When I called this article Fiddle Felons it’s not intended to convey anything but some neat alliteration and that the only thing wicked about the Crooked Fiddle Band is that they play ‘wicked’ music.

There is a saying that a violin is a fiddle that went to university.  The band members are educated people, but once they get hold of those fiddles they are most likely to be the ones errant from school with their rebellious sound.

The Crooked Fiddle Band respects its traditional training and roots but, like the errant school student, it escapes any confines and develops and evolves. The crooked of the title gives emphasis to the traditional with a twist! The influences are Romany, Celtic to metal punk with some originality added in ... an earthy evolution.

Songs like ‘rom revolution‘, ‘wild’ and ‘frenetic energy’ based on a classical Bartok tune to the Celtic’ milkman’ song which tells the story of ‘a loveable dodgy character of the past‘, the neighbourhood milkman.

The group comprises Jess Randall, Joe Gould, Mark Stevens and Gordon Wallace who plays bouzouki, guitar, mandolin and vocals.

I spoke to Gordon who has Tassie connections, but is originally from South Africa, from which he emigrated with his family when he was 10 years old. His formative years were spent in Launceston, indeed it was a chance trumping of his trumpet from a Tassie school friend and giving him a guitar to replace it in the early 90’s that began his foray into music.

The early 90’s metal punk, very alive in Launceston at that time, informed Gordon’s early playing and was good technical training with its precision and there was a good metal scene in Hobart at that time for him to develop his skills.

A degree at Uni in Zoology, Botany (he still loves the flora and fauna of his native South Africa) and Maths, with its close correlation to music enhanced his musical education. The degree gave him the qualifications and the freedom of working three days and week and having the other days to devote to his music.
Gordon is keen to include Tassie on this and future Crooked Fiddle tours.

The group did the Westbury St Pats festivities this year and next March will do the Cygnet Folk Festival.

You can see Crooked Fiddle gigging at The Brisbane Hotel on Fri Oct 14 and at Westbury Town Hall Sat Oct 15.