‘Chainsaw folk’ arrives

Having built a word-of-mouth reputation as one of Australia’s most intense live music experiences, The Crooked Fiddle Band - so-called ‘chainsaw folk’ vigilantes - will be in Chichester for the Festivities (St John’s Chapel, St John’s Street, Sunday, July 10, 8pm).

They’re bringing their sound to Europe for the first time this summer to promote their debut album Overgrown Tales.

Driven by the furious fiddling of Jess Randall, they pride themselves on compelling their audiences into a joyous frenzy.

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The Sydney-based acoustic four-piece (double-bass, violin, drums and guitar/bouzouki) spurs the dance floor into “a post-apocalyptic hoedown” - so they promise.

Fresh from recording their debut long player in Chicago with engineer Steve Albini (Nirvana, The Pixies, Joanna Newsom, Gogol Bordello, PJ Harvey), the band are now ready to hit the road across Europe.

Jess said: “For us, there is a direct link between folk traditions and blast beats: it is the unstoppable energy, that intensity that hits you in the chest and forces you to move.

“Chainsaw folk is our attempt to craft a new beast from these influences – coherent but mutated and we can’t wait to hit Europe hard this summer.

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“The album is called Overgrown Tales, referencing both the narrative bent our mostly instrumental tunes have been taking, and also the music we make – like finding a story abandoned in a forest, rooted in tradition but with the newest of shoots (and a few thorns, too).

“The tunes range from the gypsy-punk of Countess Bathory’s Finishing School For Girls, to the delicate-yet-dark strings Under Ash & Ocean, and features live favourites The Ruination Of Junkyard Joe and Over Hill And Under Hill, plus a few more that you may not have heard till now.”