THE FIRE
Questions asked by Jon Wilde, added to Rock Realms 16th September 2009.
The Fire is an Italian band we know very little about - apart from the fact we've just listened to and reviewed their jolly excellent new album Abracadabra - so we thought we'd be cheeky and interview them to find out more.
Drummer Alecs answers questions...with the occasional comment from singer Olly.
Hi Alecs, thanks for taking a moment to answer these questions. Hope you are well?
Alecs: YES! Everything is ok 'cause we are about to release the new record!!!
I’ve heard the new album and think it’s thoroughly excellent, but I don’t know much about the band. Could you give us a brief history of how The Fire got together...and the story so far.
Alecs: Thoroughly excellent?! WOW! Thank you very much! This is a brief story of us...Me (Alecs), Pelo and Lou played together in a punk rock band named Madbones while Olly was the singer of Shandon, a ska core band quite famous here in Italy. We started to play together for some side projects and then we decided to form a real band...We've took a year and half to find our sound; then we recorded our first record Loverdrive and start touring around Europe..Phil joined us in the end of 2008, then in spring of 2009 we released an EP called Electrocabaret with 6 songs...and finally the new born, Abracadabra, which will be released on 11th of September.
How would you describe the sound of The Fire?
Alecs: We play rock with loads of influences from the '80s rock bands. Every one of us listens to different things so, when we write a song, every one of us can put in his own style.
Which artists, if any, influenced the stylistic direction of the band and who influenced you personally?
Alecs: There are hundreds! Maybe we can name three: Motley Crue, The Police and Foo Fighters.
Olly: Mike Patton, Tom Waits, Dave Grohl and Bad Religion over all.
How does new album Abracadabra compare to your previous releases – the Electro Cabaret EP and 2006's Loverdrive?
Alecs: Abracadabra is our second full album. It has been harder to write the songs for it 'cause we don't want to make "Loverdrive part 2", if you know what i mean. We tried to keep the best from our live experiences and put it in the songs...this album has our best songs of ever...one step over Loverdrive...
Is the album generating much interest, or is it too early to tell? There are a few songs I could imagine pumping out on radio and MTV!
Alecs: It's really too early to tell it but we believe a lot in this record and every one of the songs.
Are you planning to make a video for any of the songs?
Alecs: Yes, maybe next month we could make a video but it is not one of our priorities...
Where did the idea of doing a cover of New York New York come from?
Alecs: First of all because is a great song! We wanted to make a cover of a song that wouldn't be on the teenager's iPod...take a jazz masterpiece and try to play it in Fire's style...that's what we did!
Was it supposed to sound like the music from a strip club towards the end? We think it’s brilliant!
Alecs: You've just given me a great idea! We should shoot a video of New York New York with many naked beautiful girls as in the Girls Girls Girls video! ahahahah!
How about the cover of Small Town Boy? Another unusual choice...
Alecs: We didn't plan to include a cover on Loverdrive in fact we arranged Small Town Boy in the recording studio, it was the last song we recorded...I agree with you, it is an unusual choice for a rock band but we chose it because the original one was released during the same period of all the bands that influenced our sound, so we have FIRE-D it to let it rock!
Do you have any favourite moments on the album?
Alecs: No, we all love the songs one by one.
Did Abracadabra feel special when you were recording it?
Alecs: Even before we began recording...because we took a long time to write it and every song has been finished after hundreds of different versions...the final tracks you can hear on Abracadabra are always the best arrangement after hundreds of tries...
Sell us the album in ten words or less...
Alecs:
1 Would
2 You
3 Like
4 To
5 Buy
6 Our
7 New
8 Record
9 Called
10 Abracadabra?
Is it OK?!??! hehe.... I'm not really a marketing guy! hehe..
Which came first, the album’s title or the music?
Alecs: Music for sure...Abracadabra is taken from an Aleister Crowley's book of exoteric stuff...he used the word Abracadabra...music is magic after all.
You seem to be playing plenty of gigs this year. What’s it like seeing The Fire playing live?
Alecs: The Fire live is an experience you should live if you are a fan and even if you aren't. It is the right dimension for our band - every night we give our best on stage and love nothing more than chatting with the crowd!
Is there any chance of you coming to the UK?
Alecs: We hope so, even if it's very hard...UK...let us rock you!
Who would you really love to share a stage with, given the chance?
Alecs: Led Zeppelin uhm...can we?
Do you live the rock ‘n’ roll dream?
Alecs: Every single kilometre we do with our bus is the rock 'n' roll dream...and every single person we see at our gigs keeps it alive...
Do you have any interesting hobbies?
Alecs: Yes many hobbies...the common interest is movies...we all love cinema...
What are your favourite 5 albums of all time?
Alecs: Generator (Bad Religion), Closing Time (Tom Waits), Let's Face it (Mighty Mighty Bosstones), Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (Iron Maiden), Let Them Eat Cake (Motorpsycho).
What’s your take on the present state of the music industry, and where do you think it’s going to be in say 10 years?
Alecs: It's hard to live with the present state of the music, and it's real bad if you're a musician...we keep on rockin' hoping the people start to buy records and go to see more concerts!
And where do you see The Fire in 10 years?
Alecs: World domination? Yes! With some white hair and our axes! AHAHAHA!
What are you up to once you’ve finished answering these questions?
Alecs: Finishing to dress and jump on the stage!
Thanks for your time :) Jon at Rock Realms
Alecs and Olly: Thank you guys!!!!
Check out the Rock Realms review of Abracadabra here.
http://www.myspace.com/thefirerock
