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A DANCING FOOT IN EITHER CAMP – THE PARALLEL CAREERS OF
FIDDLIN' AROUND AND STOMP
Although it's still very much the case that the majority of musicians playing for contra came out of social dance, a growing number are turning to contra after learning their craft on the ceilidh scene. English Contra Dance Band's Gareth Kiddier is best known as pianist with The Bismarcks and ECDB's fiddler Jackie Allen is well known for her work with Token Women, Kitchen Girls & Asha. These musicians continue to play for ceilidhs, making for a healthy crossover between the genres too. There are two bands, one ceilidh & one contra who have enjoyed a particularly close relationship since forming separately in the mid-1990s, Stomp & Fiddlin' Around.
Stomp was the brainchild of two Morris musicians, concertina player/flautist Sheena Masson and bassist/recording engineer Martin Appleby – an idea conceived while the pair were working together mixing the sound at various festivals. Both already had much experience of playing for ceilidhs, Mart in Melons For Ecstasy while Sheena was already an experienced caller and had played with Leicestershire band Rags and Tatters. “Sheena has always been a crucial component in Stomp as she knows the dances intimately” says Martin; “As a caller and keen dancer she’s ideally qualified to take liberties, but knows how far you can go with the music before the structure of the dance is compromised. With Melons coming to a natural end, I wanted to do something more progressive, involving both Melons fiddler Lisa Sture and Sheena - when they played together sparks flew.” Paul Sissely of Melons and BBC colleague Jon Taylor were also recruited on drums and guitar respectively but when Paul wasn’t available many of the band's first gigs were done with Gas Mark 5's Rob Gifford as stand-in.
Martin and Sheena both felt that country dance music had got into a post-Albion Band rut. Says Martin “I was listening to a lot of Scandinavian music, which can take on elements of jazz and rock fairly comfortably and I felt we could create a new hybrid, whilst remaining true to the spirit of the dance”. The band's first gig was Lincoln Folk Festival in 1995. “We were young, noisy and brash” admits Sheena.
When Gas Mark 5 dissolved, Rob Gifford joined as permanent drummer. “Rob's playing inspired me hugely. When we asked him to do Stomp full-time we were quite surprised how quickly he agreed.” recalls Martin. Rob was followed not long after by guitarist Jeff Dent. “Jeff saw us play at Sidmouth and decided we needed him – he rang at just the right moment and told us we had to sack Jon.” says Martin. This meant that the band now shared two members with The Committee Band, whose guitarist Gordon Potts also called with them regularly. Stomp stabilised again for a while until their relentless evolution caused another change. Martin again: “Sometimes Lisa was struggling to keep up - I think she was happier playing in a more traditional style and didn’t want to accept the jazzier elements that were coming in.”
Fiddler Kevin Adams already had strong links to Stomp. When he replaced Lisa in January 1998 he'd already been playing with Sheena for three years in Stocai, and had depped for Stomp on guitar several times. Says Martin: “I didn’t even know he played the violin,” but according to drummer Rob Gifford “he brought rhythmic lift and a fund of ideas and styles that I'd never met in a violinist before”. “It's a really important rhythm-melody bonding thing – a bridge between me and the Noisy Boys” agrees Sheena. “I only intended to help them out until they got another fiddler” says Kevin “then I realised what fun it was playing with the mighty Gifford/Appleby/Dent rhythm section and sort of got stuck for good.” Musically, Stomp went into fifth gear. “I had a smile all over my face for a year.” says Martin. Kev’s first gig as a full-time member coincided with the visit of Comet Hale-Bopp over southern Britain, and the band remember going out to watch it in the interval on a beautiful clear night. It felt like a new beginning.
The creative peak brought about by the new line-up enabled the band to record its debut CD “Machine Without Horses”. As an indication of their versatility and eclecticism, a selection of their tightly arranged English & Scandinavian dance tune sets shared disk-space with Sheen's concertina arrangement of Pachelbel's Canon and a polka tune culled from an album by heavy metal band Iron Maiden. The band's profile rose with numerous UK festival appearances and trips abroad to such events as Tanzhausfest in Leipzig, and the disc was met with critical acclaim in the folk and world music press.
Meanwhile, back in Bedfordshire, fiddlers Bob Tracey & Brian Stone were putting together the embryonic Fiddlin' Around. Brian was building his own bridges between ceilidh and the burgeoning contra dance scene having had years of experience of the ceilidh world with Junction 24. The new band already had links to Stomp. Brian & Sheena had known each other for many years, while Bob & Kevin had played together since the mid-80s as musicians for Queen’s Oak Morris and in a barn dance band trio with Kev on guitar. Kevin recalls, "I had pretty soon realised that mandolin and guitar were useless for Morris and decided to fulfil a long held ambition to play fiddle. Who better to be around as a beginner fiddle player than Bob? Then, in 1991, I was asked by some of the girls from Old Mother Redcaps Morris if I would like to play fiddle for the Appalachian dance side they had formed. Thus the Hot Taps band was born, including Bob Thomas (ex- Silly Wizard ) on 5 string banjo. Bob Tracey became involved in that too."
Fiddlin' Around was completed by two other seasoned ceilidh players, bassist Andrew King, who lived just down the road from Bob, and guitarist Malcolm Cole with whom Andrew had played for over a decade in long running Essex outfit Truss & Bucket Band. With the line up settled and a basic repertoire rehearsed, in May 1998 the quartet set about storming the contra dancing world.
In 2000 Brian accepted an invitation to stand-in for Kevin in Stomp on a trip to Germany, and it was there that he identified Martin Appleby's skills as a recording engineer. Mart had already recorded and produced albums by The Bismarcks, The Committee Band and The Posh Band, amongst others. Brian recruited him to record Fiddlin' Around's début album and during the sessions for this the two bassists, King & Appleby hit it off particularly well and started to socialise together. Says Martin “I admired Andrew's attitude as much as his bass guitar playing. Just like me, he’s listened to the same dodgy old pop & rock music for years and he’s able to draw on those sources at the drop of a hat.”
At Sidmouth festival in 2000 both bands were on the bill, dancing at one another's gigs, socialising together at Late Night Extras and playing simultaneously in adjacent marquees in Blackmore Gardens on the last day of the festival. Soon after, however, Jeff Dent left Stomp unexpectedly, and the band went through a bit of a rough patch – they couldn't settle on a new guitarist, considered reducing to a quartet (with Kevin shouldering some of the guitar duties) and were joined for a while by Bob Thomas, now much in evidence on the contra scene with the excellent Cruise Control. Stomp also considered a name change, adopting their album title “Machine Without Horses” for fear of being mistaken for the deservedly world famous dustbin lid beating dance troupe. This move just seemed to confuse the following that they'd built up. With Kevin then falling ill in 2003 and the band unresolved over a guitarist, they were in the doldrums.
Fiddlin' Around's star, however, was in the ascendant. Their CD “Who's Calling?” was a great success and the band were playing lots of gigs and festivals until, after an over-enthusiastic week at Sidmouth in 2002, Bob Tracey's left shoulder started to give him a lot of pain and he was advised to take a rest from playing. The injury kept him out of action for some while and the band had to perform as a trio. “Apart from Bob's skills as a tune player” says Andrew, “his rhythmic stability is amazing – playing as a trio without him is still exciting, but our tempo is much harder to control”. Bob had to miss a number of important gigs, IVFDF in Exeter and two dates with touring US caller Cis Hinkle. His health problems eventually prevented the band from fulfilling an American tour that was being set up for them. “We just didn't want to go without him” says guitarist Malcolm Cole “A few gigs is one thing, but a whole tour as a trio was out of the question”.
It's August 2003, and Martin Appleby has had a mad idea – with the strong social links between the two bands why not combine them into one large contra-ceilidh orchestra? With all those fiddlers at least one of them had to be well enough to play at any one time didn't they? He convened a meeting of 6 of the 8 protagonists without actually telling everyone what his grand plan was. Some jaws dropped and although it was soon realised that the 'Stompin' Around' idea was never to be realised, a jolly evening was had by all and by closing time Andrew King had been invited to audition for Stomp. “I didn’t actually know if he played guitar” says Martin “but I figured that if he wanted the gig he’d have a go. He has the Stomp way of approaching music – a devil may care approach to the traditional form; not remotely pious, but rigid when it comes to the discipline of dance”. And in fact, he'd been playing guitar since he was twelve years old. He passed the audition and did his first gig with the band the following Saturday. “We suddenly found” says Kevin “that stuff was locking together and progressing again.” Rob Gifford concurs “He's added guitar parts that sound more like keyboard sometimes and now he's got his feet under the table he's helping the band move in directions which would previously have been closed to us”. “And he makes a mean vegetable curry” concludes Sheena.
With the two bands now sharing a member, Stomp had a stable line-up once again, and gaining confidence, started to amass gigs around the ceilidh circuit. Andrew, having recently ignored a lifetime's advice not to give up his day job to play music, had time for both bands. Bob Tracey's return to full health was celebrated with Fiddlin Around's appearance at Chippenham Festival in 2004, where they played the contra dance with Rhodri Davies to warm everyone up before Whapweasel's ceilidh. In August of that year Stomp returned to Sidmouth, running the Bandit ceilidh orchestra for the children's festival and followed that by playing the closing ceilidh at Towersey Festival. “That was such a great gig” says Andrew “A huge and enthusiastic crowd - and I never thought I'd live to see the day when I had a crowd of teenage girls playing air-guitar along with me in front of the stage”.
So as 2005 got under way everyone was in good health, both bands had loads of gigs, and each were preparing their second albums. The bands from which so many members came, Junction 24, Stocai, The Committee Band & Truss & Bucket Band all still work with varying frequency. Stomp were also playing some acoustic gigs in folk clubs, mixing some songs into their repertoire of tune sets and Fiddlin' Around were looking for an opportunity to work with Sheena in her calling capacity sometime. Most recently, fate has stepped in to provide even more convoluted ties, with Kevin Adams standing in at very short notice as Fiddlin' Around guitarist for a few gigs after Malcolm Cole was suddenly taken ill. We all hope Malcolm will be fit again in time for Eastbourne Festival.
You can dance to Stomp on 29th April at Unicorn Ceilidh, Hitchin (with Hugh Rippon), 26th & 27th August at Bridgnorth Festival (with Cat Kelly), 17th September at Woughton Ceilidh, Milton Keynes (with Andrew Swaine), 8th October at Oxfolk Ceilidh (with Gordon Potts), 15th October at Godalming (with Andrew Swaine) and 12th November at Ruff Ceilidh, Cardiff (with Mic Spencely). Their website is www.stompceilidh.co.uk
Fiddlin' Around are at Eastbourne Festival on 30th April, London Barn Dance at C# House on 14th May (both with Kathy Anderson), St Albans Friday Folk on 5th November (with Barrie Bullimore) and London Barn Dance at C# House (again) on 10th December (with Andrew Swaine). Find them on the web at www.fiddlinaround.net
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