Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire! @Rocket Bar (17/08/08)

Mon 20th Aug, 2007 in Gig Reviews

Up and coming local band, Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire! played to a full house on Friday night and by the bands reaction to the crowds’ reception it was potentially the best show they have ever performed. Launching their new E.P entitled Boy Hush Yr Mouth. Girl, Bare Yr Teeth, the indie-dance quintet played with the wonderful happiness, energy and enthusiasm that is regularly missing from the worlds most acclaimed rock bands and often only found in young and aspiring groups.

Performing in front of projected images taken form old gaming consoles, the band started their short 50 minute set with a couple of 3-4 minute standard indie numbers aimed at warming up the patrons dancing shoes, and from this point on there was no end to the bands ability to force people to have a good time. The positive vibrations of the bands songs is certainly the groups most appealing and unique feature but what struck me as giving their music a complementary and arguably needed added dimension was the glimpses of noise experimentation and guitar power that Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire! infused within their indie-dance sound. It was the seemingly little things which made the performance a very good one. For example, the group usually consist of two guitars, drums, keyboards and bass but on Friday night the addition of female vocals was effectively added to two of the bands more grandiose tracks. These are things that I believe give bands the edge over others, little things such as experimentation, dual singers, projected graphics and enthusiasm, and it is these little things that lifted Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire! from being a technically proficient and good show to being an interesting and joyous one.

The band’s contemporaneous sound and ability to create music that is not just tightly performed but infused with the rhythm needed to make every person watching move like crazy was truly fabulous. It really gave me hope, becuase increasingly we seem to be experiencing a musical age where indie bands treat their fans with utter neglect. Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire! proved that there are still bands out there playing indie music, not simply to please their colossal egos, but for the fans of the genre.

Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire! Photo Gallery