The Crooked Fiddle Band returns to Newcastle on Saturday, February 17, to headline the inaugural Carrington Folk Festival at Earp Distilling Co. The band has toured the world, released multiple albums, been nominated for an ARIA, and they struggle when describing their music. They've tried "chainsaw folk" and "like a pig with shark's teeth."
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"All the descriptions leave people with slightly confused faces until they've heard us and then they're like 'oh, that's a great description'," says Joe Gould, the band's drummer. "We started life as a folk band and then went rogue when we realised we'd all listened to punk and metal in high school."
Gould and his band members guitarist Gordon Wallace and double bassist Mark Stevens live in Sydney. Their violinist Jess Randall lives up the road in Hawks Nest.
Every time they play in Newcastle, they feel like they're back in their hometown.
"It was the first time we left Sydney to play a show way back in 2006," Gould remembers. "It was to play at the Lass O'Gowrie, a rite of passage."
It was at The Lass that the Crooked Fiddle got involved with the Mousemoon band, fronted by musician Zackari Watt. They played their first EP Launch with then-Novocastrian musician Mo'Ju, formerly known as Mojo Juju. The Crooked Fiddle also played gigs with Kira Piru. Both Mo'Ju and Kira Piru relocated to Melbourne to pursue successful careers. The Crooked Fiddle came to know heaps of Newcastle-based artists from the Morrow Park Bowling Club arts hub, which sadly burnt down in 2013.
"You could look into the audience and see 20 different friends in the crowd, and half were in another band playing before or after," Gould says of their early gigs in Newcastle.
This was roughly 2006-2012, and then The Crooked Fiddle went on to tour the world. They recorded their first two albums in Chicago with American record producer Steve Albini and eventually returned to Australia to take a little time off and write a new album.
In 2019 they released their third album Another Subtle Atom Bomb which was nominated for an ARIA.
"We did the first half of the tour and then Christmas, and then COVID," Gould says. "The second half of the tour never happened. It got rebooked four times and then every time something happened, usually a lockdown. It was sort of a comedy of errors, everything going wrong."
They are excited to play at the Carrington Folk Festival because it's the first time in more than five years that they've played in Newcastle.
On the night they plan to play brand new material from their upcoming album, The free wild wind and the songs of birds. They'll release the album in late April, but they might have a few sneaky copies at the festival.
He describes the fourth album as a bit of a return to the folk end of the band, a little more "pastoral Celtic."
"To us, it's the calmest we've ever been, but I think the actual result is still keeping with the band's energy," he says.
When asked if audience members will dance when they hear the new tunes, he replied
"I would be very disappointed if they don't."
CARRINGTON FOLK FESTIVAL
The bands:
Mia Petra (previously known as Piko Panez) is a songwriter and producer based in Muloobinba (Newcastle).
Steel City Sue Sue Morley is a Newcastle songwriter and trad fiddle player bringing her own brand of ragtime industrial folk.
Midnight Chicken Hatched and hand raised in Newcastle, Midnight Chicken are quickly becoming a hot topic in the bluegrass and country circuits around Australia.
Damian Wright An ARIA-nominated Flamenco guitarist.
Luke William Wright An Australian musician who plays mandocello - the larger member of the mandolin family of Instruments.
The Crooked Fiddle Band Formed in 2006 in Sydney, The Crooked Fiddle Band mix blasts of fiery folk with the intense atmosphere and detail of post- and prog-rock, resulting in a multi-layered, complex and ecstatic hybrid they call 'chainsaw folk'.
Other activities
Petrichor Choir Workshop with Christopher Sutherland
Breakfast Meet Up at Cafe Inu. Cafe Inu welcomes all folk fans, musicians and jammers to come play and have a coffee or a bite to eat on Saturday morning between 9am and 1pm.
Ukulele Experience at Carrington Bowling Club. From 10am to noon, join a group session of Ukastle Ukestra (ukulele) practice. It's free to watch or $20 to participate.
Carrington Folk Festival officially starts at 1pm, Saturday, February 17, at Earp Distilling Co, 41 Darling St, Carrington, and goes until late. Tickets are $45 per hour (but they will go up just before). Kids 14 and under, free with adult supervision.
Tickets to the festival are available via Earp Distilling Co's website. Learn more by following @Carrington_Folk_Festival on Instagram.
Alex Morris is an organiser of the Carrington Folk Festival
