Interview: The Fires Below (Written)

Immersive riff merchants, The Fires Below, return with their savage sophomore EP, Thorns, out everywhere on Friday 7th June.

1. Hello! Thank you for taking the time to chat to us. First things first, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started.

It all started back in London 2021 during the pandemic, using lockdown as an opportunity to write material at home and then finally we met in the rehearsal room as soon as restrictions were lifted. We decided on our band name back in 2022 which is when The Fires Below was officially created! What followed was a couple of single releases to get us started, some great gigs in London and then we progressed to having our first EP released in 2023 entitled ‘Masquerade’.

2. Someone comes to you and asks you to sum up what kind of music you play – what do you tell them?

The Fires Below is a mix of metal fury, punk rock energy, stoner groove, and the technical proficiency of djent. We have a colossal heavy sound and intense musical energy that will ignite that little mosh demon within your soul! Merging irresistible hooks and thundering guitars, bass and drums The Fires Below will melt your brain and leave you wanting more.

3. What’s currently going on in your camp? New releases? Tours? Etc.

Our new EP ‘Thorns’ is out on all streaming platforms on the 7th of June which we are really excited about. We are playing at a music festival in London called The Hanwell Hootie on the 11th of May which is going to be great. There will be lots of great music with a wide range of genres. We will play an EP launch party gig in Camden just as the new EP comes out as well as other gigs in the summer to be announced. The Fires Below have plenty of work-in-progress tracks in our back pocket, so there’s no shortage of material in the near future. It’s always exciting hearing new ideas evolve so let’s wait and see.

4. What has been the most positive experience of making music to date for you?

It’s great when people come to our gigs and support us. We really appreciate it and especially when we see someone wearing one of our T-shirts, it means a lot.

We enjoy the process of creating music; It’s amazing how something that starts as a small idea can become something that sounds epic. Hearing an initial idea evolve in the practice room, then in the recording studio and coming out the other side with music that we’re really proud of is a good feeling.

5. Likewise, what has been some of the more challenging aspects and how have you overcome them?

Alongside the music there is a lot you have to do such as admin, emails, social media etc. that all takes up our time. As independent artists we are not in the Industry; we do things when and how we want to which is great. But we are essentially competing for people’s attention like everybody else. A band isn’t just trying to stand out amongst other bands but also amongst every single distraction online. Nowadays there is real freedom for anyone to publish and share their music, which is good, but it also means there is a huge volume of tracks being pushed out there at the same time. This is not something to ‘overcome’ but the best we can do is unite and support other independent bands like us along the journey and support live music in our corner of the world. Everyone can do this.

6. How do you handle the modern expectations of being in a band? Always online, having to put out content constantly, your success measured in likes and follows?

It’s a shame that there are these modern expectations of being a band. We don’t get hung up on the numbers especially when it comes to social media posts, however, listening figures are important to every band and it’s great to see the variety of countries around the world where people are listening to our music. That is the positive side. We think social media is a useful tool if you’ve got something to say or something to announce. But posting every day any old rubbish just because you feel like you need to keep engaging people doesn’t feel right, it’s not for us. There seems to be so many ‘experts’ with advice on what you should and shouldn’t do on social media to be a successful band, but fundamentally it’s about writing and recording good music and playing gigs that engage with people… that’s it! Everything else is just secondary. It’s been that way for decades. No amount of social media will change that.

7. What’s something that really ‘grinds your gears’ about the industry/business these days and what would you propose is done to combat it?

As a listener and fan, ticket-touting is just the worst. We are a small band so it doesn’t apply to us, but when you want to go and see your favourite band and touts make it impossible to get tickets, without paying extortionate prices, it is very annoying. Plus if you resell a ticket through official channels some big companies are making a profit twice, from two sales of the same ticket. If a fan can no longer attend a gig they should just be able to get back what they paid. One way would be to print the person’s photo on the ticket, I think some festivals have tried this in the past. It probably wouldn’t work with digital tickets though as people will always find a way to scam the system. Something needs to be done though as concerts seem to be the only way musicians can make any money from their hard work.

8. Speaking directly to listeners – what would you ask they do to help support your music?

Thanks for all the support, if you like what you hear come down to one of our shows, or tell your friends to check us out. If you want us to come and play Live in your hometown let us know, it could happen.

9. Outside of the music, what’s do you do to relax?

Sam likes to run through forests. Smithy is keen on a bit of gardening. Del likes to fix and modify old cars. Si likes a bit of gaming.

10. Where can people find you?

The Fires Below are everywhere:

Website | Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | TikTok