About

Broken Fires make their records in kitchens, bedrooms, garages and other people’s houses. Live they combine the melodic raw emotion of Frightened Rabbit, teeth-rattling impact of Biffy Clyro and epic presence of Arcade Fire.

Broken Fires was a project that started with the destruction of another. It was born as the last XLR cable was removed from a home studio in a small village in South Wales that had become the home of Gareth Carter, Tom Stephens and Justin Hendey. Many of the early demos of tracks featuring on the debut were captured on a battered SM58 delicately balanced on the edge of a desk. They are sparse, reflecting a time when available instruments and recording equipment was declining by the day as the studio was dismantled around the band.

Throughout the subsequent four years song writing inspiration was never far away. Bitterness at love lost, elation at a brand new start, confusing parties with strange people you don’t ever want to get to know, a longing for home and a crippling fear of old age all factored into the songs that were gradually added to those initial demos. The result is an album of tracks that are genuine. Songs that sound like they should have been played on a single guitar and recorded with a dictaphone the moment the idea was born. However, love for the recording process prevented this with demos being re-worked, re-recorded and re-mixed until an album to be proud of was complete.

This is a set of songs worth seeing live. Honest, melodic and inventive, the 7-strong live Broken Fires line up are a group of musicians who play like they have something to prove. Namely, that there should always be space in our record collection for lyrically smart alternative pop. And that the door fee was definitely worth it..