Jubilee Riots


Jubilee Riots is a Canadian Indie/Folk Rock world-fusion band based in Toronto, Canada. Formerly called Enter the Haggis, the band has been playing and recording since 1996. Their latest studio album, Penny Black, is the band's eleventh album and first under the new moniker.
Since its birth in 1996 as Enter the Haggis, the band has kept a rigorous concert schedule, playing in wide ranging venues in Canada, Europe, and the United States. They have made appearances at such events as the Folk im Schlosshof in Bonfeld, Germany; the Vancouver Island MusicFest in Courtenay, BC; Irish2000 in Albany, New York; The Philadelphia Folk Fest in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; the Texas Scottish Fest; Rocky Mountain Highland Games and Scottish Festival; the Ann Arbor Folk Fest in Ann Arbor, Michigan; the Celtic Fling and Highland Games on the grounds of the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire in Manheim, PA; the Boston Irish Festival (2011); Cayamo (2011, 2012); MusikFest in Bethlehem, PA; the world famous Irish Fest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; The Great American Irish Festival in Frankfort, NY; and the Dublin Irish Festival in Dublin, OH.
On 8 September 2014, it was announced via social media and their website that the band will be going forth under a new moniker: Jubilee Riots.

Band members 
- Brian Buchanan (Vocals, fiddle, keyboard, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, accordion) 
- Craig Downie (Vocals, Highland bagpipes, Deger pipes, Harmonica, Guitar, Keyboard, Tin Whistle, Jew's Harp, Trumpet, Saxophone, Tambourine, Glockenspiel) 
- Trevor Lewington (Vocals, guitar, octave mandolin, keyboard) 
- Mark Abraham (Bass guitar, Vocals) 
- Bruce McCarthy (Drums, Percussion) 

On August 10, 2010, the band's drummer of eleven years announced via e-mail to the Enter the Haggis mailing list and a public note on Facebook that he would be retiring from professional music and from Enter the Haggis. Campbell cited his desire to work in air traffic control and the lack of time he would have to be trained in the coming years as he grew older as the primary reasons for his retirement. Following his final performance on September 18, 2010, long-time friend Bruce McCarthy has since assumed the position as the band's percussionist. On McCarthy, Campbell says: 
"I will be leaving you in the more than capable hands of my old friend Bruce McCarthy. Bruce, Mark and I all went to Humber College in Toronto together, and he's no stranger to music in any and all of its forms. Bruce's experience is far more diverse than my own, and he has proven himself to be an invaluable asset to more bands in the last few years than I've played with in my entire life. His presence in the band will be one of the things that will make me feel a little better about retiring, as I know you will all be left in the best of possible hands." 

In July 2003 the band played a show to about 20,000 people at the annual Mayor's Cup festival in Plattsburgh New York. At the show, the band was approached by two gentlemen in the TV industry who proposed the idea of filming a live show and releasing as a DVD special to PBS (a network with whom they had many connections). In December that year, the band returned to Plattsburgh and recorded 2 nights of shows at Plattsburgh State University's "Hartman Theater" to throngs of ETH fans. The special was released months later to PBS and aired on many stations across the US. The DVD is available for purchase from the band's website. 

In 2006 the band performed two songs on the show: "Gasoline" from Casualties of Retail and "One Last Drink" from Soapbox Heroes. 

On March 16, 2007 the band performed on the Live with Regis and Kelly program before a live studio audience. The songs chosen were "One Last Drink" a song written by Lewington with a Celtic flavor from their album Soapbox Heroes, and "Minstrel Boy" a distinctive rendition of a familiar Irish tune. The latter song appears on their album Casualties of Retail. The band was probably selected to appear because their Celtic sound fit well with the approaching St. Patrick's Day. 

Enter the Haggis has had tremendous success utilizing the popular concept of crowd funding to raise funds needed to produce their most recent albums. Starting in 2011, the band used techniques popular on sites like Kickstarter, Indiegogo and PledgeMusic to create their own crowd funded campaign called the Haggis Helper on their bandzoogle based website. The band raised over $40,000 which they used to produce their album Whitelake. 
On July 8, 2012, Enter the Haggis launched a campaign on the website Kickstarter to raise the funds needed to produce their newest studio album "The Modest Revolution". The campaign featured a diverse set of "rewards" that fans could purchase in order to help the band achieve their initial goal of $20,000. The campaign was a huge success. The band achieved their initial $20,000 goal within the first 11 hours of the campaign and reached 895 total backers and $66,035 when it was completed on Sept 3rd 2012. 
On November 1, 2013, Enter the Haggis launched a campaign on the website PledgeMusic, called The Penny Black Project, to create a new album based on story submissions from their fans. 

Discography 

As Enter the Haggis 
Let the Wind Blow High, 1998 Aerials, 2001
Live!, 2002
Live at Lanigan's Ball DVD, December 2003
Casualties of Retail, October 2005
Soapbox Heroes, July 2006
Northampton, May 2007
Gutter Anthems, March 2009
Live At The Real Room, DVD, December 2009
Whitelake, October 2011
The Modest Revolution, March 2013
Live at Saint Claire, October 2013

As Jubilee Riots 
Penny Black, October 2014