Martyn MacDonald on Valtos headlining Hidden Door: 'I don’t think we really knew what our sound was for a long time'
Leading Scotland’s current trad music revival, Valtos headline Hidden Door with their hybrid live/DJ show. The duo chat to Danny Munro about eureka moments, national pride and finding their sound
Keen to bow out of The Paper Factory in style, Hidden Door have acquired the services of in-demand electro-trad rock stars Valtos for Saturday night headline duties. Fresh from playing a rather daunting support slot warming up 50,000 rugby fans at Murrayfield and blowing the roof off a sold-out Barrowlands, the booking marks something of a coup for the volunteer-run festival. ‘Yeah, it’s just a little bit bizarre,’ admits a humble Martyn MacDonald, reflecting on the immense success he and his musical partner, Daniel Doherty, have found since forming the double act in 2021. ‘Especially over the last few years where tickets just seem to fly out the door. We don’t take it for granted at all.’
Raised on the Isle Of Skye against a backdrop of pipe bands and trad pub sessions, Doherty and MacDonald had instruments handed to them at a young age. ‘I think in the Highlands, when you’re in school you’re pretty much given an instrument to learn, be it chanter, pipes, fiddle or guitar,’ Doherty reminisces. ‘So everyone’s kind of got that instrument as a utility.’
Though they grew up surrounded by traditional music, the pair, rather naturally, began to gravitate toward the allure of electronic music in their teens. Developing a fascination with the likes of Madeon and Bicep, the duo taught themselves various DJ and production programmes in their bedrooms, prompting a eureka moment while attending the island’s premiere music festival. ‘We were at Skye Live 2019 and Peatbog Faeries were on,’ MacDonald remembers. ‘And we just thought “why don’t we give it a bash?”’ While the pandemic halted any immediate gigging plans, the duo made sure to reap all the benefits they could from lockdown. ‘We had quite a luxury of time,’ says Doherty, ‘because Skye during covid, as you can imagine, was quite quiet. I don’t think we really knew what our sound was for a long time; we were kind of experimenting, and then it all came together with the album.’
The resulting self-titled LP was released in summer 2022 to a host of rave reviews. Featuring trad royalty past and present, from Runrig legend Donnie Munro to Niteworks’ Allan MacDonald, Valtos raked in plaudits for innovatively fusing the sounds of Skye’s past with that of its future, a formula that appears to be increasingly popular among the young Scots flocking en masse to sold-out new-age trad nights across the country. ‘I think there’s maybe an element of people redefining their pride in Scotland after a very long time of being told we’re a bit shit,’ reasons MacDonald, when asked about the country’s trad renaissance. ‘Look at the charts right now,’ Doherty adds. ‘Kingfishr, Amble, even Mumford & Sons… that whole kind of folky thing is quite prevalent, so it is cool!’
Those with Saturday tickets for Hidden Door will witness the duo’s acclaimed High Water Mark show, during which you’ll find Doherty and MacDonald behind the decks, with accomplished fiddle player Euan McLaughlin handling the live music element. ‘A normal Valtos show is 90 minutes of Valtos songs the whole way through. But the High Water Mark stuff really does act more like a DJ set,’ explains MacDonald. ‘Our stuff’s sprinkled in there, but then we play our favourite dance tunes and Euan adds the fiddle on top.’
As ever, it’s a busy summer in Scotland with a multitude of festivals to pick from, though MacDonald assures anyone still on the fence that they won’t regret heading to The Paper Factory. ‘If you’ve had any chance to see us before, we’re quite a liberated, friendly bunch of people… we do lots of different styles, so if you don’t like a song, wait for the next one. It’ll probably be something you might like.’
Valtos play The Paper Factory, Edinburgh on Saturday 6 June; Hidden Door runs from Wednesday 3–Sunday 7 June; main picture: Euan Robertson.