Nicol McLaren, an agricultural Sales Specialist with Dalgety, is the Chairman of The National Association of Accordion and Fiddle Clubs. He started playing the accordion at the age of nine, when his father bought an old 48 bass Bell piano accordion from a junk shop in Stirling.
Ian McCallum (who played with The Grace MacCleaver Band) worked for his father on the farm at Dunmore, and Nicol's uncle was the late Alex MacArthur. There was no shortage of dance music around when young Nicol was growing up. He was taught initially by Marion Campbell of Larbert. |
Nicol McLaren playing the SEM Scotia
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Nicol aged 9
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It was his Uncle Alex who first gave Nicol the inspiration to be a band leader. On the opening night of The Biggar Accordion and Fiddle Club, the family was part of the huge crowd in The Clydesdale Hotel when Alex asked his wee nephew to have a tune. Alex then said he would put a bunch of "no-hopers" around him to see if he could make a band out of them. |
| The "no-hopers" were Ian Powrie on fiddle, Jim Johnstone on second accordion, Bobby Brown on piano, Robin Brock on bass and Bobby Colgan on drums. Nicol came off the stage feeling about ten feet tall, and determined to lead his own band one day. Nicol studied Agriculture at Edinburgh University, and music took a back seat for a while. The "bug" was soon back however, and Nicol formed The Glencraig Scottish Dance Band in 1983. Outside music, Nicol's hobbies are rugby (he played full-back for Murrayfield RFC for twelve years), golf and curling. He was runner up on "The Krypton Factor" in the early nineties. |
Guest Presenter on "Take the Floor"
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He presents a weekly Scottish Dance Music programme, "Sporrans a Burlin'" on Heartland FM. He has also guest presented BBC Radio Scotland's "Take the Floor".
He has been known to do the odd turn at Burns Suppers, recently delivering The Immortal Memory in Bahrain and Toasting the Haggis in Basingstoke. |
Iain MacPhail (NAAFC Guest of Honour 2003) is presented with a Caithness Glass bowl by Nicol to mark the occasion.
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His services are much in demand for adjudicating and compering as well as playing. He has judged at competitions and Festivals in Alnwick, Ayr, Forres, Lairg, Perth and Newtongrange and the British Accordion Championships in Scarborough. Nicol has also been a music tutor at workshops in Skye, Yorkshire and Hampshire.
Shetland is his "second home", and he visits at least twice a year for Up Helly-aa in January and The Shetland Accordion & Fiddle Festival in October. He frequently plays and comperes at these events and, in 2002 was honoured to be asked to perform the opening ceremony at the Festival. |
Playing at The Island Fling
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Nicol can be found every year at The Island Fling – a weekend of dance in Sabhal Mòr Ostaig (the Gaelic College on Skye) organised by Northbeat. Nicol is a keen dancer, having learned country dancing at a very young age.
He has composed a number of Scottish Dance Tunes, many of which are published by Shian Music in Dollar. |
| Last year Nicol was involved in designing a new accordion aimed primarily at the Scottish Market. The Scotia is manufactured by SEM in Castelfidardo in Italy and has been made to Nicol's specifications. |
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Wilma Kennedy (Reply for the Lassies) & Nicol McLaren (The Immortal Memory), Bahrain January 2002. |
