Vice Verses by Scottish McMillan

Scottish McMillan has been playing guitar for over twenty years, gigging around Chicago and the near Midwest for ten years, and has played great Saturday night shows at popular Chicago clubs like the House of Blues, the Cubby Bear, and the Double Door.

On his critically-acclaimed debut CD, called "Vice Verses," Scottish wrote all the songs, played all the instruments -- guitars, bass, hand percussion, and sang all the parts. The record is a patchwork quilt made of little pictures of his influences, and is a sure Q-Tip for ears clogged with the sticky goo of conventional 'rawk'. Half of the ten songs on "Vice Verses" have seen FM airplay on the local shows of all but one of the major Chicago and Kenosha, WI radio stations who have such shows. College radio has taken kindly to Scottish as well, and he looks forward to playing many healthy shows around college campuses everywhere, as his experience has shown him that kids dig the stuff. Must be his child-like enthusiasm....

Many performers say their style is widely varied. In Scottish's case, that's an understatement. From heavy metal-like distortion and rage to light, jazzy ballads, literally everything is covered. Scottish uses a "looping" pedal to sample his playing and take the occasional solo or to layer guitar harmonies.

In addition to being an accomplished guitarist/singer songwriter, Scottish has the advantage of having been a live sound engineer for over 7 years. He runs his sound from the stage (in the US) through a small rack of equipment that is set exclusively for Scottish's unique sound requirements. He hands the sound man 2 cables - one for the house mains, and one for the monitors, and controls everything himself. It might sound sketchy, but even the most discriminating sound engineers have commended Scottish on his ability to make his shows sound like a studio recording.

Just before releasing his entirely self-written and self-performed CD in 2002, he played some bristling solo acoustic showcases at the Midwest Music Summit in Indianapolis, Indiana (and again in 2003), earning some fine appreciation there, a town which has become a regular stop on the road.

Scottish's career then moved to the next stage - international touring! Scottish toured the UK in September, 2003 with the Chicago Music Explosion. Over the course of 3 1/2 weeks, he played 17 shows all over England, Scotland and Wales. He went back again in Fall, 2004 for another month and had a blast, playing some of the same places but also a lot of new ones, meeting lots of wonderful folks along the way!

After he recovers completely from the devastating robbery of all of his musical equipment in late 2005 (about $11,000 worth), he will begin planning the next european tour - potentially with a band...

When you get the chance, check out Scottish's "So-Low Acoustic Show" for an experience that will totally renew your enthusiasm for seeing a solo acoustic show!

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