Feed The Fire - 'Maybe You Need This More Than You Think'

Every so often, a band comes into your life with great music, motivation and a very important purpose to share with their potential fans/listeners and we're bloody stoked to bring South Australia's Feed The Fire to your peripherals.

The three-piece are set to release their debut album Maybe You Need This?! on Friday (our review here) and if you're known to nod your head to a bit of Dad Rock OR find Corey Taylor much more listenable in Stone Sour, then these guys are going to be right up your alley!

I was really chuffed to have this chat with frontman/guitarist Dan "Devilchild" Pearce who opened up about the album's inspiration and the mental health struggles he faced whilst writing and composing it. A man who isn't afraid to speak out for those without a voice, you may find yourself listening to the band's debut offering more little more attentively, after reading what encourage Dan to pen this collection of tracks. Dive in below...

Dan, great to meet you, but you've been doing the rounds for a few years now! For those not in the know, give us a rundown of who makes the band and how you came to be?

G'day Browny, great to meet you too man!

We are a power trio with Paul "Clemo" Clements on Bass, Joel "Keeny" Keen on drums and yours truly Dan "Devilchild" Pearce on vocals and guitar. As Feed The Fire we've been jamming and gigging since 2018. Prior to that we were all in another band called Art Of Escape which released two EPs. That was a two guitar band and the music we were playing was quite a bit heavier and more progressive than FTF. That band came to an end in late 2017.

By that stage, the band wasn't really gelling and everything was feeling forced. I'd put my guitar down and was just singing to see if that would spark something with the band but I think it just prolonged the inevitable. I'd already begun to write songs that I felt were not going to suit the dynamic of that group. I'd started out fronting 3 piece bands and that's where I find myself to be the most inspired and it's what feels like home to me. It was never a guarantee that the three of us would end up back together. It was some time before we all got in the same room again.

First Keeny and I started jamming and I think we'd written a few tunes before Paul came down for a jam and it just felt right.

Now we're up to speed, let's talk about your latest single 'DOA'. Maaaaajor Stone Sour vibes with this one and a touch of Michael Starr from Steel Panther. It's a fun, dad rock jam that got me nodding along in the office. What inspired this track and what bands would you say helped shape Feed The Fire to get to where you are now?

We'll take the Stone Sour comparison all day!!! Great band!!

This track along with the entire album that it's from is inspired by events surrounding the unexpected and drawn out end of a 10yr relationship. Lyrically this song is about a tug of war between two sides of my mind during a particularly dark time. Whilst one side wants to leave all the darkness and emotion aside and get on with things, the other side wants to hang on to it all and see how far we can push the envelope, to see what inspiration lies further down that path. Then somehow I still feel like there's another part of me caught in the middle playing the part of a referee and trying to figure out who's going to win the battle. I think both sides got their money's worth on this track. It's all about the dark and the light for me. Experiences both good and bad it's all inspiring and I'll chase that inspiration all the way to the end for a song!

Part way through the writing of this track I had received a phone call late one night and was told that I guy I had known for years had just taken his own life and that definitely inspired the lyrics following the solo and acted as a wakeup call to myself to get off the path I was on.

If you or anyone you know needs help with their own mental well-being call Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 or Lifeline on 13 11 14 or find your closest Suicide Prevention/Crisis Support Organisation on Google…

In regards to the bands that have helped shape Feed The Fire, there are so many!! I can say that when I first started playing guitar it was bands like The Living End, Green Day, Nirvana and SOAD that had a big influence on my approach to songwriting and structure and I don't think I've strayed too far from that. Paul is a massive fan of Geezer Butler and Keeny amongst others is a big Danny Carey fan.

Above all else, even as individual musicians, we've all tried hard to sound like ourselves. People are always telling us that they hear so many different influences come through in our music but we don't sound like any of them, and we love that! We don't aspire to sound like any one band more than another or try to adhere to any specific genre. Whether that works in our favour or not, not knowing exactly who your target audience is a hard way to go about doing things. We are our own version of what we think is a good rock band.

An important part of that for us is being able to prove ourselves live. We write the majority of our songs with the intent of playing them live and when we do play live we work our asses off to make sure people have a good time to remember us by.

The good news for newcomers is you've got your debut album Maybe You Need This?! coming out on Feb 26th featuring 13 new tracks! Do they sound similar to 'DOA' or can we expect a wider range of different styles for your first release?

It's definitely not an album full of 'DOA''s. That's not to say that there aren't any other songs on the album in that style though. There is a ballad where the piano plays a huge part, there is a live song of just vocal and acoustic guitar, there is synth and keys throughout and brass on another.

We like to think that the energy of a song like 'DOA' is the binding ingredient that ties all of the songs and the band for the matter together. It's an album that was written in a time of mixed feelings and emotions and as such lends itself to more than just one particular feel or style.

We can say though that tracks like 'DOA', along with our first single 'Haunted House' are what is at the core of Feed The Fire and the style of music we are currently continuing to write.

In lieu of the album title, give us three completely random reasons why we might need this album in our lives?

That's the hardest out of all the questions you've thrown up here to answer man...

I know why I needed it and had to write it. It saved my fucking life, full stop.

I hope people can enjoy it and take something positive away from it. I hope people can dance and bang their heads to it. I hope people don't need it for the same reasons that I did. But if they do then I hope it helps.

I appreciate your honesty and hopefully, those going through a similar situation can use it to help guide them too. Kudos to you!

You've scored the opportunity to play with the iconic Frenzal Rhomb and a music festival in such a short amount of time. Any future gigs planned locally?

Outside of our album launch on April 3rd nothing set in stone but plenty in the pipeline.

In terms of goals and future planning, if you could put it into the universe to make happen, who would you love to do a string of shows with?

Throw us on a tour with any of the following and we'd be happy as a pig in poo! The Living End, Osaka Punch, The Pretty Reckless, The Dead Daisies, NOFX, The Dirty Nil, SOAD.

We've heard some crazy stories from RADelaide about the heavy gigs down that way, what would be the best story you've got from a show you caught that way?

Well.....An old band of mine was headlining a show here at Enigma Bar and it was a pretty late start for us. I was pretty well inebriated by the time we got on stage. Halfway through our first song, I thought it would be a great idea to get on a punter's shoulders to shred a solo. Turns out he was pretty wasted as well. He's collapsed, I've gone headfirst into the floor, split my head and nose open and snapped the headstock off my guitar!!

I clambered back on stage, threw my guitar to the side and sung the rest of the gig concussed and covered in blood!! Not my finest moment and I don't remember too much about it, but it turns out that plenty of other people do, and I have the scars to prove it!! Young, dumb and full of rum.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKE8NV9Ksps

Once the album is out, what's the next strategy for Feed The Fire?

Our strategy for 2021 is to book and play some interstate shows and we're hoping to get to Melbourne, Sydney and The Gold Coast by mid-year provided travel is allowed. There'll be at least one more single and video coming off the back of this album so talks have started there.

We've also been busy building a studio and we're not too far from being able to start using it for recording. Once that's ready it's time to start demoing. The songs off of Maybe You Need This?! were for the most part written over two years ago and we have a heap of new material to get on with.

And finally, any famous last words?

Maybe You Need This?!

Interview by Paul ‘Browny’ Brown @brownypaul

Feed the Fire's Debut Album Maybe You Need This?! is out February 26th
PreOrder/Save HERE

Feed The Fire – Maybe You Need This?! tracklisting:

1. Decay
2. Haunted House
3. Blood Red Sea
4. Cold Fire
5. DOA
6. These City Streets
7. Effigy
8. No Plans
9. Roseworthy
10. The Owner
11. Face It All
12. Apparitions
13. Scream Again