Tiger Moth

Tiger Moth

Tiger Moth is a British country dance band formed in 1983 by Rod Stradling after he leaves the Old Swan Band. The original line-up also includes guitarist Ian A. Anderson, hammered dulcimer player Chris Coe, and bass guitar, banjo and vocals performer Maggie Holland. Anderson and Holland both have links to Hot Vultures.

Formation and early line-up

The group starts as an all-star recording project, drawing together musicians with experience in several bands associated with the new wave of English country dance music in the 1970s and early 1980s, including the Old Swan Band, the New Victory Band, the English Country Blues Band, Cock & Bull, the Albion Band, Jumpleads and Oak. Later additions include electric guitar and synthesizer player Jon Moore, drummer and percussionist John Maxwell, and keyboard and melodeon player Ian Carter.

Style and live work

Tiger Moth soon becomes a regular live band after the first single and debut album attract strong demand. For several years it plays UK festival ceilidhs with a loud, improvisatory approach that draws on a wide range of influences. Its music becomes part of the wider e-ceilidh scene.

Albums, collaborations and related projects

The band’s second album, Howling Moth, appears in 1988 and mixes material from England, Africa, North America and southern Europe. Under the name Orchestre Super Moth, the group later records with Gambian kora players Dembo Konte and Kausu Kuyateh, Tex-Mex accordion player Flaco Jimenez, Sierra Leonean guitarist Abdul Tee-Jay, and multi-instrumentalist Hijaz Mustapha from 3 Mustaphas 3. Flaco Jimenez is heard on “New Pony” from The World At Sixes And Sevens EP.

Later releases and compilations

The compilation Mothballs first appears in the United States in the mid-1990s and is issued in the UK in 2004 as Mothballs Plus, with new packaging and extra tracks including a remix by Simon Emmerson of Afro Celt Sound System. Tiger Moth also appears on Topic Records’ 2004 compilation Stepping Up: A History Of The New Wave Of English Country Dance Bands. In 2007 the band is included in the Real World Records project Imagined Village, alongside its friends The Gloworms.

Membership and later status

A 2006 line-up includes Rod Stradling, Jon Moore, Chris Coe, Maggie Holland, Ian Anderson, Ben Mandelson, Fran Wade, Martin Brinsford, Danny Stradling and occasional fiddler Verity Sharp. The caller is Gordon Potts. By this point the members are based across places between London and Edinburgh. Original drummer John Maxwell has died. The group remains active from 1983 to the present.