Alberta Celtic rockers Captain Tractor are minus a familiar face as they plow into Halifax this weekend.

Sadly, their mascot Uncle Bumpy, the plaid-clad skeleton who graces the cover of their new album Bought the Farm, did just that, and met a gruesome fate at the hands of some overzealous fans.

"He got destroyed in a mosh pit at the South Country Fair in Fort McLeod, Alberta, so he's sorely missed," says guitarist Scott Peters by phone from a stop in Montreal.

"We were shooting a video, and he wound up in the crowd. His jaw fell and his leg fell off, and he's never been the same since. We have the remains though."

It's not as if Captain Tractor need a good omen before playing Halifax tonight at SMU's Gorsebrook Lounge and Saturday at the Blues Corner. This is their third trip east since their first visit, when the band was drumming up enthusiastic crowds right off the bat with a supercharged combination of acoustic and electric instrumentation.

Coming from Edmonton to Halifax to play Celtic-influenced pop might be like taking coals to Newcastle, but with the exception of a few so-called "folk Nazis" ("They're the same sort of people who didn't like it when Bob Dylan went electric," jokes Peters), Captain Tractor have rarely had trouble reaching their audience.

Peters is relieved the band had an easy time finding fans here, since he's actually a former Shearwater "base brat" whose family moved west while he was in his teens.

Captain Tractor have also gassed up with a haystack of new songs written for their next album, to be recorded in the new year. As for what direction the band will be going in, Peters says wait and see.

"It's hard to say with close to 30 songs to pick from. At the moment we like them all, but we're still the same guys with the same attitudes we've always had. It'll be pretty close content-wise, although we're progressing as songwriters.

"If anything, the new songs might be a bit more thoughtful."

Besides a new album, Captain Tractor plan to return to Europe, where they've toured with some success, although they have yet to play Ireland, which Peters says they anticipate with a certain amount of trepidation.

"But we were kinda scared when we first came to Halifax, but that turned out alright."