interview with For The Fire
Have any of you played in other bands? Yes, actually! Before For The Fire, I was in a different alternative band with our lead guitarist, Tyler Antal. It was called "Tragic Paradise".
How is it that you started playing music? I actually grew up around music! When I was around five or six years old, my parents started taking me to different rock concerts, and they bought me this miniature, red electric guitar. I started playing for a while and then eventually gave up for some reason and pursued musical theatre instead. When I was fourteen, I had a role in a play that required me to play guitar, so I picked it up again and since then I have been hooked!
What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you? My name is Addison Rider, and I sing and play rhythm guitar. On lead guitar, we have Tyler Antal, on bass we have Jesse Barnes, and on drums we have Justin Whitlow!
Have you had other previous members? We had a few people that we played with briefly in the beginning, but our official lineup has always been the same!
Did you make music even when you were young? Sort of! I personally always loved to write little songs and perform. I definitely played guitar when I was young, but I first OFFICIALLY started creating music when I was fourteen years old.
Where are you from? I'm from Fishers, Indiana, Justin and Tyler are from Greenwood, Indiana, and Jesse is from Greenfield, Indiana, all in the U.S.!
What year did the band form? For The Fire formed in the late fall of 2015!
What's your style of genre? We like to call ourselves either alternative rock or post-hardcore, but we consider ourselves to just be an alternative rock band with breakdowns!
What inspires you? When I was younger, I always looked up to musicians I loved and depended on the music I created to get me through tough times. Now, my goal is to be that same role model to people that are in the same place I was in back then. If I can help anyone the way that music has helped me, all of the work I put into this band will be worth it. The thought of that alone is what inspires me to keep going.
How have you developed since you started with the music? Working in music has definitely helped me develop my personal drive and perseverance. I've never cared about accomplishing anything more than I have cared about finding success in my musical career. It's taught me to work hard always, and to never give up, even if things don't always look like they're going your way.
Do you have other interests of work outside the band? Outside of the band, I also love to read and write, and I work at F.Y.E. at the mall in my town. But other than that, not really! Music consumes almost all of my life.
Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? I currently book everything for For The Fire myself, and sometimes it drives me insane, so a booking agency would definitely be very helpful!
Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? For The Fire is definitely looking to be signed to a label! We love doing things on our own, but we feel as if getting signed would open the door to all new sorts of opportunities, so we are incredibly open to that idea.
What are your songs about? Our songs are about genuine emotion. I write what I feel, whether it be about personal depression, various seasons of life, or simply my thoughts on a current situation we may be going through. I hope our songs deliver a message of hope to our audience, so that they know that they aren't the only ones going through all these murky mindsets we live in nowadays. I want our audience to know that we can get through life together if we believe.
Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? I usually write all of the lyrics, and Tyler and I typically write the compositions together. Justin always writes out his drum parts.
Have you done any covers live? We have, actually! We used to cover Drown by Bring Me The Horizon live and The Hunger by The Distillers. Now, we cover My House by PVRIS!
What language do you sing in? We sing in English!
What ages are most of your concert attendants? Our concert attendees can vary from any ages, but on average our fans are usually in between 15-25 years old.
Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? We don't have too many songs out yet, so we don't always have very many options, but we do like to vary when we can!
Do you have a regular place you play live often? We do! We play in Tyler's old bedroom.
What was your first gig like? Our first gig was almost a year ago! We played at this venue in Indianapolis called Hoosier Dome, opening up for a band called The Funeral Portrait. We were so nervous! It was really fun, though, and we made a lot of friends through that show.
Where do you plan to gig the comming year? We're planning on playing Indiana shows constantly, as always, but we'll also be touring all over the U.S. this year as well, so we're excited!
What have been your biggest obstacles? Our biggests obstacles have honestly just been things like figuring out how to market ourselves correctly in order to make our trip to success as quick and efficient as possible. We all started this together with no prior experience in the music industry, so it's been a journey for all of us.
What advice would you give other bands or artists? WORK. WORK. WORK. The best way to accomplish anything in the music industry is to stay completely determined and work as hard as you possibly can. Never slack off, and never give up.
How do you get psyched for a gig? Before a gig, I usually do some vocal warm ups and swallow some cough drops to ensure my best vocal performance. In order to help us get hyped, we usually watch the bands before us play and try to rock out to their sets!
Do you have any new material? We do! We are currently writing and working on our second release, which will become available at some point later this year.
What are your web sites? Our official website is www.forthefireband.com
How can people reach you? Shoot us a message on any of our social media platforms and we will do our best to get back to you as soon as possible!
What are your plans for the future? This year, we are looking on putting out the best music we've ever written, releasing lots of great video content, and touring as much as possible in hopes that we can expand our fanbase!
