Mudmen are a Canadian

Celtic rock Celtic rock is a genre of folk rock, as well as a form of Celtic fusion which incorporates Celtic music, instrumentation and themes into a rock music context. It has been extremely prolific since the early 1970s and can be seen as a key foundatio ...

band. They are best known for their singles "5 O'Clock", "Saturday", and "Drink and Fight" as well as their covers of

Spirit of the West Spirit of the West were a Canadian folk rock band from North Vancouver, active from 1983 to 2016. They were popular on the Canadian folk music scene in the 1980s before evolving a blend of hard rock, Britpop, and Celtic folk influences which ...

's "

Home for a Rest "Home for a Rest" is a song by Canadian folk rock band Spirit of the West from their fourth studio album '' Save This House'', released in 1990. It is the band's signature song and is considered a classic of Canadian music."Songs to drink away tho ...

" and AC/DC's "

It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll) "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" is a song by Australian hard rock band AC/DC. It is the first track of the group's second album '' T.N.T.'', released only in Australia and New Zealand on 8 December 1975, and was writte ...

History

The Mudmen formed in Alvinston/ Petrolia in 1998. The original band members were vocalist Zoy Nicoles, guitarist Lonny Knapp, bassist Tommy Skilton, drummer Ryan McCaffrey and

bagpipe Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, ...

-playing brothers Robby and Sandy Campbell who were the founding members, who had previously been signed with the EMI label under the name The Campbell Brothers. In 2001 the Mudmen performed at the Snow Jam festival in Halifax. That year the band released a self-titled studio album; a second album, ''Overrated'', was released in 2003. The band then toured across Canada with

Bif Naked Beth Torbert is a Canadian singer best known by her stage name Bif Naked. Between 1996 and 2016, she was among the top 150 selling Canadian artists in Canada. Early life and education Bif Naked was born in New Delhi, India, to teenage parents ...

, and played at many festivals, including

Edgefest Edgefest was an annual outdoor rock festival in Canada. It was founded by staff members of Toronto radio station CFNY-FM. From 1987 to 2015, the festival was held every year in the summer (except for 2007). The festival was most frequently hel ...

. "Slackhopper says: Real men wear kilts"
''Soo Today'', Sep 7, 2006. by: Donna Hopper The Mudmen released 9 studio albums—''Mudmen'' (2001), ''Overrated'' (2003), ''Defending The Kingdom'' (2005), ''The High Road'' (2009), ''Another Day'' (2010), ''Donegal Danny'' (2012), "Where I Came From" (2013), "Train" (2015), and "Old Plaid Shirt (2016). The band's music has been featured in

popular culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...

—their single "Lost", from their self-titled debut, was featured in a promotional video for the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

television show '' The Black Donnelly's'', and their single "Animal" was featured in the soundtracks of the video games '' Burnout 3: Takedown'', ''

MX vs. ATV Unleashed ''MX vs. ATV Unleashed'' is a racing simulation action sports console video game created for PlayStation 2, Xbox, Microsoft Windows and mobile phones. Developed by Rainbow Studios and published by THQ, the video game was released in 2005 in North ...

'' HBO'S Shameless . The Campbell Brothers "founding members" appear on the Bob and Doug's 24 anniversary special and have music featured on Don Cherry's hockey videos 9,19,2024,27,29 and coach's corner Dale Hunter Tribute. The Mudmen wrote and recorded the theme entrance music for WWE Wrestlers The Highlanders, reached #19 on the Edge radio top 20 countdown with 6 music videos on Much Music . Career highlights include meeting & performing for the Queen, performing at the 84 Edmonton oilers Stanley Cup re-union, The Oilers/Flames home opening ceremonies, 7 Grey Cups, 3 memorial Cups, 12 Canada's Walk of Fame Ceremonies,2 Special Olympic opening televised ceremonies opening up for legendary bands ZZ Top & The Guess Who.Mudmen and the Campbell Brothers have performed over 3000 shows to date. The Mudmen are continuing to perform together. The Brantford Blast and Brantford Red Sox are currently using the Mudmen's song "Go team Go" as their entrance theme. Mudmen will celebrate their 25th Anniversary in 2023 For more info on mudmen visit www.mudmen.ca

Name and background

The band's name comes from the Campbell Brothers "founding members" occupation prior to forming the band. They were mixing mortar and carrying bricks for bricklayers."Celtic rock band rolls into Drayton Valley"
''Western Review'', Sharon Lockwood, October 31, 2017 The band's music is influenced by traditional

Scottish music Scotland is internationally known for its traditional music, which remained vibrant throughout the 20th century and into the 21st, when many traditional forms worldwide lost popularity to pop music. In spite of emigration and a well-developed con ...

, as well as hard rock groups such as AC/DC. Mudmen have opened for many well-known bands, including

ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas. For 51 years, they comprised vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard and vocalist-bassist Dusty Hill, until Hill's death in 2021. ZZ Top developed a signature sou ...

Tool A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates ba ...

, Dropkick Murphys and

Bowling for Soup Bowling for Soup (abbreviated as BFS) is an American rock band formed in Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1994. The band consists of Jaret Reddick (lead vocals, guitar), Chris Burney (guitar, backing vocals), Gary Wiseman (drums, percussion, backing vo ...

, as well as fellow Canadians

Nickelback Nickelback is a Canadian rock band formed in 1995 in Hanna, Alberta. It is composed of guitarist and lead vocalist Chad Kroeger, guitarist, keyboardist and backing vocalist Ryan Peake, bassist Mike Kroeger, and drummer Daniel Adair. It wen ...

, Sum 41 and

The Guess Who The Guess Who are a Canadian rock band formed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1965. The band originated in 1962 and achieved an international hit single with a cover of " Shakin' All Over" in 1965 under the name Chad Allan and the Expressions. After ...

Band members

Sandy Campbell - Bagpipes, Backup Vocals Robby Campbell - Bagpipes Colin Amey - Lead singer, Guitar Jordon Brosseau - Bass Guitar, Backup Vocals Andy Gingerich - Drums, Percussion Alex Showdra - Electric Guitar, Banjo, Mandolin, Backup Vocals, Live Sound

Current band members

*Robby Campbell - Bagpipes *Sandy Campbell - Bagpipes *Colin Amey-Lead Singer, Acoustic Guitar *Jordon Brosseau - Bass Guitar *Andy Gingerich - Drums, Percussion *Alex Showdra - Electric Guitar, Banjo, Mandolin, Backup Vocals, Live Sound

Former band members

*Dan Westenenk - Bass Guitar *Jeremy Burton - Drums *Steve Gore - Vocals and Guitar *Zois (ZOY) Nicoles - Lead Vocals *Lonny Knapp - Guitar *Tommy Skilton - Bass Guitar *Ryan McCaffrey - Drums *Alex Maletich-Guitar, Banjo & Mandolin *Troy Spinney-Bass Guitar *Matt Coburn-Guitar

Discography

*''Mudmen'' (2001,

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

) *''Overrated'' (2003 Sextent/EMI) *''Defending the Kingdom'' (2006 Mudpiper Records) *''The High Road '' (2009 Mudpiper Records) *''Another Day'' (2010, Mudpiper Records) *''Donegal Danny'' (2012, Mudpiper Records) *''Where I Came From'' (2013, Mudpiper Records) *''On a Train'' (2015, Mudpiper Records) *''Old Plaid Shirt'' (2016, Mudpiper Records) * Best of Mudmen (2021,Mudpiper Records) * Farmers Tan (2022,Mudpiper Records)

References

External links

Mudmen
Official website
Mudmen
at MuchMusic
Mudmen Official Facebook page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mudmen Musical groups established in 1998 Musical groups from Ontario Canadian folk rock groups Celtic rock groups Celtic punk groups Canadian punk rock groups EMI Records artists 1998 establishments in Ontario