Cider House String Band

The cider house string band are a fully acoustic traditional folk band from victorias central highlands.

Made up of Liam Wratten, Neil Cuzon, Mick Martin and Damien Smith, the band really appears to be something of a time gone by.

The combination of Fiddle, Banjo, Guitar and Tub Base invokes a foggy memory much like a semi-familiar smell from a lifetime ago.

In particular, the sound is “Old Timey” from the Appalachian mountains of the USA but there is an audible heritage from Ireland, Europe and Africa which is why the music catches so many ears.

All members of the band are responsible for the sourcing of these traditional tunes but more so it’s Fiddler, Wratten who, when not chicken farming can be found with his head up against a speaker trying to decipher the melody from a scratchy recording by Tommy Jarrell or The Skillet Lickers.

Cuzon, Martin and Smith spend their days building together using old school hand tools and traditional techniques which only adds the eerie time warp feeling that the group exude.

It’s Tub Thumping Hillbilly Trance, done to tea!