There are certain questions that come up at all of our shows, so we thought we'd try to answer a few of them in this faq:
Why do you call yourselves the "Rum & Kidney Men"?
What kind of bagpipe is that?
Some of the musicians in the band are clearly not men, so how can you call yourselves "The Rum & Kidney Men"?
What's a sacristan?
What are some of the other obedientiaries found in a medieval Benedictine monastery?
Do you have a CD I could buy?
Why do you call yourselves the "Rum & Kidney Men"?
We were trying to choose a name for our band when we came across the term "rum and kidney men" in the 2003 edition of the "Forgotten English" calendar, compiled by Jeffrey Kacirk. The definition was something like "musicians who play at feasts, fairs, and weddings, and subsist on the remnants and remains of victuals." This seemed like a good name for a band, and especially appropriate inasmuch as we've been known to play for food and beer in the past. Since we didn't have too many other bright ideas (we all felt that "Mystic Wyvern" sounded pretty stupid, after all), we went with it. Top.
What kind of bagpipe is that? I thought bagpipes were really loud...why don't I have a migraine after listening to it?
Scott plays a couple different pipes with the band, none of which is the comparatively familiar Scottish highland bagpipe (the very loud, mouth-blown instrument often seen in St. Patrick's Day parades). Highland pipes, due to both their overwhelming volume and the rather odd key that they are in (the tonic of the chanter usually sets up somewhere between Bb and B), are not easy to integrate with a folk band. And so Scott instead plays the border bagpipe (also known as the lowland bagpipe or the Northumberland half-long bagpipe) and the Scottish smallpipes. Border pipes are bellows-blown and have a bright, reedy tone not unlike that of the highland pipes, but are considerably less noisy and play in band-friendly keys! The smallpipes are a quiet, bellows-blown instrument with a sweet, milky tone.
In addition, as a precautionary measure, complimentary
aspirin are available at all Rum & Kidney concerts...
...no, not really.
Top.
Some of the musicians in the band are clearly not men, so how can you call yourselves "The Rum & Kidney Men"?
Interesting question...when Amy joined our regular line-up, we of course considered some obvious alternatives. However, it turns out that "Rum & Kidney Band" was already taken (go figure), and "Rum & Kidney People" led to uncomfortable disagreements about who would get to dress up as the Indian chief, so we decided to stick with our original name. In any case, etymologically speaking, "rum and kidney men" refers to itinerant musicians, not itinerant male musicians, so we think the name still works. Top.
A sacristan was one of the obedientiaries (i.e. functionaries) of a medieval Benedictine monastery...in charge of the sacristy...and basically his job was to take care of the books and music, make sure there were plenty of candles and oil, ring the bells on time...things of that sort. Our webmaster just thought that was a cooler email address than "admin@rumandkidney.com," or something like that. Top.
What are some of the other obedientiaries found in a medieval Benedictine monastery?
Well, in addition to the sacristan, you would have the cellarer (in charge of food stores), the refectorian (in charge of crocks, dishes, cloths, and so forth), the infirmarian (who tended the sick), the novice master (in charge of novice monks), the almoner (in charge of distributing charity), the hosteller (in charge of an abbey's guest houses), and a number of others. Top.
Not yet...for now, please feel free to download tracks from our recordings page. We are thinking about trying to lay down a few tracks and actually produce a proper CD, but for the moment (late summer 2006) that project remains in the planning stages. Top.
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