Band History
Seven Nations started to form in Middleburg High, located in Florida. They would joke around about forming a band in the halls. Eventually they did and named it "Seven Nations".
Seven Nations got its start in New York City in 1993 as the part-time project of then-bartender McLeod, under the name Clan Na Gael. Lead singer Kirk McLeod states that late 1993 "was the first time we added bagpipes to the show," and therefore the origin of the band as it is today .
During summers, when McLeod was a kid, his folks sent him off to Scottish music camp to learn traditional bagpipe technique. Eventually, McLeod assembled a band from friends in Florida and recruits from Canada to play his songs.
The band's original members were Kirk McLeod (vocals, keyboard, guitars and Great Highland Bagpipes), Neil Anderson (vocals, highland and Uilleann bagpipes, Scottish smallpipes, tin whistles and mandolin), Jim Struble (vocals, acoustic and bass guitars) and Nick Watson (vocals, drums and percussion). The band changed its name in 1997 because a Nevada folk music group was already operating under the same name .
Watson left the band in 1997 and was replaced by Ashton Geoghagan. Anderson left the band in 1998, and in 1999 Dan Stacey (fiddle, Canadian step dancing) and Scott Long (highland bagpipes) joined Seven Nations's lineup. Geoghagan left in August 2001 to pursue other interests(he is currently a Paramedic/Engineer with Jacksonville Fire Rescue), and was replaced by Christian Miceli, who rounds out the band's current membership. Watson and Anderson currently play together with former "The Bolshoi" frontman Trevor Tanner in a new Celtic rock group called "Rathkeltair" which has done extensive touring up and down the east coast. Dan Stacey left in December 2007 to pursue a solo career, and was on tour with the New York City area band "Cherish the Ladies", as well as "The Step Crew". In 2005, the original members reunited to produce an album where, in addition to tracks from earlier albums Rain and Thunder, Old Ground and Big Dog, there are six new tracks and two completely original songs recorded in December, 2004. "Clan Na Gael: 10 Years On".They also played four shows live in New York, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina.
The band's current line-up includes Kirk McLeod, Jim "Struby" Struble, Christian "Crisco" Miceli, Victor Gagnon (fiddle), and Will MacMorran (guitar, bagpipes.) The band regularly tours across the US, has appeared on ESPN, CNN World Beat, PBS and CBS, and has sold over 140,000 albums since 1996, without signing to a major label . The band's most successful release to date was And Now It's Come to This, released on Razor & Tie Records in 2002. The album's mainstream rock sound was considered to be a drastic change from the band's traditional style. A recent album, Thanks for Waiting, returns to the acoustic style and does not feature an electric guitar. The band also released a Celtic Rock Tribute to the Cure. Seven Nations latest release is Time as the Enemy.
The band is currently based out of Middleburg, Florida.
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