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Robbie loves his 1976 Martin D35 (dreadnought) guitar made of rosewood and spruce with a clear sound that cuts through the atmosphere of a noisy pub. Never muffled, plugged or unplugged His mandolin is a Fylde handmade flatback. Robbie’s ambition is to own an Octave mandola to add another sound to the band
John also owns a Fylde handmade flatback mandolin but his is on a bigger scale and sounds very different. John’s banjo, a Clifford Essex Paragon is older than John! It is the same make as that of Barney McKeller of the Dubliners and one of only 3000. You can no longer buy one, they stopped making them at the end of the war and it is constructed using materials you could no longer use; African dark wood and ivory and handmade frets of Mother of Pearl. It serial number is 1195 of 3000 which puts its year of manufacture in the early forties. His Irish Bazouki was handmade to order by Paul Hathaway who made the mandolin for Ade Edmundson of The Bad Shepherds. Irish Bazoukis are flatbacked and tuned like a fiddle unlike the Greek version.
Tony has owned a number of Bodhrans including some made specially but has settled on 2 favourites, one made by Malachy Kearns at Roundstone Music in Galway. They reportedly made the bodhran’s for river dance. This one is an 18 inch standard tunable bodhran and has a sharp tone well suited to acoustic gigs. The second was made in Dublin, is also tunable but more mellow and ideal for playing through a mic. The difference in the quality of the goatskins makes each bodhran different to play and gives each its own sound.
The band takes its name from the instruments played by two of the original line up. Gerry Morris, one of the 2 Irish members of the band played highland style bagpipes and Simon Beadle played the fiddle.
The current line up came about after the original Cat n Fiddle had broken up. Robbie returned from Oman in 2003 and set about reforming the band, enlisting John, who was at that time playing with a band called Wysiwyg and inviting Tony, bodhran player and sound technician and Tom, a fiddle player, to join them.
When Tom left, they set about searching for a new fiddle player. They knew of Graham through folk sessions in the Abingdon Arms, Wantage and were keen to ask him to join them for gigs on an ad hoc basis, which he does whenever he can fit them in amongst his many other commitments.
Ryan, another fiddle player was encountered at the wedding of Robbie’s friends Richard and Julia. Cat n Fiddle were playing for the guests when he strolled in with his fiddle and joined in. Impressed, the band invited him to play with them when available and although he does not live locally, he joins them as often as he can.
Robbie -
John -
Tony -
