The name Spiral Dance came from a book written by Starhawk. It was a strong, positive name for the type of groove we were trying to create.

We play live, we love it! We hail from Adelaide and play regularly all over Australia. We toured the United States in 2003 and plan to tour in the UK in 2007.

In a word, accessability. We want people to hear us and take our music and lyrics into their hearts.

Never say never, but I doubt it.

The band was formed in 1992 as a project to explore some of the more mystical elements in life and has drawn its energy from the song-writing and vocal skills of Adrienne Piggott. Adrienne’s haunting lyrics are supported by Nick’s driving guitar work, Ingrid’s vibrant fiddle playing and Paul’s innovative accordion lines. The whole sound is underpinned by Brent’s solid bass lines and Rick’s textured percussion, all carefully arranged to blend acoustic folk-rock with lush Celtic harmony, creating an almost tangible musical aura that envelopes the audience.

The band played their first gig at the 1993 South Australian Folk Festival to high expectations from the sizable crowd. Adrienne became more prolific with her song writing and after several years developing their craft at local venues and festivals, the band created their first CD in 1996 entitled “Woman of the Earth”. This mini-album containing eight tracks helped establish Spiral Dance in Australia and received favourable reviews in Europe and the United States. The band continued to perform at clubs and festivals and also accepted offers to perform on radio and television shows.

In 1998, the band recorded a song cycle based on the tales of the legendary characters from the Irish Mythology - the oldest surviving prose in western literature. Called “Over the Nine Waves”, the album alternates between narration and songs and had a very Irish folk-roots style.

After a number of line-up changes, the band waited until 1999 to record and release their third CD “Magick” to rave reviews. With much more of a rock-inspired texture, the album sold well in Australia and overseas, prompting invitations to tour in the USA. Unable to find enough financial support to make the trip, more gigs around Australia were planned, culminating with a sold out concert at Melbourne’s Esplanade Hotel in St. Kilda.

Under increasing pressure to produce their fourth album, the band members returned to the studio in 2002 to record material that they had been played live for over a year. The result was “Notes of Being”, the title based on a Pythagorean concept that all objects in the universe pulse to form a perfect celestial harmony. The CD launch was held in October 2002, on the tenth anniversary of the bands first ever concert.

2003 saw Spiral Dance finally take their talents overseas, touring throughout the South-Eastern United States, from America’s self-acclaimed music capitol of Austin, Texas, through Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida and Georgia, performing at several large Festivals and Gatherings as well as club gigs and concerts for their American CD distributors in Florida.

The band were consistently in demand after the tour, performing regularly at many major festivals and headline gigs throughout Australia and proudly supporting such international acts as The Battlefield Band (Scotland), Sharon King (Scotland), Melbourne-based performance artist Wendy Rule, Shooglenifty (Scotland), The Watersons (England) and 2005 saw them perform a joint concert with Britain’s premier pagan rock band Inkubus Sukkubus.

The fifth album was also recorded during 2005, with mixing and post-production falling into 2006. After the success of “Notes of Being” the band used many of the same ingredients to produce the recording; David Lokan at Big Sound Studios in Adelaide engineered it, Adrian Cowell again did the artwork and though the whole band had a hand in production, it was Nick Carter that was responsible for sculpting the sound of the entire project. The album itself features 14 tracks, the first eight forming a song cycle of the sabbats that make up the Wheel of the Year in the Celtic calendar. The song for the festival of Imbolc called “The Quickening” became the title track for the album as it conveyed a positive energy associated with fertility and the spark of new life that reveals the coming of Spring.

Celtic/Pagan Folk Rock, our sound has been compared to such things as Jethro Tull, Fleetwood Mac, Steeleye Span and The Corrs.

Obviously we love home in Adelaide. Also loved Austin, Texas.

BIG drum kit with lots of bells a whistles...literally, Fender bass and Marshall Amps, Godin and Ibinez guitars with Boss effects, Hyde Accordions, a very old and rather priceless 19th Century Europeon-made violin, Shure mics.

Feel free to look us up at:
http://www.spiraldance.com.au