The English roots dance band world's answer to Bembeya Jazz or Buena Vista Social Club (well, maybe . . . !) were Tiger Moth, who knocked it on the head in the summer of 1989 on the "quit while you're ahead" principle. They got together to do a limited number of dates in summer 2004, marking the 20th anniversary of their first album, but these turned out to be so much fun that the band returned in a limited sort of way. Their 2004 gigs at the Womad and Sidmouth Festivals - the latter sampled on BBC 4 TV's Sidmouth documentary - drew large and surprisingly youthful crowds (average age barely over 20) so well attended that many were dancing outside the tents! They repeated the feat at the 2006 Womad, also appearing at the Big Chill the same summer.
Tiger Moth began just as an all-star recording unit, bringing together musicians
who had played in many notable bands of the 'new wave of English country dance music' in the '70s and early '80s including the Old Swan Band, the New Victory Band, the English Country Blues Band, Cock & Bull, the Albion Band, Jumpleads and Oak. But their first single and debut album caused such a demand that they happily became a gigging entity and for the next five years roared around UK festival ceilidhs, revered or feared for their noisy, no-holds-barred, improvisational approach and influences from everywhere.
Their 1988 second album Howling Moth was a mixture of tunes from England, Africa, North America and Southern Europe, and subsequent studio adventures under the name of Orchestre Super Moth included collaborations with Gambian kora masters Dembo Konte & Kausu Kuyateh, Tex-Mex accordeon wizard Flaco Jimenez (heard on New Pony from their The World At Sixes And Sevens EP which is downloadable here), Sierra Leonian guitar king Abdul Tee-Jay and multi-instrumentalist Hijaz Mustapha from the 3 Mustaphas 3. Their influence is still widely heard on e-ceilidh bands.
Tiger Moth in 2006 included most of the original members. The line-up was Rod Stradling (melodeons), Jon Moore (guitars), Chris Coe (hammered dulcimer), Maggie Holland (bass), Ian Anderson (slide guitar) and Ben Mandelson (baritone bouzouki, electric kabosy and other stringed things), plus Fran Wade (fiddle - from Grand Union), drummer/percussionist Martin Brinsford (Brass Monkey, Old Swan Band, Grand Union), percussionist Danny Stradling (ex-Old Swan Band, Oak) and occasionally fiddle player Verity Sharp. Original drummer John Maxwell has sadly passed away. Their caller is the best in the new wave English ceilidh business - the renowned Gordon Potts.
Their compilation CD Mothballs, released in the mid '90s in the USA, got its first UK release in May 2004 as Mothballs Plus, with fresh packaging and extra tracks including a brand new remix by Simon Emmerson of Afro Celts. They were also included - along with tracks by many other bands featuring individual members - on a CD compilation that was released by Topic Records in March 2004, titled Stepping Up: A History Of The New Wave Of English Country Dance Bands. And in autumn 2007 the were included in the Imagined Village project for Real World Records, duelling with their pals The Gloworms.
With members now spread across many points between London and Edinburgh, they may or may not still exist. Only time and logistics will tell . . .
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