The Simon Fraser University Pipe Band of Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada have proved themselves to be one of the finest pipe bands in the world during its 28-year history.
They one of the dominant acts in the elite Grade 1 category of the World Pipe Band Championships, winning last year and pretty much guaranteed to be in one of the top spots, so it’s no surprise that they were chosen to headline the annual pre-Worlds concert at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall last night.
It was also no surprise that the show, which was being recorded for a new CD, had sold out to the extent that they were packing people in with standing tickets given the high demand.
We caught up with Pipe Sergeant Jack Lee, also one of the world's most accomplished solo pipers, who along with his Pipe Major brother Terry Lee has been pivotal to the success of the band, starting them up from scratch and making them a unbelievably focused force to be reckoned with.
When talking about preparing for both the concert and the Worlds on Saturday, Jack said: “Well, there’s a plus and a minus to that.
“I guess the minus is that your focus is not exclusively on the World Championships, which is the big item of the year, but the plus is that it gets you playing hard and playing well and focusing on the music and tone, and there’s some spin-off benefit to that. So I think the concert has gotten us to practise harder and play at a high level earlier in the year.”
When asked what he’d attribute the Simon Fraser’s fantastic success to, Jack replied: “It’s a number of things.
“I think we have talented players for sure, and as the band has grown in ability and stature we’ve attracted top players, we have players from long distances away from us.
“We have hard driving leadership. I’d say there’s an expectation in the band of high-quality performances, and anything less than that is just not part of the culture of the band, so we’re always trying to play better.”
