They perhaps should have known. The ticket was only $45 and the show was in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. It wasn’t for the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Willie Armstrong, one of the founding members of the bagpipe rock band called the Red Hot Chilli Pipers, swears they aren’t trying to confuse anyone. “The advertising is, we always make sure, it’s guys dressed in kilts playing bagpipes,” Armstrong told WTMJ’s Wis. Morning News ahead of the band’s return visit to Milwaukee this week. Armstrong says the mix up happens from time to time. He recalled a mother and daughter from Sheboygan years ago. Armstrong said in the end, the Chilli Peppers gave the pair free tickets, but in the process the Chilli Pipers gained some new fans. “We’re still in contact with the mother and daughter and they loved to see our show… they still come back to see us.”
While they do play traditional bag pipe favorites like Amazing Grace, the Red Hot Chilli Pipers are best known for covering contemporary music. Their shows are at least three pipers, backed up by a full rock band. The Pipers’ rendition of AC/DC’s Thunderstruck is perhaps their most famous. “Let’s not forget, AC/DC are a Scottish band as well and when they’d done Thunderstruck all those years ago, it’s an incredibly difficult piece of music to play on the bagpipes,” Armstrong explained.
Outside of the music and experience being a blast, Armstrong said playing more than the traditional piper music is a matter of necessity. ” If you play the highland bag pipes and you’re trying to entertain a broader audience and not just bagpipe aficionados,” Armstrong suggested, “then you’re going to have to broaden your scope of music.” The band is a staple at Milwaukee Irish Fest, and frequently returns to Southeast Wisconsin, because as Armstrong put it, they want to. “It’s such an iconic place to go. I love Milwaukee.”
The Red Hot Chilli Pipers play the Marcus Performing Arts Center on Friday, March 21st. TICKETS: https://www.marcuscenter.org/event/the-red-hot-chilli-pipers/
