal with stage fright, back in the early 90s.
What more ? We're probably not going to be "bigger than Oasis", but our warm and heartfelt music has generally been well received everywhere we've played. When performing live, we are more in it for the energy and sincerity than for the academically irreproachable reproduction of the genre's schemes. The line-up of CEILI MOSS consists of Matthieu Collard (fiddle), Stephane Jalhay (guitar, banjo, mandola), Laurent Leemans (lead vocals, guitars, percussion), Thibaud Misson (double bass), Jeremy Pinera (drums, percussion) and Yves Van Elst (transverse flute, pipes, backing vocals). We can (and regularly do) play in smaller committee when and where it's more appropriate.
So far we have released a demo tape in 1998 and three self-produced CDs: Be There & Be Drunk! in 2001, Glad To Find You Well in 2003 and On The Shore in 2006. We're planning a new CD for the spring 2010, and it will surprise those who still think we're just "your average Celtic band", maybe even disappoint the dogmatic type. Add a rough 300 gigs in all kind of small-medium sized venues and festivals in Belgium, northern France and southern Netherlands.