"I had the chance to see [Scottish McMillan] play recently, and he just, uh...it's one of these things where you watch someone and you think 'oh, my God, I'm watching something truly remarkable.' This guy, he can play guitar. He is amazing. I'm not even sure he approaches his guitar like an instrument -- it's like a weapon of destruction, the way he goes after this thing. After seeing the show, I had to have [his CD, "Vice Verses"]."
- James Van Osdol, DJ, "The Local Zone show," 94.7, WZZN, Chicago's "The Zone".
"...very impressive! Your guitar playing is clearly outstanding, and [you've got a] strong, kick ass voice, too. Really, you've got some serious ammo in that body. I wanted to tell you I thought it was great..."
- Stuart Davis, songwriter extraodinaire and hardcore yogi, to Scottish, regarding "Vice Verses" (www.StuartDavis.com).
He's good. Plays good guitar.
- (The late) Wesley Willis,legendary Chicago-based performing artist.
Scottish McMillan has been playing guitar for almost thirty years, gigging around Chicago and the near Midwest for almost fifteen 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.
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).
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!
Scottish is a featured artist on Stonecutter Records' premiere release of their Acoustic DVD Series, starting (appropriately) with "Acoustic Chicago." Scottish enjoyed working with world-renowned bass virtuoso Bill "The Buddha" Dickens and top session drummer Ernie Adams (Al DiMeola, Ramsey Lewis, and many, many more) on a track called "Infinity Grooves." Check it all out at www.acoustic-chicago.com.
Scottish is currently working in a "progressive acoustic rock" duo with drummer Ryan Aiello, called Right Rongly and they will forever change the way you think about acoustic guitar music. See what's up with that at www.myspace.com/rightrongly.
Regardless of all the additives and enhancements with which Scottish often dresses up his music and shows, you can still rely on Scottish's "So-Low Acoustic Show" for an experience that will totally renew your enthusiasm for solo acoustic performances!
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