Bands

Mikie's solo music career started in 2020 which saw him release his debut Single ‘If Only’ which charted in the iTunes Country Music Charts and reached the final of the 2021 UK Country Music Award’s Song Award. 

​Mikie's all-time influences are Brad Paisley, Eagles and The Proclaimers however he is currently drawing inspiration for his sound from artists such as Russell Dickerson, Morgan Wallen and Keith Urban. At an early age Mikie grew to love country music with influences such as Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Alan Jackson, and George Jones. 

​Mikie was the front man of popular Country Music band ‘The Chicken Pickers’, who over the course of their career, won several awards and played on the same bill as country stars such as Gene Watson, Leona Williams, Highway 101, and Heather Myles. Mikie featured on numerous episodes of BBC Alba's programme ‘Ceol Country’ and has had various appearances on Spotlight TV. Mikie is also a proud winner of the Silver Pendant singing award which is the highest accolade at the Royal National Mod for learners of the Scots Gaelic language. 

Highland accordionist and vocalist Calum MacPhail has been playing music since he was only seven years old. Born in Fort William and spending a number of his formative years living in the Highland capital of Inverness, Calum immersed himself in the music and traditions of the region and spent a lot of his younger years learning from some of the best accordionists in the area.

Destined for a career in music from an early age, Calum has worked tirelessly to follow his dream of performing his music all over the world. This dream first became a reality in 2014 when a 16-year-old Calum toured Italy with the award-winning trad folk powerhouse Hò-rò, of which he is a founding member. The band have gone on to tour Estonia, Germany, France and Belgium and were crowned the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards Up & Coming Band of the Year in 2017. To date Calum has recorded three critically acclaimed albums with Hò-rò. 

In 2017, Calum decided to also embark on a solo career and released his debut self-titled EP in late 2017. Since then, he has gone on to release his first single and video singing Dougie MacLean's ‘She Loves Me’, with the song going viral on social media platforms. 

He won the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards 2021 Original Work of the Year for his single ‘7 Years Old’ which was released with a hugely emotional video in 2020. The incredibly moving song is about living with a parent with addiction, a situation close to Calum’s heart. With this single release Calum raised an astonishing £2000 for Mikeysline, a suicide prevention hotline based in Inverness that offers a place for young people to turn to if they are struggling with mental health issues.

His most recent single ‘Let Your Love Flow’ was released in November 2022 and provides a fresh spin on the classic 1975 country song from The Bellamy Brothers. Released to huge critical acclaim, this single received airplay on numerous radio stations across the UK, including BBC Radio Scotland.

With an album due for release in 2023, Calum’s star is set to continue to rise as he releases this fresh body of work with his new outfit, Calum MacPhail & Band. The 5-piece will perform an array of Scottish and Irish country pop.

Calum also performs as part of a hugely successful wedding and function band called Highland Fire Ceilidh and not one to rest on his laurels or turn down a chance to play live, he can also be seen performing lively sessions in hotels and pubs across Scotland, and beyond.

Callum Beattie made his Tunes By The Dunes debut in 2023 and blew everyone away with his performance and we are delighted to be welcoming him back in 2024 to headline our Saturday night show!

Callum Beattie’s story is one of truth and persistence. The songwriter started his journey more than a decade ago, and he’s done it the hard way – but, as he insists, it’s the only path worth a damn. After years spent knocking on the doors of London record execs, this Scottish-based talent found that by remaining true to himself he could communicate in a way that few could match. Debut LP ‘People Like Us’ was an astonishing breakout success on its 2020 release, but with new album ‘Vandals’ he wants more – much more.

Brought up in a working class, single-parent household on the fringes of Edinburgh, Callum Beattie quickly gravitated towards music. His father would constantly have the stereo playing in their tiny flat, educating his son in the classics – vintage blues, soul, and rock. Led Zeppelin and David Bowie became early touchstones, before Callum discovered groups like Oasis. “Anything with a good song, that’s all I really cared about, that’s what would catch my ear,” he recalls. “And then I start reading the writing credits of a lot of these artists, and just became obsessed with writing songs… so I got a guitar and started doing it myself.”

Hurling himself into the local open mic circuit, Callum Beattie pushed himself harder and harder. Bold and ambitious, every gig became an opportunity to make a connection, finessing his craft in front of the some of the demanding audiences around. “When I write songs, I’m imagining that people are screaming them back to me at festivals,” he says. “If I don’t get that feeling, then I probably won’t stick with it. I like anthemic music, and I guess this new album is exactly that.” But it’s taken a huge amount of commitment to get to this point. During those soul-sapping weeks and months in London, Callum Beattie was told to change virtually every aspect of his life – his accent, his sound, even his name. “I went down there to follow my dream,” he says. “So to hear stuff like that… well, you can imagine how pissed off it made me. It made me incredibly rebellious.”

Returning to Scotland, guitar in hand, Callum Beattie’s lucky break came when a dance DJ lifted his vocal, and placed it on a club track. Ears pricked up, 3 Beat Records intervened and suddenly doors began opening up. Debut album ‘People Like Us’ became a phenomenon, hitting the top spot on the Scottish charts and breaking out nationally. The hard-hewn home truths behind ‘Salamander Street’ for example – in actuality, about the life of a prostitute – or the naked emotion of ‘Daddy’s Eyes’ won over countless fans. Callum Beattie’s route is paved with empathy, a working class voice speaking with a profound honesty. “You have to have emotion,” he says. “That’s what music is – it’s about making somebody feel better about their life. And it’s also storytelling. They’re all stories, every song.”

Unrepentant about the world he grew up in, Callum Beattie equally isn’t asking for a hand-up, or a sympathy note. “I hate sob stories,” he says. “This isn’t X Factor. Yeah, I was brought up by my Dad and things were difficult but there’s a lot of things to be celebrated there, as well. Let’s look at the positives. That’s what I’m trying to get out of it, really.” New album ‘Vandals’ goes right back to his roots. A selection of songs penned about Scotland, working class life, and coming of age, it also contains a rare universality. Worth comparing to peers such as Gerry Cinnamon, there’s also a hint of Frank Turner into his precocious, speakingtruth-to-power sensibility. At times, it’s almost punk in its desire to be up-front, raw, and – especially – honest.

“It’s nice to be back in Scotland, doing this new album – everything about it is Scottish,” he grins. “Every person who played on it is Scottish. It was recorded in Glasgow, written in Glasgow. It feels more natural now that I’m away from that world.” Recorded at Castle Of Doom in Glasgow alongside close friend Chris Marshall, Callum eschewed fly-by-night London music industry tactics by building his band with people like him - ambitious, rough around the edges musicians from Scotland’s live music circuit. “I spoke to my manager, and I just said: look, I want to do things differently. I just want to work with people who have got good energy and are hungry to make a good record. I picked up some friends I knew, from my years playing in the pubs. Now they’re in the band, and it feels good.”

After 18 months of pandemic enforced lockdown, the quickfire album sessions came as sweet relief to this relentlessly ambitious songwriter. “The feeling of just going into a studio, turning the guitar up full blast, and start strumming away… there’s no better feeling, really.” Lead single ‘Heart Stops Beating’ was also the first song recorded for the album – a breakneck slice of indie-punk that splices towards Buzzcocks and the more refined songwriting of Lewis Watson, say. “It’s a statement of intent,” he says. “It’s full of spirit. Honesty. What you see, is what you get.”

By contrast, though, a song such as ‘Mammy’ lay bare his childhood memories, that experience of love but also longing. “It's very therapeutic, writing songs. If you’re writing songs that are emotional, and close to your heart, then obviously it can be like opening a can of worms at times. I don’t find them particularly easy to sing, but that’s how you know you’re singing about something that’s real. It’s a good sign.”

A record that is unrepentant, and ruthlessly honest, ‘Vandals’ is the sound of a songwriter finally able to speak to his truth. After years on the sidelines, this is Callum Beattie’s moment. “It’s so hard to see people do well, when you know as a songwriter you could wipe the floor with them. And I’m not meaning that in an egotistical way, it’s the hard truth,” he comments. “But equally I’m a great believer in creating your own luck.”

On the brink of a key moment in his life, Callum Beattie is now balancing the scars of the past and the promise of the future. His new album ‘Vandals’ could transform his life – but he’s fought for the space to be his own judge. “At the end of the day I’ve made a record that’s me,” he says, “and I love it for that reason."