"We are very serious," exclaimed one of the five lads with a smile. Enough said for a band who nearly took on the name "Alice in Pornoland." Inside-band secrets keep these five as well as their audience on the brink of hysteria. Dog Biscuits to wax dolls have taken their effect and made their appearance at various live shows. Numerous fans come back screaming for more from this band which thrives on their impulse. Fiddlestick openly invites us to enjoy their "musical smorgasborg."

Thoren Vadala brings his abilities to sing while cavorting with the fans as Jonny Rico, Abe Ray and Mikee Zimmerman give us the chaos of three guitars. Finally, Felix is left to beat the drums. The four of them excluding Thoren began playing in September of 97'. Thoren joined up in October of 98' and that instigated a wave of performances. "Our scene is pretty small," commented Felix. Despite this, Fiddlestick have played the Java Garage, Community Center, HSU's Kate Buchanan Room, The Vista and numerous Redwood Park shows. They had their largest crowd at the Kate Buchanan Room when the numbers exceeded fifty. A few KHSU radio shows have given them exposure as well as leaving them with recordings. They might use these for the future production of a Fiddlestick CD.

One might wonder how the naming occurred. Well, a couple of them were watching the cartoon; The Secret of Nym, and at one point the cat in the story is all tangled up. One of the characters, Mrs. Brisbee, sees the cat and exclaims, "Oh, Fiddlestick." With this good-hearted humor, the band took off. Their sole reason for beginning a band together was because if they weren't preoccupying their time with anything else they would be lost in this world. As Felix put it he hopes the music will save them from being "standing in some alley-way with their pants around their ankles." Thoren finds that he plays music for girls while Abe takes more of an emotional twist by expressing himself through his music. "It's a good way to take out agression," commented Felix on his love to beat stuff as Fiddlestick's drummer.

A Fiddlestick show often bears numerous gimmicks. Someone once brought a wax figurine to one of their shows and it broke on the hardwood floors. Fiddlestick and their fans were "slip-sliding" on it as if it were an ice capade. Dog biscuits have oddly enough ended up being thrown at the Fiddlestick show at the Vista as well. A guy who had seen them at that show attended their next concert and brought three massive dog biscuits up to Thoren as a gift. It was interesting for them to see a fan take the time and effort to do that. Besides these gimmicks, countless inside-secrets leaves them literally rolling on the floor in hysterics. "We have so many inside jokes between all of us, that we can just go off on stage, and people don't even know what they are laughing at, but they go with it," explained Thoren. Fiddlestick took ten seconds to give props to their friend Harry who has the radioshow they mentioned earlier. Another fan is one of the Arcata youth which they have bestowed with the title of "Afro Kid." He is one of the rompers at all their shows and even memorized one of their songs. Teenagers kicking and twisting in a cloud of passion as the song unfolds is a common sight at all of their shows.

For each of them the band has been in a way a devotion. Felix loves it because it gives him a way to unify and employ all his thoughts so that he can toy with them through his music. Abe remains out of the net of the police as he plays music rather then committing crimes. Felix had an interesting spiel about a future Fiddlestick music video: "We would be in this church, and there would be this statue guy made out of wax...and then we would sing, he would come to life. Then, he would come out in the back and he'd get framed for raping this girl and killing her. We would all be out in this field with all these burning crucifixes and then there would be these fat women in a choir. He would go to jail and say he didn't do it. We would go in and save him, he would be released. It would end up bieng a movie in the end."

Besides odd video ideas, Felix has been coming up with some extremely crazy band material lately.They all contribute an equal part to the song writing. A fifty-second Tiffany Amber Theesan song is their crowd participation initiator for the moment. The lyrics are simple and fans love to go up to the set to rant. In one word, Jon brings the band's anxiety. Thoren brings an entourage of girls to the shows. Mike reflects the sobriety of Fiddlestick. Abe brings Gynoticolosvomasophile and Felix brings the phase. With these five combined, a style they prefer to call "sweater-punk" becomes entangled in the limbs of the crowdsurfing fans.

Hopefully Fiddlestick will never become one of those passing fads which seem to be so popular in the music industry. It would leave half of the members quitting and the other half finding a new band. Mike though, while smiling, mentioned how he would simply find four new Fiddlestick members so that he could continue to sell out. On serious terms though, Jon said, "It's something we definitely fear, but I don't think we have really thought about it too much. I don't think it's possible for a Humboldt band to sell out." Whether or not that happens they would love to find a small label to sign them. A tour of California next summer may be in Fiddlestick's future. Currently though, they have some more shows lined up with the Arcata band Norton's Imperial Guard, as well as a couple shows by themselves. A Fiddlestick show offers plenty of pure jests and entertainment. It was unanimous among them that Jonny Rico gives the fans a taste of a sex symbol. Felix then explained how Abe would be the cocky guitar player, Thoren is the rockstar, Mike is the idiot and he, lastly, is the talent of the group. In closing Felix would like to motivate people to get themselves involved within the scene more rather then staying home listening to the radio. Abe leaves us with, "What are you going to do for fifty bucks?"