Soundcloud tricked me with this band. Open as a background app, Soundcloud threw me a curve-ball, 'World Burn' by Firestate. I genuinely thought this was a new song from Lower Than Atlantis or We Are The Ocean. It wasn't until the final few seconds of the song, where I wanted to find the name of the song, did I realise it was in fact Firestate.
On this blog before I wrote "There's something about this band I
really, really like which keeps me constantly listening... Their music is anthemic and sell-out-headline-tour quality
already." which I still stand by today.
From quoting Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure to awaiting Dave Grohl's twitter reply, here is what happened when I caught up with Carlos from Firestate.
SBLM - Carlos, for the people who haven't heard of Firestate before, can you tell us who the rest of your band are ?
"We are
James (Vocals), Carlos (Guitar), Martin (Guitar), Dan (Bass) and Chris (Drums). Together we are "Wylde Stallyns" (little
movie reference for you there) otherwise known as "Firestate."
SBLM - Before I've compared you to Lower Than Atlantis and We Are The Ocean, who are classed as 'alternative rock'. What genre do you think best describes you as a band ?
"Hmmm
always a tricky one, there seems to be so many different sub-genres
appearing nowadays. I guess Rock/Alternative would be the best
description, although Chris likes to invent genres when put on the
spot.... Death Jazz is one of my favourites! "
SBLM - So what other bands do you think your like ?
"At
times we've been likened to Papa Roach, Incubus, Tool, Deftones etc,
I can hear certain elements of those bands in some of our songs but I
think our overall sound isn't as heavy as those guys and tends to
vary depending what mood we're in when writing."
SBLM - From this year you've had some live shows and festival slots. What so far has been the best show to date ?
"There's
been a few great shows along the way, we always love playing our home
town (Newbury) as we get all of our friends and families along and
we've played a few festival slots at small independent festivals this
year that have surprised us as we didn't know what to expect. If I
had to pick a best so far show I'm not sure what the others would say
but for me personally two shows stand out just because of the awesome
bands we played with, we did 2 gigs last year with States &
Empires and John Coffey, both of those bands put on great live shows
and they really made us feel welcome on the tour."
SBLM - You've played at small festivals and toured for a bit. Is the big festivals and worldwide tours the aim for you as a band ?
"I guess,
like most musicians out there, we play in a band and write songs
because we love music. For us just getting people to see us
play and buying our music is an awesome compliment. Ultimately yes,
we'd love to play some big tours in the UK, Europe and further afield
and it would be a great achievement to get to play on the bill at
festivals like Reading and Download etc. We've got some great plans
for 2016 so who knows where it will take us..... Watch this space !"
SBLM - You say you've got plans for 2016. Please tell me they include and EP or album ?
"We're
working really hard behind the scenes at the moment to finish off our
first full length album. We're really lucky as our guitarist
Martin takes care of all of our recording and production, he's a
frickin' genius because it's sounding EPIC !!!!! Yes, I know, I'm
probably biased there but trust me it's going to be awesome ! The
album is set for release in March next year and we're currently
booking dates for a UK tour to coincide with the release, so far
we'll be playing shows in Newbury, London, Chelmsford & Dudley
and we've got lots more under discussion. We can't wait to let
everyone hear what we've put together. As that's some time off yet
we're also planing to release a video for one of the album tracks
this side of Christmas and hopefully that will wet everyone's appetite."
SBLM - You mentioned earlier that you want to play at Reading and Leeds or Download. Is there anyone at the moment that you'd want to play alongside or open for ?
"Hands
down it would have to be the Foo Fighters, just for their sheer
brilliance and professionalism, to play on the same stage as the
legend that is Dave Grohl would be amazing. We regularly drop them
hints on Twitter but they're yet to offer us that all important tour
support slot..... Go on Dave!"
SBLM - Hopefully one day Dave will take you up on the offer. Is there anything you would like to say to your current fans ?
"Massive
hi-five to all of our fans that have supported us so far, if you keep
spreading the love, listening to our music and coming to shows we'll
keep doing what we do."
SBLM - And to people just finding your music ?
"Thanks for stopping by to check us out, hope you like what we have to offer. drop us a message on Facebook, Twitter etc, we're always pleased to hear from new fans."
SBLM - Lastly, what advice would you give to new bands who are just starting out ?
"Give
up! It will take over your life and you'll never have any money!!
Just kidding, stick at it and enjoy every minute, play what you love
and love what you play! And most importantly hook up with and help
other bands out as much as you can (another hint for Mr Grohl, we're
still waiting for our support slot!!)"
Find Firestate online -