'Kings of the Mud' is The Crooked Fiddle Band's ode to all the festivals we've played - the dusty, muddy worlds that pop up for weeks and weekends then fade away. Musically, the source inspiration comes from Macedonian traditional tune Trop Nalo Oro, literally 'crazy dance', about a girl unable to attend a local celebration. So it felt fitting then to make this reimagining about those local celebrations. We performed a punked up version of Trop Nalo Oro for years, but were never satisfied we had made the tune our own. After not performing it for years, Gordon and Joe found some lyrics of Gordon's that fit perfectly, in form and theme. Since the vocal-heavy nature of this song is different to most other crooked fiddle material, we thought we'd record this one ourselves, at home, and make the most of trying something new. Lyrics: we are the kings in cold metal rings surrounded and hounded and tattered and frayed with bows on our strings we race to the brink and breathe in the dust of the bloody below we are the kings of mud and of string we are the kings that no one can own we are the kings of mud and of string and all of the things that no one can own to the ends of the earth we battle and burn and rage through the dust the dust and the snow where we go nobody knows dust and dirt cloak our retreat where we go nobody knows swallowed by night blackened earth we are the kings in cold metal rings surrounded and hounded and tattered and frayed with bows on our strings we race to the brink and breathe in the dust of the bloody below credits releases 22 June 2015 Jess Randall played the nyckelharpa (swedish keyed fiddle) and octave violin. Mark Stevens played the double bass and the 'double bass through a snare drum' contraption. Gordon Wallace played the bouzouki and screamed, as well as writing most of the lyrics. Joe Gould sang, screamed a little, played the drums, and helped Gordon with the lyrics. Written by J. Gould/J. Randall/M. Stevens/G. Wallace (c) 2015 Contains melodies based on traditional Macedonian song Trop Nalo Oro. Recorded at Soundworks Studios and tcfb HQ, April-May 2015. Engineered and mixed by Joe Gould Produced by Joe, Gordon and The Crooked Fiddle Band. Thanks to Damien Press, Captain Kickarse and the Awesomes, Dan Stans, Ross, Sarah, Emma, Leila, Laura, Toby and all you crooked crew.