The first time I went to an Enter the Haggis performance, a dark suspicion emerged. A new, essential vitamin has been discovered and nobody told me. The band had plenty of it. The audience, who was dancing wildly on every available surface, had it too. Slowly, I began to absorb it from the atmosphere, and can’t remember much more.

To be sure, there is nothing new about Celtic Rock. In certain circles- reinactors and Wiccans for example- the appetite for it is voracious. Nobody but the Haggis appears to be dragging it into the full light of day for the enjoyment of the general population. This band sustains energy levels that usually accompany underwear being thrown onstage, playing notes that would have accompanied a boar hunt. Unlike most Celtic Rock, the nuances of the traditional music are maintained while they hook up the jumper cables; maintained and occasionally turned inside out.

The plot thickens with their new disk, Soapbox Heroes. The reels and ballads are still there, but in an unprecedented act of bravado the band has thrown in a layer of Caribbean and Calypso on top. This is a sound that is both complex and danceable, two things that usually don’t happen at the same time. There is even a hint of mainstream airplay lingering over some of the tracks. I can’t help but be curious about how the lusty Celts who follow them around the planet are going to react to this new sound.

TVP: Your sound feels unpremeditated and spontaneous, but the places that you go require a lot of coordination.

Trever Lewington: A lot of our tunes come out of jamming live or jamming in rehearsal. We like to change things up, keep it new. We tour all year, so we need to keep it fresh for ourselves and for the audience as well. Mark, our bass player and James our drummer both majored in Jazz. The spirit of improvisation is strong in what we do.

TVP: In the studio, do you lay a lot of tracks, or do you just bang it out?

TL: In Casualties of Retail we had a lot more time to record. It was our first larger budget record. I won’t say large, but for an independent band fairly large. We spent about two months recording it. We did a bed track that was strictly drums, and then we worked on top of that. We’re more perfectionist in the studio and we do take our time to get where we want. On the new record we were always looking over the producer’s shoulder, trying to tweak out little imperfections.

TVP: That’s one good thing about a small record label. With a big label, it would have been the producer looking over your shoulder.

TL: The producer we used- Neil Dorfsmann- is absolutely a producer’s producer. He was totally hands-on, with a lot of good ideas to add. He’s worked with Sir Paul McCartney , Sting, Dire Straits.

TVP: Your work is increasing in complexity but it still carries that sense of mirth. Is that hard to maintain?

TL: It is definitely dance music. At a lot of our shows and festivals people want to have a good time. We do veer off of that path and do things that are a little more progressive and a little darker. A lot of Celtic bands are mixing Punk in. We find it’s a challenge to find upbeat grooves that aren’t just simple Punk. That’s where the elements of Caribbean music and Funk are coming into the mix. We don’t feel comfortable repeating ourselves.

TVP: You recently toured Scotland. What is it like going to the place where this music was invented and handing them back a truly internationalized version of it?

TL: We met up with a large group of our American fans and as a result we didn’t get a real sense of how we were received by the Scottish people. Our first record, a few years ago now, did well in Scotland. Last year we did some shows in Ireland and the response was great. We were touring with two busloads of our fans. We’d be playing a gig in Galway and the locals had never heard of us before, but there’d be 40 people singing along.

TVP: There’s so often a political imperative to Celtic music. You seem to have been able to avoid that.

TL: Soap Box Heroes has a couple of songs that are politically minded. For the most part we avoid the Irish Rock themes anyway. We started out playing covers of traditional Irish tunes, which often have political undertones about the English. We try to avoid the blatantly political anti-English stuff. The only thing on there that might be considered political is Gasoline. It has a bit of an environmental message.

TVP: Do you ever feel pressure to be politicized?

TL: It’s fun music, upbeat and danceable. That’s not what we’re about. What we’re about is bringing as many styles of music together as possible. The music is positive, we hope it brings people together.

TVP: You have fans that cross every imaginable demographic. It looks like a random sample of the population.

TL: We have three generations of fans in one family! I can’t tell you why that is, except that traditionally Celtic music was enjoyed by all members of the community. In Ireland and Scotland pubs are more of a community thing, whereas in Canada and the US people go out to bars to get drunk and pick people up.

TVP: Yeah. They bring the kids, and the dog.

TL: And, that’s where the music was traditionally played, as well as is in the household. Another reason for the wide range of people is that we’re bringing so many different styles into the mix. People want something unusual and different. That’s what we give them.

TVP: Any other projects Haggis has been working on?

TL: Things have really picked up over the last few years. We did a PBS Special that really helped our standing. We signed on to a label called UFO last summer, and they’re bringing out our new album now. We’re touring so intensely right now, I’ve got one night at home the next month and a half.

TVP: And the last, most essential question, have you ever tasted Haggis?

TL: Yes, I have.

Haggis will be gracing the stage at the Great American Irish Festival at the Herkmer County Fair Grounds on Saturday July 29th. you will want to spend the whole day there, but if you do, I strongly suggest a designated driver. The Harp on tap will not be easy to resist. For more information, go to greatamericanirishfestival.com.