Many “ceilidh bands” that you will find on the Internet nowadays are actually agencies. The agency has a large pool of musicians they work with, and when they get a booking they put together a band out of who is available in the area on the night. The musicians may well have never played together before.

We are not like that. We have a set line up and rehearse together – writing arrangements, tightening and upping our game. If a band member can’t make a gig we do work with stand in musicians, but we always rehearse with them beforehand.

Agency bands are not always bad. It depends on who you happen to get – some excellent musicians and callers do agency gigs to fill up spaces in their calender. All of us are veterans of many agency gigs.

But there’s generally very little quality control, so booking one is risky. You basically don’t know what you are going to get. Some are definitely sub standard.

You will also pay more, because the agency itself will take a significant cut (and probably pay the musicians less).

Most ceilidh agencies don’t say that they are agencies. But it’s possible to tell from the advertising. Signs that you’re dealing with an agency are:

• No clear photos or video of the band members (there will probably be videos, but they won’t clearly show the band members. They may have close ups of hands, instead of faces).
• The same band seems to do gigs over a very wide area, maybe nationwide. (Because they’re not the same band).
• The person who does the admin/ organisation isn’t going to be playing themselves. Strangely, they’ll be busy that night.
• Lots of options as to band size or line up – some rehearsed bands (including us) do have a small version they can use when the client can’t afford the whole band, but if it’s just a matter of – how many musicians do you want: 2, 3, 4, 5? – then it’s probably not a set band.
• High cost, because you’re also paying the agency cut.
• Proclaiming themselves “the UK’s premier ceilidh band” or such like. Such unverifiable boasts should ring alarm bells in any context – who decides which is the UK’s “premier” band? Such statements suggest that an outfit is aiming at less canny clients. Obviously, as the UK’s most respectful ceilidh band, we would never do such a thing.