When James Cameron discovered Gaelic Storm performing in a pub in Santa Monica, Calif., the band had only been playing together for three months.
Since the "Titanic" director cast them as the "Steerage Band" in his little movie about a sinking ship, the band has gone from weekly gigs in pubs to touring Europe, France and 35 states in America so far.Utah will be its 36th.
Gaelic Storm will bring its brand of Celtic dance music to Ogden on Saturday, playing at the Egyptian Theatre. The show starts at 7:30 p.m., and tickets are $15 and $12.
Appearing in the highest-grossing movie of all time has its advantages.
Gaelic Storm wasn't really acting in the movie. In fact, the only instructions given to the extras and other actors in scenes with the band were to have a good time.
"We were ourselves playing our music in the movie. We weren't 'playing' musicians," Steve Twigger said in an interview with the Deseret News. "We would have been doing exactly that at that time if we'd been around."
Since the movie's release, Storm has released two albums, the most recent titled "Herding Cats." The band is expanding its musical range with three originals on this album -- most of what it plays are traditional Irish tunes -- including "Drink the Night Away," "Heart of the Ocean" and "She was the Prize."
The band first started when the members met one another at a pub they each frequented -- some of them seasoned musicians who had already been performing with one another (England-born Twigger and Shep Londale, from London) -- and discussed their love of traditional Irish sing-a-long songs and such. These were songs each band member had grown up listening to.
"We never used to play this type of music. I don't know if it was nostalgia or a longing for roots, but we found a mutual love for it. It made us feel good, like part of our history."
It's been one long thrill ride for Gaelic Storm for the past 14 or 15 months. So far, they've played log cabins in North Georgia, Lady Aberdeen's home in Scotland and in Tokyo, Japan, where they performed with the help of a translator.
"It's never a challenge because we do what we do anyway. I hate to say it's all been good, but it really has. People respond to us having a good time."
For more information, call 801-395-3205.