Royal High pupils dedicate unique bagrock version of Toploader hit to Edinburgh's Royal Infirmary NHS team

The talented septet, all S5 and S6 students at the Royal High School, recently formed the band The Lone Lung to record their bagrock version of the song, with accompanying lockdown video using the online platforms Zoom and Garageband.

Recording their parts individually in their homes, the seven - Andrew Robertson, Molly Davidson, Finlay Paterson, Jura Lewis and Kenna Calder, all 17 years old, and David McPhillips and Murray Brown, both 18 - who are all members of the Royal High Pipe Band, entered their song in a music competition organised by The Scottish Schools Pipes and Drums Trust and The Red Hot Chilli Pipers.

Andrew Robertson who acted as the band's MD to pull the track together, explains, "All parts were recorded individually and were then mixed together in GarageBand. Mixing the track together wasn’t too bad as everything was recorded to a good standard and with a metronome, so was all in time. However, it would have still been a lot easier to all play live together so we could hear what was going on."

The competition encouraged entrants to form bands of up to nine musicians in order to compose original pieces of contemporary music or create dynamic cover versions. The Lone Lung did both, taking Dancing in the Moonlight, which was written by Sherman Kelly and originally released by rock group King Harvest in 1972, and adding a jig, specially composed by Andrew.

He says,"We wanted to play an easily recognisable song that we would all enjoy playing and which worked well with our instruments of bagpipes, drums, keyboard, guitar and bass guitar. But we didn’t want it to be just a cover of the song, we wanted to make it our own version by adding the jig at the end. We also thought having an original composition would personalise it even more and no traditional jigs worked exactly with the song’s chord progression."

However, The Lone Lung's entry almost stumbled at the final hurdle, and if you've been wondering about the band's name, all becomes clear when Andrew reveals that, while recording the song, he suffered a collapsed lung and ended up at A&E with his father at midnight, just days before the deadline for competition entries.

The 17-year-old explains, "On the Monday before the deadline I had just recorded my pipe part for the track in the afternoon. At 10.30pm, I started to get really bad chest pain that wouldn’t go away."

NHS 24 advised Andrew's parents to take him to the ERI where they had booked a midnight appointment. In A&E he underwent an ECG and X-ray.

"The X-ray found a partially collapsed lung, but as the pain was beginning to ease I was allowed to go home at about 2am and told to come back later that day for another X-ray," he says. "The next day, the X-ray showed little change but nothing was any worse so they said to come back in two weeks for another one. After resting for a couple weeks the X-ray showed that my lung had fully healed."

Following that late night emergency dash, his friends decided to call the band The Lone Lung. Andrew, meanwhile, was back at his computer in time to put the final touches to the entry.

"The audio recording was more or less good to go, however, we found that the verses were too low for a female voice to sing so Finlay, who plays pipes and fiddle, stepped in to sing the verses. We then filmed the video over a Zoom call in the afternoon of the deadline day and sent it off at about 11pm, an hour before the deadline."

Despite all the drama, the band finished third in the competition and were keen to pay tribute to the A&E staff of the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. They also hope that their song and video will put a smile on the faces of everyone who watches it, including the NHS team who helped Andrew on the road to recovery.

He says, "I am fully recovered now and would like to say a massive thank you to all the medical team at the ERI, from the receptionists through to the nurses, doctors and radiographers, who all looked after me so well during my three visits."

Clare Miller, piping and drumming tutor at the Royal High, comments, "I’ve had the pleasure of teaching and working with these youngsters for many years now and I couldn’t be prouder of what they’ve all achieved. Not only have they put together an exceptional piece of music but they’ve had a lot of fun doing so which is what it’s all about. Everyone at Royal High Pipe Band is very grateful to the NHS for everything they’ve done for us during these exceptional times and for taking such good care of Andrew when he had his collapsed lung.”

Band member Molly Davidson, 17, adds, “I really enjoyed this. It was fun to virtually hang out with my pipe band friends and create a cover of a song we all love with our own wee twist.”

Watch The Lone Lung perform Dancing In The Moonlight on Facebook at this link: www.facebook.com/DMDPB/videos/308779030275662/

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