The Crooked Fiddle Band – Another Subtle Atom Bomb Tour

"Their music is original and quixotic, with the depths of some strong roots. I’ve never heard anything like it." - Brian Eno

"Woah! So good to get a reminder of how these guys can handle their instruments with chaos and class." - Dave Ruby Howe, Triple J Unearthed

"This is our most real world album yet. It's about climate change, from many different angles. If any positive change comes of it, we wouldn’t complain, but it’s not an activist album. It's all of our fears, frustrations, angst and hopes, distilled into sound." - Joe Gould Crooked Fiddle Band

The Crooked Fiddle Band's long-awaited third album is here: Another Subtle Atom Bomb follows on from their highly acclaimed Overgrown Tales and Moving Pieces Of The Sea. The band's music has been described as "chainsaw folk," forged from the band's love of fiery energy, whether it's Eastern European frantic fiddle tunes, or punk warehouse parties. This album brings an added sense of urgency to the mix. Previous albums were recorded in Chicago with the legendary Steve Albini, this time around the band became more experimental in the studio here in Australia.

Given the heavy subject matter, they wanted the album to have an upfront sound too, enlisting rock engineer Clayton Segelov, who has worked with Georgia Maq (Camp Cope), Justice for the Damned, Shady Nasty, sleepmakeswaves and many more. To give the album extra grit, the band devised an analogue fuzz box, recording the double bass through an amp with a snare drum in front, its wires rattling, to create a buzz-saw effect, heard throughout the entire album. Despite playing an acoustic guitar throughout, Gordon Wallace’s amp was cranked too.

Counter Errorism is the single from the album and sums it up in a short, manic track—like an overture to the rest—in the first three minutes you hear nearly every sound that is played with on this album, from the punked-up, folk inspired melodies to the unique tones they are playing with. The scratch violin that opens the track recurs every time they want to let the floodgates open—it’s almost like Jess Randall’s screaming via her instrument. There are lighter moments as they imagine outlaw post-apocalyptic romance in 'The Horse Thief's Sweetheart' or getting lost in festival experiences in 'Kings of the Mud'—but all glued with a sense of ecstatic urgency.

The Crooked Fiddle Band has won audiences nationally and internationally by combining stunning musicianship and composition with a rhythm and energy, driven by the beautiful and blistering fiddling of Jess Randall, and underpinned by a rhythm section featuring Gordon Wallace (bouzouki, guitar, banjo, mandolin), Mark Stevens (double bass) and Joe Gould (drum kit, percussion, garbage bin, vocals). The Crooked Fiddle Band and their audiences are wild, passionate and unrestrained.