Devon trio Firekind released their excellent debut album 'What I Have Found Is Already Lost' last October, an album of emotional, soaring rock anthems and look to take their songs live with shows on Saturday (24th July - with the excellent Sons Of Liberty) at Arches Venue in Coventry, and then 10 dates in October & November with Jack J Hutchinson. Guitarist / Vocalist Jas took some time out to answer a few questions for BBMATB on the album, meeting Dave Grohl and frozen water bottles! See below.
Firekind are Jas Morris (Guitar / Vocals), Dan Morris (Bass / Vocals) and Robin Shute (Drums).
'What I Have Found Is Already Lost' along with the 'Live In Lockdown' EP and singles 'Cry For Help', 'If There's Any Reason', 'Sound Of Rain', 'Adrenalin' and 'It's Not Over' are available on all the major digital sites or from the band's website - www.firekind.com
Hi Guys, thankyou for taking some time to answer a few questions. First off, for those readers who might not be familiar with Firekind, could you give a short history of the band?
For sure, we are from South Devon in the UK. We are a three piece band, myself, my brother Dan features on bass guitar and good friend Robin Shute on drums.
And who would you say were the main influences on Firekind?
As a guitarist my influences grew from players like Robben Ford, Steve Vai, Satriani and Jeff Beck. Then as a band we are all fans of bands like RATM, Foo Fighters, Muse, the Police, the Beatles and also in a totally different genre, Hans Zimmer. I think we try and blend all of that together to get the Firekind sound.
You released 'What I Have Found Is Already Lost', your debut album last year - do you have a sense of how it's doing out there in the 'big wide world' in terms of streams, radio airplay etc?
Considering we haven’t been able to tour the album as of yet due to lockdowns, we are all pretty much blown away by the international response we’ve had so far. We’ve had merch sales from the US, all over Europe, Scandinavia and we also have a contingent of fans in South East Asia believe it or not. That comes from when we competed (and won) in a Global Battle Of The Bands competition in Thailand a few years back. We turned up to the final in Chiang Mai and there were locals singing along to our songs. It was amazing. We can’t wait to get out and promote the album on tour.
The album was produced by Alain Johannes - who has produced albums by Queens Of The Stone Age, Arctic Monkeys, Mark Lanegan and PJ Harvey amongst others. How did you come to be involved with him producing your record?
It was quite a stroke of luck to be honest. We booked a show at a venue with someone who put us in touch with a guy called John Wadlow who became a musical mentor to us. He used to manage Seal back in the day and really helped nurture our songwriting as a band. When it came to thinking about choosing a studio to go and record in, John was good friends with Alain from back in the days of the band Eleven. They’d spent a lot of time together touring. John put us in touch with Alain and he loved our music and wanted to work with us. At that point we knew we’d be flying to the States to record.
Where did you record the album? And how was it recording and putting the record together during COVID?
It was recorded at Alain Johannes studio in West Hollywood. It was a little before COVID though. It was very inspiring to record in Alain’s studio, full of musical instruments from all over the world. Not to mention the platinum and gold discs hanging on the wall (for 'Songs for the Deaf')!
Do you have any favourite tracks off the album and if so why? Any tunes that didn't make the cut which we might hear later on?
We love to play the album opener ‘Adrenalin’ live. It’s a lot of fun to thrash out the big riff. 'Coming Out Alive' is a favourite as it builds and builds. We’re working on new material already for the next album, we may even start gigging a few of the tunes on our upcoming shows…
Photo - Rob Blackham
You also recently played a 'Live In Lockdown' Webfest for the 'New Wave Of Classic Rock' Facebook group - also available as an EP. How was that to do? And is that something you'd consider doing again even when live shows are back?
It was one of the first times (bar a few rehearsals) that we’d got together and played live and loud since the beginning of lockdown, so it was an amazing feeling and it was the most watched set of the weekend. We’d totally consider doing it again, I think that some elements of how the fans adapted to listen to music during Covid will actually stay coming out of it. Like live streams and live performances over the web. They open up another avenue to get your music out.
You've played a number of tours and festivals over the years. Any that particularly stand out for you and are favourites that you've played?
One of our first tours as a band was a Scandinavian/European tour during the winter months. I have fond memories of playing the best shows over in Belgium, Denmark, Holland and Sweden. The fans are so responsive and appreciative in those nations. I also remember waking up in the tour bus with icicles forming on my bottle of water inside my bunk when the tour bus heater had broken! Hilarious memories now but at the time I genuinely thought one of us were going to freeze to death in the night.
And do you have any upcoming shows that you're especially looking forward to playing?
Very very excited for a show we have up in Coventry on the 24th July supporting the great Sons Of Liberty. We also have a really cool tour in Oct/Nov as main support to Jack J Hutchinson on 10 dates across the UK that we are looking forward to like you wouldn’t believe!
Hailing from Devon, do you feel there is a strong rock scene there at the moment? Any bands from the area that you'd particularly recommend to readers? And with Muse starting from the Devon area, do they hold any particular 'sway' over the music scene there - are there bands there trying to be 'mini-Muses'!?
I definitely do think there is a good strong community of bands down here in Devon. The Muse thing really did really inspire a lot of bands to form and start gigging, especially during the Black Holes and Revelations and The Resistance album cycles. Some bands which I love listening to at the moment would be Moriaty and Mother Vulture. And, of course, there's our good mate Kris Barras who we grew up playing the same circuit with down here.
Finally, reading your website, you have one or two stories to tell. Could you tell us a favourite one?
Squeezing ourselves into the dressing room of Foo Fighters and Sound City guests at the Apollo in London. Alain (our producer) had performed at the show along with Foo Fighters and rock royalty. Alain gave us a call after the show and invited us backstage. It was totally surreal and incredible to meet Dave Grohl and the rest of the Foo Fighters, Krist Noveselic, and other celebs like Simon Pegg and many more. We can’t wait to get out and tour so we have many more stories to tell!
Cheers!