| Hi
Ally - firstly, please introduce yourselves and
tell us about the band, how and when you all met,
who plays what etc.
We
are quite an unusual band from North Germany.
Originally I studied classical violin to work
in an orchestra, but when I was working at an
opera house I discovered that the reality did
not fit with my dreams. At around that time I
joined an Irish Folk Band… and that opened
up a completely new world for me! I was able to
explore my violin in totally new way, and after
a few years I was longing for a solo project.
So I founded "Ally the Fiddle" in 2008.
 In
the folk band I worked with a drummer, Stefan
"Huky" Hukriede, who was also looking
for a new challenge, and he supported me in the
solo project. When I was looking for a guitarist,
Robert Klawonn was recommended to me - and this
incredible guitar player is the perfect match
to inspire me and to work with. He brought Diemo
Heuer (guitar) to our band; one of the funniest
guys on stage!! And what would a band be without
a bass player.....?! We started with a guy named
Andreas, but he only had time for band photo shoots,
haha, so after a while Huky called his old bandmate
Thorsten Hartung - and here we are!
How
would you describe your style of music to Get
Ready To Roll readers?
We
started with a harder version of Irish Folk. But
always our hearts beat for Metal and Progressive
Rock. And I am a huge fan of fusion violinists
like Jerry Goodman and Jean-Luc Ponty. So you
will find our style in the middle of all that
stuff.
What
does a normal Ally The Fiddle show consist of?
Is it true that you have a painted dancer and...
a fire-eater?
Truly,
there is a painted dancer! She calls her style
"Antiburlesque" - and she enchants you
with incredible costumes and a cool fire-eating
show, while the band rocks out.
How do full-on heavy-metal rock audiences react
to your set? On your recent tour with UFO, you
played Joe Satriani and Manowar tunes. Did you
include those as a gesture to appeal to a rock
audience, or... just because you enjoy playing
them? Please suggest some other rock tunes which
you'd like to incorporate into your set.
 We
really love that stuff, so we play it. Some people
might think, hmmm, the violin is a nice instrument,
but it’s only made for classical or for
pop music. But no, a violin is also for Heavy
Metal! I enjoy creating "frozen" sounds
and I love to show people the violin's power.
One tune which it would have been a huge honour
for us to play in front of Vinnie Moore was his
own compostion "Race with Destiny".
We’d rehearsed it because Diemo, Rob and
I had played this song in our very first session
on stage before we even started "Ally the
Fiddle" together. But when it came to it
we didn’t dare play it in the support show,
out of respect for Vinnie. In the future we'd
love to go on with lots of new own Metal songs
and lots of own Progressive stuff.
When and how did you start playing the violin?
Which musicians inspired you?
I
started to play in the age of six like many other
children. And I was a lazy student - until I woke
up in the 10th class of school and decided to
become a violinist. When I was younger, I was
fascinated by lots of classical violinsts. Especially
by the Jewish ones: Yehudi Menuhin, Itzakh Perman,
Gil Shaham... And now I’ve found new heroes
- without losing any respect for my old ones -
in Jerry Goodman(!), Jean-Luc Ponty, Stéphane
Grappelli and Didier Lockwood. And these are only
the violinists. Of course there are many other
inspiring musicians and bands!
 What
albums have you released, and in what ways has
your music evolved since your first album came
out?
Unfortunately
we don’t have lots of albums yet. There
is our first EP from 2008, called "Red Unicorn"
and our new single from 2011, "The Crumbling
Autumn". In the EP I was thinking of mystical
stuff and how to tell these stories just with
a violin and not with a voice (except for "Red
Unicorn" itself).
Meanwhile I learned a lot about e-guitars and
my taste and work changed. So in the new single
I left the leading riffs to Diemo, who created
some really cool stuff. And I am proud to present
a breathtaking solo part by Rob, who developed
some really stunning sounds at the end of the
song. Also we came up with a different version
of "When Summer Falls" - so I’d
say we’ve became more progressive - and
I really enjoy that development.
What
is the meaning behind your logo?
Our
logo is a seahorse with one horn on its forehead.
I wanted to base the logo on a unicorn. And because
we live on the coast of the Baltic Sea, I combined
a horse from the sea with the unicorn. So this
is our "Nauticorn".
Apart from Ally The Fiddle, do you have any other
projects on the go?
Since
I left the path of a classical music, I’ve
worked as a freelancer in the rock music scene,
so play in other bands. Haggard is a band from
South Germany, combining Heavy Metal (Death Metal)
with Classical Medieval Music. Formerly the leader
Asis Nasseri composed works about people from
history. On the last album we were singing and
playing about the Fantasy World "Ithiria".
This band is really famous in Latin America. A
completely different style of band is ASP. This
is a Gothic band from the middle of Germany, telling
gothic novels. The leader of ASP creates marvellous
lyrics and is a huge fan of Folk. So I do the
studio work for this band and play at some of
their shows as a guest. But there is also a side
project, called "Zaubererbruder" (Wizard
Brother). This project is an acoustic show, telling
the story of "Krabat" (a German saga
about a guy called "Krabat", who turns
into a raven at night). Here I am the violin and
work with incredible musicians from the Folk and
Gothis scene.
 Now
I have to ask... about your hair! How does it
look so wonderful all the time? Do you have nightmares
about giant shiny silver scissors? Does your hair
ever get caught in the strings?
The
most asked question about my hair is: "Is
it real?" Haha - yes, it is! While
I was playing Classical music, I always had an
up-do for my hair, because everything (including
all the rings I wear) got in the way and put me
off. Sometimes
it would catch in the bow and I'd feel like
a puppet being pulled on a wire! Or it would get
between the bow and the strings and deaden the
sound. It would even get tangled up in other instruments
or the music stand! So, now I know the traps and
just leave it natural. Of course headbanging can
be quite a "hair-raising" experience
- Nigel Tufnel was right about the advice he gave
to Joe Satriani - and I never use a hairdryer,
never use colour or chemicals such as hairspray,
and just trim the ends occasionally.
What have been your proudest moments, the highlights
of your music career?
My
proudest moment was to stand in front of this
incredible massive audience when I was the guest
of "Die Apokalyptischen Reiter" at Wacken
Open Air. It's hard to mention a highlight of
my career - my highlights are every time, when
somebody is satisfied with my work, when someone
tells me how much my music touches or inspires
them.
 What's
the most rocknroll thing that's ever happened
to you?
Rock'n
Roll in a good or in a heavy way? In Germany we
say: "That's Rock'n Roll", when there
is an evening where you have to fight against
the circumstances all the time... like a weird
audience or bad technical stuff. But here's a
story that is rock'n roll in a cool way…
I have a friend and one time I told him that I
was dreaming of a violin with five strings. And
now this instrument is close to being finished!
It gets a red varnish and will have a beautiful
Nauticorn as the snail. This friend, Ralph Müller
("Devilishbuttrue"), said: "I will
build that violin for you". Now that was
a GOOD rock'n roll moment!
What's
coming up next?
This
year is going to be "our year"! We had
the honour to be on tour with "UFO"
in June - now we are looking forward to a tour
with Bobby Kimball from TOTO in October. The next
festival we will play, is the "Festival Mediaval"
in Selb, Germany - it’s the biggest medieval
festival in Europe. We also have a few club gigs
in Germany. And of course we urgently need to
record a new album. So we are writing and planning
and hoping to fulfil that plan in the near future.
Click
above to go to Ally the Fiddle's website
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