In Case Of Fire get us hot under the collar

27 October 2008

In Case Of Fire

In Case Of Fire are possibly the hottest Northern Irish guys I’ve ever seen in my life (fair enough they’re the only three) and they’re trekking around the UK with their buddies in Funeral For A Friend, Cancer Bats and Attack! Attack!I caught up with the guys to find out how they’re coping with life on the road, their fabulous new single This Time We Stand and what brothers Colin and Steve do to make each other cry.

Hey guys, how are you?

We just went for a quick walk around Preston before we do some more press. It’s all good.

How are you enjoying being on the road with Funeral For A Friend?

It’s great. We did a small tour with them at the start of the summer and they’re really great guys to tour with and we get on really well with them. It’s been a very civilised tour with them so far.

How did this sexy tour come about?

Us and Funeral and Cancer Bats have the same management so when Funeral heard our stuff they really liked it and wanted to take us out on tour and as we had a single coming out at the same time it was a good tour for us to do because we have played to quite a lot of people and we knew that Funeral’s fans would like our stuff so it was a bit of a no-brainer when we were asked. We also go straight into our own headline tour afterwards so it’s worked out really well for us.

I notice Biffy Clyro (the best band in the world) are in your MySpace top friends; do you love them?

Absolutely. We love those guys, we’ve played with them a couple of times last year and met up with them a couple of times this year and have become friends with them because we really respect them as a band and for them to sit down with us and talk about our music and say how much they like it is amazing. They’re definitely one of our favourite bands as well so we would love to get out on tour with those guys too.

So tell me a bit about your delicious new single This Time We Stand

It comes out on November 10 and we think it’s going to be the opening track on the album and we think it’s a really good introduction to In Case Of Fire and out sound because it sort of picks you up and kicks you about the place for three and a half minutes which is what we want! There are a lot of big guitars and big drums and a big chorus and it really shows off Steve’s voice too.

What’s the meaning behind the title; This Time We Stand?

Steve wrote it about a real-life story that he read about a guy in America who was wrongly imprisoned so the chorus is all about people who have read his story and are standing up against society and the police and the corrupt system that put him there in the first place.

Steve could probably explain it better but I’m not sure where he is! From what he’s told us and from the lyrics it’s obvious that that’s what it’s about.

Will you have a lovely new album to go with it?

Yeah, the album will be out in February. There will be a second single in January and we can’t wait to get it out there because we’re very happy with it. We recorded it will Gill Norton which was a dream come true for us because he’s done the Foo Fighters and the pixies and Jimmy Eat World and any number of anyone favourite bands so he’s an absolute legend and for us to get to work with him was amazing so if he’s happy with the album you know you’ve done something right.

So to anyone who hasn’t heard of you yet; how would you describe your sound?

We tend to be quite hard to pigeon hole which is a good thing. We make music which is slightly left of centre and is different to what anyone else is doing. We certainly don’t follow any current trends; the number of British bands who are making music that sound like all the American Emo bands is incredible and we don’t do that because we pick our influences a little bit further afield which sometimes leads to us being tagged as Progressive which is the kind of music we like.

A lot of progressive music can run for like nine minutes which I think can get a bit bring so we try to take the best bits of that and condense it into a really good song so I guess you can call it progressive rock.

When you started out in the band did you ever think you’d end up where you are today?

I think we always had belief in ourselves that we could reach this point as we always knew we were a good enough band and good enough musicians and that we wrote good enough songs to reach the point where we’re at. I must admit that at certain points down the line you think; “It’s just not going to happen.” because the number of amazing bands who are out there and have been good enough but haven’t made it and who haven’t got their slice of luck is not right.

I think to be able to keep at it and have that inner core of belief that it is going to happen at some point is very important. I think at this point last year we had given ourselves until Christmas to make some in-roads before we called it a day and luckily we hooked up with our management in November and then things just started to roll from there so we are very thankful for that.

If someone has said to us this time last year that we would be out touring on a tour bus and would have recorded an album we would have said; “No Chance!” but for it to happen this year has been amazing.

Where would you like to be in five years time?

In five years time I would love to still be doing this and to still be touring and maybe on our third or fourth album with a really good fan base who are really into the songs. I think just to have a career and longevity. That’s what we’re all in this for; not to make a quick buck or two but to make music for a living because that’s what we love to do so in five years time if we still get the chance to do it that would be amazing.

Finally, we ask every musician we interview to come up with a question for the next person we interview and Matt from Funeral For A Friend wants to know what is the worst thing you’ve ever done to make Stephen cry?

Ha-ha, it’s been a long time since I made Steve cry. You’d probably have to go back to a childhood but I can’t honestly remember! He’s quite a quiet person and if he’s going to cry he’ll go off and do it on his own and won’t let me see it!