Rock Stars Who Wear Kilts, and Why
A kilt on a stadium stage is doing one of two things. It is either a statement of ancestry or it is simply the best thing the performer has ever worn, and with most of the musicians below it turns out to be the second. Here is who wears one, what is actually known about their reasons, and which kilt gets you the same look.
Axl Rose
Why did Axl Rose wear a kilt? Partly heritage, partly showmanship. Rose, born on 6 February 1962 and the frontman of Guns N’ Roses, is of Scots-Irish descent on his father’s side, and he wore a kilt on the Use Your Illusion tours in the early 1990s, most famously in the Paris and Tokyo shows. He was among the first hard rock frontmen to put one on in front of a stadium audience, and the image stuck.
Rose’s kilts were tartan rather than utility, worn with a leather jacket and boots instead of Highland dress. If that is the look you are after, a tartan kilt in a dark sett does it, and a hybrid kilt gets you the tartan front with a harder-wearing back.
Jonathan Davis
Why does Jonathan Davis wear a kilt? Because of the bagpipes. Davis, born Jonathan Howsmon Davis in Bakersfield, California on 18 January 1971, learned the pipes at school and has played them on Korn records and on stage, most recognisably on “Shoots and Ladders”. The kilt came with the instrument and then stayed as part of the act. He has described ancestry that includes Scottish and Welsh lines.
Davis wears a heavily customised kilt rather than a traditional one, usually black, usually with straps and hardware. That is closer to a stage costume than to Highland dress. A piper who wants the traditional version instead wants the piper’s kilt outfit, worn with a dress sporran and proper hose.
Jack White
Jack White was born John Anthony Gillis in Detroit on 9 July 1975. The surname is his wife’s: when he married Meg White in 1996 he took her name rather than the other way round, and the two of them then presented themselves publicly as siblings. As guitarist and singer of The White Stripes he was one of the central figures of the 2000s garage rock revival.
The Scottish link is real but distant. His mother’s family is Polish and his father’s is Scottish-Canadian, so when White wears a kilt it reads as stagecraft with a thread of ancestry behind it rather than Highland dress proper.
Zakk Wylde
Is Zakk Wylde Scottish? No. He was born Jeffrey Phillip Wielandt in New Jersey on 14 January 1967 and is of Irish descent. There is no Scottish ancestry behind the kilt.
So why does Zakk Wylde wear a kilt? By his own account it was a Seattle shop window. He has said he saw men wearing kilts there, liked the look, and started wearing them himself. That is the whole story, and he has never claimed otherwise. Since then the kilt has become part of the Black Label Society uniform alongside the beard and the bullseye guitar.
Wylde has been Ozzy Osbourne’s lead guitarist since 1987, when he replaced Jake E. Lee, and he founded Black Label Society in 1998 as its guitarist, singer and songwriter. His stage kilts are the heavy, plain, hardware-led kind rather than clan tartan, which is the utility kilt look: 100% cotton, cargo pockets, built to be moved in. The leather kilt is the other half of that wardrobe.
Skiltron
Skiltron are an Argentinian folk metal band, formed in Buenos Aires in 2004 by Emilio Souto, and one of the few South American bands working in a Celtic metal style that is far more common in Europe. Bagpipes are central to their sound, and the band performs in kilts.
The name comes from the schiltron, the tight formation of spearmen the Scots used against cavalry in the Wars of Independence. The word is much older than the wars themselves, deriving from Old English roots meaning “shield-troop”. William Wallace drew his men up in schiltrons at Falkirk in 1298, and Robert the Bruce turned the formation into an attacking one at Bannockburn in 1314. You can read more in our guide to William Wallace.
Iron Maiden
No account of metal and Scotland is complete without Iron Maiden. The band was formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and principal songwriter Steve Harris, and has built much of its catalogue on historical subjects. “The Clansman”, from the 1998 album Virtual XI, takes up the Scottish wars of independence directly, and Bruce Dickinson has performed it in a kilt. It is the clearest case on this page of a kilt worn to mark a subject rather than a bloodline.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you have to be Scottish to wear a kilt?
No. None of the musicians on this page except Axl Rose has a close Scottish line, and nobody objects. There is no rule reserving kilts for Scots, and clan tartans are not restricted by surname either. Our fuller answer is in can non-Scots wear a kilt.
What kilt do rock musicians actually wear?
Rarely a traditional eight-yard Highland kilt, which is heavy, formal and hand-pleated. Stage kilts are usually utility kilts in cotton with cargo pockets, leather kilts, or hybrid kilts that put a tartan front on a harder-wearing body. All three are made to your measurements.
Which rock star made the kilt famous first?
Axl Rose, in the early 1990s on the Use Your Illusion tours, is the usual answer for hard rock. Kilts had been worn on stage before that, notably by pipe bands and folk acts, but Rose put one in front of a stadium rock audience and the image carried.
Does Jonathan Davis really play the bagpipes?
Yes. He learned at school and has played them on Korn recordings and live, most recognisably on “Shoots and Ladders”. The kilt arrived with the instrument.
