CAL support

Michael Callaghan, better known as Cal, started singing,playing the guitar and writing his own songs in the early 1990s as a hobby, but – what a great luck for us- his interest had grown up and his ambition was to perform as a self employed solo artiste. Cal won the Sound Control Music Trophy 1993 and 1994, attained an HND in "Rock Music Performance" 1994 and achieved his Adwanced Diploma in "Film and Television Music in 1996. He soon realised this ambition, performing in a variety of venues in Scotland: from pubs to town halls and also concert halls and with the time, he come to support bands like Wolfstone, The Ian Hunter Band, Fish and many more.

After the departure of Donnie Munro from the band "Runrig", Cal auditioned for this position and got down to the last in Scotland. He founded his own record label (Cal Music) and so he was able to write, record and promote his own songs while keeping all copyright control together. 1998 Cal recorded his first CD, the cover song album“VINTAGE YEARS”, in response to the many requests at his live performances which proves that saying ”the old ones are the best”.

During continuously touring throughout his homeland, Cal was writing and recording his own songs and at the beginning of 2001 his album “SCOTLAND A PART OF ME” was available to all music stores in Scotland. In a short time he made a name of himself in his homeland, but he had also interests in America and got the possibility of doing a tour 2002 there, what given him the opportunity to bring his music over the pond. He was gigging in Portland (Oregon), Seattle, Eugene and Vancover, followed by a tour 2003, where he was gigging in Boulder and Denver (Colorado).

Whenever he got a bit of time whilst gigging at home, he was writing and recording new songs and so as the result of all that work, Cal finished his next album in 2004, followed by a tour, where he signified “CALLING YOU” to his German fans.
In 2005 Cal played at the Celtic Tsunami Appeal Concert (Music Hall, Aberdeen) along with the Donnie Munro Band, Dougie McLean, Fiona Kennedy and many more and also at the Runrig manager's birthday bash. He also recorded a new CD and so"Calling you" was followed by the limited edition CD “ROSE AMONG THE HEATHER” with three new songs and also a remix of “Scotland a part of me”.

Cal is gigging solo but he also had an own four-piece band: “CAL AND The CELTIC EXPLOSION”. The band had their first gig during the Celtic Connection festival 2007 in Glasgow and had their first full-evening-gig, just with CAL’s own songs, in Callander 2007.

2007 was an exciting year , because in November Cal maybe had his biggest success in winning the festival4stars National Songwriting Competition, London, with his song “You and I” !

2009 came up with a special event in February, when he supported Sandi Thom in Aberdeen and Banff. Apart from touring and gigging, Cal was writing new songs and so he finished his newest DC "A SINGLE KISS" in August 2009, just in time for his next tour in Canada, which was following in August/September.

August,15th 2010 Cal has been on Radio Borders with a couple of songs and a fantastic interview at Karin Ingram's Show The Sunday Getherin', where she plays the best in traditional music.

In November 2010 Cal came out with great news cause he built up a NEW BAND , called "CAL". You want to know any news of the band or you want to know more about each single member....well have a look to the brilliant band-website at

where you can also find a Onlineshop to order the new EP for example...and many more...so don't miss to check it out !!

Cal's music found its way around the world, for example to different radio stations in Germany and to the CelticRadio in Boston as well, where he won the CELTIC RADIO MUSIC AWARD 2010 with his song "A Single Kiss", category "BEST TRADITIONAL SONG OF THE YEAR " , with more than 50% of the votes, which was the highest in ALL the categories !!

2011 was a very exciting and busy year for Cal and the band as well: the band started in March with a fantastic Live-Interview and acoustic set at Celtic Music Radio, followed by a recorded broadcast at Radio Northsound Aberdeen in July, 2nd, not to forget Cal's gigs as a solo artist throughout Scotland during the year.
As a big surprise ​Cal and his band​​ have finished recording a EP just in time to their Lemon Tree gig on July, 22nd : four new songs, written of any bandmember, recorded at the Foundry​​ music lab, producers Graeme Duffin/Sandy Jones.

Just a few days later, the song "I can hear the nation" was played on different radio stations, for example Radio Tay AM and radio Northsound but also on Schottenradio in Germany, where Basil made a CAL special about 2 hours on Saturday, 16th July 2011...at the end he got 1298 emails to the studio for CAL's music !!! CAL also has been at Northsound on 16th July 2011 with a live acoustic session and an interview and has been on Radio Tay with a small interview as well.

The EP "CAL" is still getting played on a regular basis on radio Tay AM, Clyde 2, Forth 2, Northsound 2 and Westsound 2 and at the German radio Schottenradio as well.
But I think the biggest event for Cal and the band happened on July,22nd 2011 when they played their first concert ever at the Lemontree, Aberdeen....It was a gigantic night and a brilliant show !!

Cal and the band have been busy with some more concerts: they played in North Uist, followed by a concert in Stirling, where a management company came to see them and subsequently they were signed !! The next concert was the Pike River recovery fund concert at St. Andrews with great success for that important cause, a few days later Cal and his band played at Kilmarnock, another special concert because this concert was being recorded by Radio Clyde and could be listen worldwide on Hogmanay !
The last concert for 2011 Cal and the band played on November 25th in Glasgow at the Oran Mor.

But this don't meant a lazy time for Cal, cause he and the guys worked through December to complete writing new songs for the next CD and they has been in the studio on January/February/March 2012. The release date of the new CD "Turning the Tide" is 14th May 2012, followed by a Scottish Tour in June. The band will be playing in Strathpeffer, Aberdeen, Inverness, Portree, Glasgow and Falkirk..

Have an eye to the bandpage at www.cal-band.com or www.calmusic.co.uk to get all information about Cal and the band "CAL"