Album Notes

FIDDLER’S GREEN 2007: DRIVE ME MAD!

Fiddler’s Green are back! Well into their 17th year of existence, Germany's top representatives in terms of Irish Independent Speedfolk return with a changed lineup and a new studio album and they just can't wait until they get the chance to unleash the energy of their brand-new songs on-stage as well.

With more than 1200 shows to date they have gained a reputation for their live performances which are regarded as being at the very top of Germany's premier league. Be it a low-key street event or a large festival, a small club or a major venue – always ripping through their songs like madmen, they are notorious for making audiences go crazy and rocking the place. And you can create this atmosphere in your own home with their new CD, DRIVE ME MAD!

Fiddler's Green – here you got some old hands who still know how to speed: For 16 years they have been gigging around the country partying with their audiences and spilling a lot of Guinness in the process. Releases include 10 full-length albums and 2 live recordings on DVD – admittedly impressive numbers, and no reasons for gearing down! For those who suspect dull routine, we can only recommend inserting the new Fiddler's release, DRIVE ME MAD! to take a listen for themselves. The madness has just begun! After as long a time as three years, Fiddler's Green speed up and send energy levels to the limits on their brand-new studio album DRIVE ME MAD!. Even more than before they have managed to capture the freshness and power of their legendary live performances on a recording.

How did this happen? Upon the separation from founding member Peter Pathos, Fiddler's Green have undergone a process of renewal by integrating the fresh member Pat "let's rock!" Prziwara at vocals and guitar – not just in a visual sense. The Mad Six of Irish Independent Speedfolk have put to practise their long-nourished wish to record all songs live in the studio in order to bundle the unbridled energy emanating from their live performances on disc.

And just look at the result: The concept works brilliantly! Your living room is going to shake to the beat of the first track, Irish Air, and you will realize that only one motto is heeded here: No speed limit! Forget about technical intricacies - this is directly and roughly in-your-face. Be it their own stuff or weird and speeded-up traditionals such as The Night Pat Murphy Died or Salonika, a 2-minute number with that perky feel - there is absolutely no doubt: Like after a good greasing, the engine is running top notch and will stay there to make you go mad.

DRIVE ME MAD! is the title - the twinkling new Fiddler's Green CD has the agenda in it's name, but there are oases of quietness as well. Sure, gentle ballads like Don't Let Go or the melancholy Another Spring Song will make you want to close your eyes and enter into a daydream, but then you will at least go on tapping your foot to the rhythmically complex instrumental Bretonix before ending up headbanging to Folk's Not Dead, which has a good measure of punk as an ingredient. As those of you who know the Fiddlers will expect, there is also a reggae tune - this time in the shape of an adapted traditional song by the name of When Will We Be Married.

And this is how it goes on and on for no less than 20 songs! Is this a surplus in creativity? It is, because there is another novelty in the history of Fiddler's Green: Upon the split-up with their former songwriter, all band members contributed song material and you can just feel how they could not wait to combine all their creativity - thus reversing the saying "Too many cooks spoil the broth". For this reason, it is quite understandable that the six musicians are keen on relentlessly partying live with you and the new material more than ever before. The motto is:

Let madness rule - DRIVE ME MAD !!!


Pulsating ska rhythms combined with powerful guitar riffs, reggae grooves blended with venerable Celtic folk tunes and unconventional ballad arrangements tiptoeing into your auditory channels ...

These are the words a music journalist might choose to describe Fiddler's Green, but words cannot convey what goes on at a Fiddler's Green gig - it is something to be ENJOYED FIRST HAND.

People of all ages and classes come together to form a diverse crowd. And all of these people start dancing together as soon as the first notes are played on the stage. Family types join in with spiky-haired punks, little children dance together with rockers - you won't believe it until you've seen it. And even if an audience has never heard about - let alone seen - Fiddler's Green, it usually doesn't take longer than three songs to make the crowd grow wild. It's not an uncommon thing to see people dancing on the tables ...

The recipe? Mix light-hearted Irish folk songs with hard rock guitars, groovy bass guitar rhythms and aggressive drum beats. Add the drive of violin sounds and the perkiness of an accordion and there you go. We almost forgot one essential ingredient: an energetic zest for life – something Fiddler's Green hold in abundance. This music just carries you away. And when you watch the lads jump on stage feet whirling in the air, jumping and dancing, Tobias darting across the stage seizing his violin - you simply cannot sit still. Finally, when Fiddler's Green are called back to the stage by a roaring crowd, even hard-core sceptics realise that these gentlemen know how to captivate their audience!