Silent Recordings
Unpredictable Music for
Unreliable Times

Artists:

CODA
Prop
Telemetry Orchestra
Tracky Dax

Compilations:

Around The Block
Nocturnal Emissions
Silent Soundtracks
Sounds of Silent
This Show Is About People

Rouseabout Records
Keeping it Real

Artists:

Bondi Cigars
Cathie O'Sullivan
Colin Dryden
Creedence Clearwater Revisited
The Celebrated Knackers & Knockers Band
Donna Fisk and Michael Cristian
Eric Bogle
Fiddlers Feast
Gary Shearston
Gordon Lightfoot
Herb Superb
Johnny Wade
Jim Low
John Munro
Julie Wilson
Koori Classic
Kym Pitman
Marcus Holden
Mic Conway's National Junk Band
Ngarukuruwala
Nyalgodi Scotty Martin
Robyn Archer
Roger Knox
Russell Morris
The Newtown Rugby League Football Club Song
Warren Fahey & Luke Webb
Warren Fahey & Max Cullen (DEAD MEN TALKING)

Compilations:

Before the Boomerang Came Back
Down By The Billabong
The World Turned Upside-Down
Forte – Golden Fiddlers
Stand Up & Shout

Yesterday's Australia:

Barbara James
Bob Dyer
Bobby Limb
Buddy Williams
Dame Nellie Melba
Florence Austral
Frank Coughlan
John Brownlee
Johnny Ashcroft
Keith Branch & His South Sea Islanders

Percy Grainger
Reg Lindsay
Shirley Thoms
Smoky Dawson
Strella Wilson
Tex Morton
Tex Morton and Sister Dorrie
Warren Fahey's Diggers

Yesterday's Australia Compilations:

Australian Radio Serials
Australian Hillbilly Radio Hits
Australian Stars of the International Music Hall Voume 1
Australian Stars of the International Music Hall Voume 2
Band in a Waistcoat Pocket
Mastertouch Pianola
Strike up the Band
Stars of Australian Stage & Radio Vol 1
Stars of Australian Stage & Radio Vol 2

Yep! Records
Music Without Compromise

Artists:

Antenna
Jenny Morris
Michal Nicholas
The Lovetones
Saints of India
Screw the Pooch
sounditout
Southend
Spaceniks

Fiddlers Feast
'Caravan'

Fiddlers Feast is a deliciously extravagant smorgasbord of Australian music. Described as "a powerhouse of Australian Celtic music that flies down bush tracks, over blue mountains and zips down the city highways"; "Fiddlers Feast tears through a typically bizarre and eclectic mix of jazz, folk, gypsy, country and rock"; "Rollicking fun, with plenty of fiddles, and a tight rhythm section playing with precision and power".

Boldly splitting genres that no one has split before, Fiddlers Feast play music that is difficult to box. It is vibrant, innovative and zips from Celtic to tongue-in-cheek classical, from twisted jazz classics to rock and reel. The fiddlers are the driving force - Mark Oats and Clare O'Meara (both members of The Bushwackers) and Marcus Holden - with a powerful 'engine room' comprised of Garry Steel (accordions and keyboards), John Coker (bass) and Rodney Ford (drums). The band members also play several other instruments including mandolin, guitars, piano, Theremin, loops and whistles.

Formed from an impromptu jam in 1996 by Marcus Holden, also well known for his role in establishing the National Fiddle Festival, the FF has performed and recorded with countless Oz music luminaries, including Diesel, Jimmy Barnes, the Bushwackers, Tim Finn, Graeme Connors, Jimmy Little, John Williamson and every major symphony orchestra in  the country.

“Fiddlers Feast is the perfect festival band” (Blue Mountains Folk Festival, 2011) playing all the big Australian festivals including the National Folk Festival, Port Fairy Folk Festival and Woodford. In addition they host their own concert series at the annual Country Music Festival in Tamworth. They have toured Europe and Asia including France, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and most recently for the Oz High Commission in Pakistan. “If you could have only one live band on your desert island, then choose Fiddler's Feast. They are rollicking fun, with plenty of fiddles, and a tight rhythm section playing with precision and power.” (Limelight Magazine).

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RRR58Fiddlers Feast
'Caravan' (Album)
Catalogue Number RRR58

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Fiddlers Feast is Australia's premier Celtic music group, highly inventive, highly charged, and always up for a new musical challenge! Fiddler's Feast play music that is difficult to box but above all, it is a music that possesses great fun, vitality and an Australian perspective. “Take a bunch of crazy fiddlers, add in some of the best musicians in the country, and you've got a recipe for - well, a musical feast.” (Susan Jarvis, Capital News)

Their new album Caravanis a superbly crafted, brilliantly performed and energy-packed Album that captures everything that makes Fiddlers Feast such a special group. “The Musicianship is absolutely stunning, there is a delicious underlying sense of humour and the arrangements are thoughtful as well as musically challenging.” (Ian Dearden, Trad & Now)

Track Listing:

  1. I’m Walkin’
  2. Colonel Mustard In The Study (With A Candlestick)
  3. Caravan
  4. Rondo Alla Turca
  5. Angeline The Baker/Marian’s Reel/King of the Fairies
  6. Blue Ronda Alla Turk
  7. Swing 48
  8. Moon On The Lake
  9. Kid On The Mountain/Banish Misfortune
  10. Berceuse
  11. Whiskey Before Breakfast/Temperance Reel
  12. Friday On My Mind
  13. In The Wash/Through The Ringer/Spun Out/Irish Washerwoman
  14. Aura Lee
  15. Kings Of The Mercantile
  16. The Gold Ring
  17. The Devil Went Down To Tamworth
RRR58Fiddlers Feast
'The Devil Went Down To Tamworth'
Catalogue Number RRR60

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The madcap first single from Fiddler’s Feast’s ‘Caravan’ LP instantly picked up by the Super Radio Network.

This adaptation of the Charlie Daniels Bands version of ‘The Devil Went down To Georgia’ was written especially for Fiddlers Feast’s annual concert series at the Tamworth Country Music Festival where this year they launched ‘Caravan’.

Track Listing:

  1. The Devil Went Down To Tamworth
RRR40 Fiddlers Feast
'Frenzee' (Album)
Catalogue Number RRR40

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Frenzee, the band's 5th album, is a ripper-roaring collection and features some mighty guest artists including George Washingmachine, Adrian Keating, Rosemary Byron, Adrian Bent, Nadia Kelvin, Michelle Kelly on fiddles, Willy Qua on saxophone and drums, Shane Flew and Peter Kennard on percussion , Andrew Clermont on mandolin and fiddle, Anthony Donahue on electric bass, Ben Little, Liz Frencham and Michael Vidale on upright bass and John Conley and Steve Elphick on double bass, Margaret Lindsay and Mark Bonetti on cellos, Ian Simpson on banjo, Angela Lindsay and Derek Davies on violas, Matt Hanley and John Blenkhorn on guitars.

Track Listing:

  1. Rocket Pilots
  2. How High the Moon
  3. The North Sea Chinaman/The Linguist
  4. Talk to Tony
  5. Holidays for Strings
  6. My Baby Just Cares for Me
  7. Tinker's Way Part 1
  8. Tinker's Way Part 2
  9. Arachnareelia
  10. Down Under/Sakura/Otter's Holt
  11. Stompsville
  12. Get Stuffy
  13. Someday My Prince will Come
  14. Catgut Strut
  15. Split the Difference
  16. George at the Piano
  17. Eine Kleine Nutmusik

  18. Get the Flash Player to see this player.

    Tinker's Way Part 2

    Get the Flash Player to see this player.

    Eine Kleine Nutmusik

FID03Fiddlers Feast
'Get Reel' (Album)
Catalogue Number FID03

iTunes

 

 

Track Listing:

  1. Humours Of Westport/President Garfield's Hornpipe
  2. It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
  3. Salamanca/Banshee/Salior's Bonnet
  4. Musical Priest Part 1
  5. Musical Priest Part 2
  6. Jerusalem Ridge
  7. Galva Polka
  8. Libertango/Tico Tico
  9. Shine
  10. Jewish Tunes
  11. Texas Fiddle Girl/Fiddlers Breakdown
  12. Per Diem Set - Pumpherston/Diadem
  13. Zydeco Gris Gris
  14. Cuckoo's Nest/Congress Reel/Flowers Of Edinburgh
  15.  

FID02Fiddlers Feast
'Strung Out' (Album)
Catalogue Number FID02

iTunes

 

 

Track Listing:

  1. Fiddlers Curse
  2. Peel Of The Onion
  3. La Cumpasita
  4. Tommy's Taburkas/Bottom Of The Barrel
  5. El Condor Pasa
  6. Colveraine Jig/Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
  7. Tiger Rag
  8. Blacktown Jig
  9. The Morning Den
  10. Strung Out
  11. Don't Fence Me In
  12. Music For a Found Harmonium
  13. Turkey Set
  14. Old Tunes
  15.  

FID01Fiddlers Feast
'Live' (Album)
Catalogue Number FID01

iTunes

 

 

Track Listing:

  1. Minstrel Boy, Scaley Devils
  2. Carthy's March, Lemon Tree
  3. Rose of San Antone
  4. Give Me Your Hand
  5. Danny Boy
  6. Red-Haired Boy Set
  7. Trade Winds
  8. Ashplant Set
  9. Talkin' Balkan
  10. Dion Reel, Mouth of the Tobique
  11. Ashokan Farewell
  12.  

Press
What the Media have to Say...

'Caravan'

Trad & Now Review (PDF Format)

Country Music Capital News Review (PDF Format)


Feast is the right word for this eclectic collection of music from some of the finest musicians in Australia – and probably the world. From classics to country, Irish folk to Australian classics, this album really does cover all the bases, and it does it brilliantly. My absolute favourite tracks are Marcus Holden’s ethereal ‘Moon On The Lake’ and the breathtakingly beautiful ‘Berceuse’. This is another amazing collection of music from some peerless players.
(Sue Jarvis, Country Music Capital News)

 


Let's not beat around the bush with this review.

Fiddler's Feast is a vehicle to showcase the amazing talents of the extraordinarily gifted fiddler and multi instrumentalist, Marcus Holden.

And it does spades.

Get a load of this – on this album, Marcus plays violin, viola, baritone violaectra, chincello, 5 string violin, mandolin, electric mandolin, tenor guitar, cittern, acoustic guitar, and a no.9 wood saw (with a violin bow).

Much of the time, thanks to the miracle of modern multi-tracking, Marcus is playing a number of these different instruments simultaneously, and/or multiple layers of those instruments.

And he does so with extraordinary versatility, virtuosity and damn good taste.

He plays fast, he plays slow, he lays down lush and seductive soundscapes, then stuns with a single, exquisite fiddle line.

With a core backing group of Rodney Ford on drums, Garry Steel on piano, Fender Rhodes and accordion, John Coker on electric bass and Stamatis Valacos on double bass (plus a range of guests on individual songs) providing a solid platform, the focus IS (primarily) on those stunning instrumental skills of Marcus on the various instruments in his arsenal.

He gets to stretch out over a wide range of musical genres.

From the opening so in Fats Domino track, 'I'm Walkin' featuring vocals from drummer Rodney Ford, through a high speed Mozart romp ('Rondo Alia Turca'), to a set of traditional tunes ('Angeline the Baker/Marian's Reel/King of the Fairies) Dave Brubeck's 'Blue Rondo Alia Turk', to an instrumental reading of the Easybeats 'Friday on my Mind', winding up with a delicious parody of 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia', retitled 'The Devil Went Down To Tamworth', this is literally a whirlwind of an album!

My own personal favourites on this album (not an easy pick, given how marvellous all the tracks are) include the Marcus Holden original (New Age-ish) tune 'Moon on the Lake', the weirdly wonderful saw playing on the traditional 'Aura Lee', and Django Reinhardt's 'Swing 48'.

Deliciously and wildly eclectic, with everything from traditional, blues, jazz swing and a touch the 'Old rock and roll, this is an album you just can't stop playing.”
(Ian Dearden, Trad&Now)

The Caravan arrived safely, I like it very much!
(Warren Fuller, 2NUR)


‘Caravan’ is a fine piece of work.
(John Nutting, Australian Country)


‘Caravan’ is a lovely, rich, diverse album – I’ll be playing lots of tracks.
(Jan Nary, Bay FM)


"You have my complete support... I love these blokes! "
(John Nutting, Australian Country)


Lovely album, they’re sooooo versatile and switch so effortlessly and well from one style to the next. Caravan’s on rotation!”
(Jan Nary, Bay FM 100.3)


'The Devil Went Down To Tamworth'

"The Devil Went Down To Tamworth is GOLD!"
(Richard Margetson, ABC Darwin)


'Frenzee'

“Fiddlers Feast are the perfect festival band. Their collection of fiddle tunes, folk-jazz improvisations and reconstructed pop tunes is exactly what an audience is looking for on a Saturday morning. We were particularly impressed with the way Fiddlers Feast managed to utilize their three violinists in a way that was complimentary without being overpowering. The highlight of the set would have been their jazz-folk cover of “Down Under” by Men at Work, proving the song still has legs after its high rotation on the playlists of “classic hits” radio stations.”  
2011 Blue Mountain Folk Festival Live Review


"This is a wonderful, eclectic, joyous, tumbling, and bouncing album. It is impossible to categorise this music, except to say this. The Musicianship is absolutely stunning, there is a delicious underlying sense of humour, the arrangements are thoughtful and musically Challenging. I loved this album, and I have no doubt that anyone hearing it will be equally entranced and delighted by it."
(Ian Dearden, Trad & Now, Dec 2006).


"Take a bunch of crazy fiddlers, add in some of the best musicians in the country, and you've got a recipe for - well, a musical feast. Frenzee is superbly crafted, brilliantly performed and energy-packed Album that captures everything that makes the Fiddler's Feast such a special group - and one which is sure to continue taking the world by storm over the next few years."
(Susan Jarvis, Capital News, Nov 2006)


"If you could have only one live band on your desert island, then choose Fiddler's Feast. They are rollicking fun, with plenty of fiddles, and a tight rhythm section playing with precision and power. Frenzee will put a smile on your face and leave you breathless with its high energy, feet tapping, no boundaries repertoire." (Limelight Magazine, Nov 2006)"I defy anyone to not like this CD. The hi-if speakers spark with the fun the band formerly known as Fiddler's Festival had recording it. They tear through a typically bizarre and eclectic mix of jazz, folk, gypsy, country and rock, including a madcap Holidays for Strings. This beats the socks off the Sydney band's previous releases on all levels, the diversity sounding more cohesive and the multi-violin front line, led by Marcus Holden, augmented by guests galore."
(4 Star Review, John Shand, SMH October 2006)


"Frenzee is a superbly crafted, brilliantly performed and energy-packed album that captures everything that makes the Fiddler's Feast a special group."
(Capital News)


"Frenzee reveals Fiddler's Feast as a combo of superbly talented , inventive musicians, whose landscape spans pure Celtic - with violins gloriously dominant. Bold, and it its best, brilliant music-making."
(Bob Crimeen, Sun Herald-Sun, August '06)


"SENSATIONAL!!!! Gonna start playing the set today. Cheers for the copy!"
(David Kennedy, ABC Goldfields-Esperance)


"Fiddler's Feast keep raising the bar - Frenzee is another great release."
(Raymond Phillips, Country Harvest)


"Frenzee is brilliant!! It will be receiving a lot of airplay on Highland FM because it fits into so many categories - jazz, classical, easy listening, even folk. A track that stood out for me was 'Eine Kleine Nutmusik' - the treatment is superbly tongue in cheek and a sound for sore ears. I also love 'Down Under/Sakura/Otter's Holt', 'How High the Moon', 'Someday My Prince Will Come' and will be listening to all tracks many times. I will do all I can to spread the word!"
(Bob Cady, Highland FM) 


"I am impressed with the album and have already began playing it on air.  Next Wednesday Morning (2/8/06) it will feature as our album of the week."
(Trevor Johnson, Country Capers)


"Great album, quite an eclectic mixture - looking forward to giving it some welly!"
(Julie Cavanagh, The Folk Show)


More Frenzee Reviews (pdf format)

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