Mad Pudding
2012
PM
MEL LEHAN HALL AT ST. JAMES i
3214 West 10th Ave, Kitsilano
Accessible 
All ages
This event has already taken place.
Put on your dancing shoes, the Pudding are back!
Between 1994 and 2004 Vancouver Celtic-Funk combo Mad Pudding performed 10 times at The Rogue. Their unique blend of instrumental swagger, impeccable harmonies, and powerful original songs and tunes - not to mention rollicking traditional medleys of jigs and reels - they were not only the darlings of The Rogue / Roots / Celtic crowd in Vancouver, but also popular attractions at festivals and concerts and dance halls across Canada and into the USA. They released four CDs, plus a 10-year retrospective, and the best-loved and most enduring line-up of the band is reuniting for a couple of concerts: one on Bowen Island and the other at The Rogue.
Founded by Amy Stephen (harp, accordion, vocals) and Andy Hillhouse (guitar, vocals) they were soon joined by fellow UBC music student Cam Wilson (of Van Django, Joe Trio, Pastiche fame) on fiddle. The rhythm section evolved into Allen Dionne (drums, percussion, accordion) and Boris Favre (bass, piano, accordion, etc.) and the band's last studio albums, Grand Hotel and Rattle On The Stovepipe, stands as a testament to the range and ability of this fine band. Cam, Boris and Allen performed as Pastiche, opening for Genticorum at The Rogue last year, and we are delighted that Amy and Andy are teaming up with them once again for this Mad Pudding reunion!
Andy has been studying for a Masters and PhD in Ethnomusicology - first in St. John's and now in Toronto, while Amy has been leading choirs and recording solo CDs and duo CDs with her Persian husband Amir. Boris is a music teacher and instrument maker (perhaps he will play some of his own French or Swedish bagpipes at this concert) and Allen has been playing in Tim Readman's band, Out Of The Green. Meanwhile Cam has been going from strength to strength as principal arranger and virtuoso fiddler with the wonderful gypsy jazz band Van Django (who recently performed at a major jazz festival in Nanjing, China, and regularly tour in Europe. They are also mainstays at our own festival of gypsy jazz - April In Paris).
Mad Pudding play Celtic music with great drive and imagination, blending influences and genres seamlessly - however improbable they might appear to be! (e.g. Leonard Cohen's First We Take Manhattan with a Brahms tune!)