“This is the most hardcore celebration of whirling folk tunes you are likely to see this side of a Celtic band’s tribute to Sepultura”
The full review of the gig can be found on Moshcam’s blog, Soundcheck

Interview with Mark and Gordon – a crush on Cyndi Lauper is revealed….

Footage of seven tracks from the show

Thanks to Cathy, Steph and Andrew for dressing the stage and in Byron Bay for the post-apocalyptic urban-elf wear.

Not to mention Gordon and Mark, who’ve been busy tinkering with a secret genre they’ll only refer to as ‘Pharaoh Punk’….

Bookings are underway for our 2012 european tour, too, so we can’t wait to return to the handcrafted UK festivals, the German autobahn, and take in our first Scandinavian visit!

We hope to see you soon!

-Jess, Gordon, Mark and Joe

Directed and compiled by Jack McGrath, featuring Dave Carr (of Dave Carr’s Fabulous Contraption) as the Mountain Man, photographer Yanni Kronenberg and make-up artist Amanda McKenzie. Footage and time lapse by Jack McGrath and Greg LeCoutier, album cover stills photographed by Yanni Kronenberg.

Thanks to everyone involved in the making of the album cover, and to everyone who’s come to a show, seen us at a festival, or bought the album!

The episode also featured the fantastic Mojo Juju and the Snake Oil Merchants as well as other Australian bands, a good thing to hear – rally round the drum boys, rally round the drum!

After a quick sidetrek to Arteganza in The Netherlands we were back in Germany at G11, an underground gallery in Berlin, under the darkly beautiful Heliotropes exhibition by Joby Hickey.

Leaving the ‘poor but sexy’ Berlin behind, we headed to the amazingly picturesque medieval town of Rudolstadt for the fantastic TFF Rudolstadt festival where the rhubarb wine, cheesy baked bread, fist sized chunks of spit roasted pork and steins of tasty beer were made all the more enjoyable by the views over the valley from the castle, the friendly festival crew and the very attentive and enthusiastic festival go-ers.

Next stop UK with 11 shows in 11 days (check out the shows here) – it will be good to be back in the land of Old Rosie and lukewarm pints of real ale!

Check out photos of the events so far

album cover photographed by Yanni Kronenberg

Through our 2 EPs, we’ve begun to develop a style that fuses all the music that excites us with it’s intensity – there’s some punked-up-folk-tune parts, some whirlwind fiddling from Jess, and some intense cinematic moments.

The thing that links these aspects together is the way we wrote them – each tells a wordless story (mostly wordless, anyway) and we often arranged the music thinking of this narrative. The traditional roots of our music combined with these stories and modern influences gave us Overgrown Tales – like finding a folk tale deep in the forest, rooted in tradition but with the newest of shoots (and a few thorns).

After pre-production at our rehearsal space in Sydney’s summer heat wave, we flew into Chicago’s biggest blizzard to record the album with Steve Albini at his Electrical Audio studios. Albini has been an influence of ours for years for his DIY attitude, raw rock recordings (see Nirvana’s In Utero or any Shellac album) and his organic acoustic work (The Dirty Three’s Ocean Songs, Joanna Newsom’s Ys). These two sides made Electrical Audio the logical choice for us – we were able to capture the raw sound of acoustic instruments at full throttle, without sacrificing the organic warmth that we love.

As well as expanding on our previous sound, there’s also some new elements – 3 of the tracks feature prominent vocals, and half the album is helped by the lush sound of guest cellist Russell Rolen. Jess also debuts her most medieval looking instrument, the nyckelharpa, a Swedish keyed fiddle. The whoops and yells that Gordon makes when we play live got captured, too.

Shooting the album cover was a big project – no CGI here! – after convincing our friend Dave (of Dave Carr’s Fabulous Contraption) to model, minatures director Jack McGrath directed a team of volunteers moulding rocks, creating infuriating little trees and making plaster casts of Dave’s body. The cover was photographed by Yanni Kronenberg, with Dave pulling off the near-impossible feat of sitting still for many hours. We’re sure you’ll agree the results look fantastic.

So, we hope you enjoy Overgrown Tales. We’re very proud of the whole package – the writing, the performances, the sounds and the digipak they come in. There’s a huge list of people we’d like to thank in the cover and we’ll put that on the site soon. In the meantime, to quote our friend Hugh, “let the tales take root and thirstily ascend through the canopy of the mind.”
- tCFB

PS If you want to help us out, please leave a review of the album on iTunes (or your preferred provider), our Facebook page, or email it to us via info [AT] crookedfiddleband.com

Digital downloads (mp3, FLAC etc):
iTunes, Bandcamp, emusic, CD Baby and more – check your favourite mp3 source.

CDs available:
Online from CD Baby (ships internationally, USA based)
Instore (Australia) from JB Hi-fi and many indie stores

Check out the making of the album art here

The Say Yes rallies around Australia in support of cutting carbon pollution were a resounding success on Sunday 5th June, with 8000 people gathering in Sydney’s Prince Alfred Park alone.

It meant a lot to all of us to be a part of such an important event and was a pleasure to play our music to an enthusiastic, dancing crowd!

Read the article on ABC News and watch Australia-wide coverage of the rally here.

The Crooked Fiddle Band spent February 2011 recording their forthcoming debut album with legendary engineer Steve Albini in his Electrical Audio studios in Chicago. Whilst the worst snowstorms in 15 years blanketed the city, Albini (Nirvana, The Pixies, Joanna Newsom, Gogol Bordello) captured the band live and raw – with a set of tunes that roam across a wide range of styles and influences whilst maintaining an intense, cinematic energy.

Countess Bathory (who’s tale inspired this composition) was a foreboding 17th Century Hungarian noblewoman whose particularly bloodthirsty habits have spawned aspects of our modern vampire myths. If a party had been thrown to celebrate her demise, with a band of upstarts to provide accompaniment to the revelry, it may have sounded somewhat like The Crooked Fiddle Band’s latest offering – rooted in tradition but raw and punked up with dark, ecstatic energy. Violinist Jess Randall wrenches creaks, screeches and groans from her violin, while the uncompromising rhythm section whips the dance floor into a writhing mass, and gypsy melodies pluck at spirit and soul.

“We play acoustic instruments, but like to push them to the limits,” says guitarist Gordon Wallace. ”In ‘Countess Bathory’s Finishing School for Girls’ we wanted to take the dark mood and inject it with a celebratory atmosphere.”

The single is available as a free download from Bandcamp. The full album will be available in June 2011.

UK and European tour : June/July 2011.

Australian tour : September/October 2011.

Check back here for more details