We Start Fires

Brought together through a mutual love of Courtney Love, Andy Warhol, the Manics, 70s punk, 50s film icons and electronica, We Start Fires have already enjoyed hearty praise and support from NME, The Guardian and The Times as well as radio play and sessions on XFM, Radio 1 and 6 Music. Their plan was for a female fronted band that could be glamorous and edgy, a girl band unafraid to find their eyeliner smudged and their lip gloss long gone after putting their hearts and souls into a show: intelligent pop music laced with punk vitriol, killer melodies and earsplitting noise.

Becky Stefani (vocals / guitar) and Melissa Marx (synths / vocals) met in summer 2002, while at University in Sunderland, bumping into each other at various house parties, indie clubs and early Futureheads shows. Meanwhile Becky’s younger brother Ashley Wade (drums) was at college in Darlington with Nikki Vaughan (bass / vocals). Becky and Ashley had already been playing guitar and drums in other bands, Nikki had started tinkering away on a bass guitar that summer and Melissa took to the keyboards, incorporating an old vintage synthesiser from Becky and Ashley’s loft into the set-up – and so We Start Fires was born.

The band first put out three DIY releases, the last of which ‘Caught Redhanded’ impressed John Peel enough to give them a mention in his book ‘Margrave Of The Marshes’ and feature them in his last Record Box. In summer 2005 the band hooked up with new London label Marquis Cha Cha who asked if they fancied putting out a 7” single. The debut single “Strut” was produced by the then relatively unknown James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Klaxons, Bloc Party), and released on limited lipstick-red vinyl, picking up airplay on 6Music, XFM and Zane Lowe’s Radio 1 show. The first 500 copies sold out within days and the single was re-pressed on electric blue vinyl.

That same summer We Start Fires were handpicked by Nine Black Alps’ Sam Forrest to be their main support for six sold out UK shows, and in November the band embarked on a Club NME tour with Marquis Cha Cha label mates Bromheads Jacket, finishing off 2005 with a sold out show at Nine Black Alps’s homecoming gig at The Ritz in Manchester.

In answer to the lack of decent entertainment in Teeside, the band started up their now established indie night CLUB STRUT in Darlington with Nikki and Becky moonlighting as glamorous DJ duo the High Kicks. The Long Blondes played at the launch party, excited ‘Club Of The Week!’ articles appeared in the NME and the club is now the place to play in Teesside.

We Start Fires’ second single “Hot Metal” was released on 3 January 2006 on limited metallic silver vinyl and hand-painted CDs, causing much fuss on Drowned In Sound, 6 Music’s Lamacq Live and XFM, with John Kennedy announcing it "the best thing they've done yet!" It promptly crash landed into the NME as Single Of The Week runner up. This was followed by an appearance on the Dance To The Radio compilation released in February, live sessions for XFM’s John Kennedy and 6Music’s Marc Riley and ecstatic reviews in The Times and The Guardian.

In March 2006 the band were invited to SXSW in Austin where the band were followed everywhere throughout the six day trip by BBC cameras for a documentary on The Culture Show - simply because the producer loved the band’s music and attitude. Next stop was the London Calling festival in Amsterdam playing to a capacity crowd with Dirty Pretty Things. April and May were equally busy with the band heading out for a mini tour of Italy’s hottest club nights, before returning home for two sold out dates with LA’s Giant Drag and a tour with Manchester’s The Longcut.

After spending so long on the road the band took some time out in June to complete writing and rehearsing for their debut album and in October they went into a local studio to start recording. The 12-track album was mixed by Pat Collier (Jesus and Mary Chain) at Perry Vale studios in London and mastered by Ray Staff (Libertines & David Bowie) at Alchemy studios and is due for release this September.

Following a sold out show at Brixton Academy with The Rakes, the band kick off 2007 with the release of thrilling new single Magazine out on May 28th on new label Hot Noise

Official website

Club Strut website