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Whitefire
are a band that have wowed the editorial team of this site for
the past year, ever since we first caught them in action.
We've watched them mature both in sound and stage presence and
now believe the time is right to unleash these heroes of
tomorrow upon the unsuspecting public. Ladies and
Gentlemen it gives us great pleasure to bring you this interview
with the band.
MM
- H
i
guys, thanks for agreeing to take part in this interview with us
we really appreciate it.
Whitefire - Pleasure.
MM
- Would you like to give us a
brief history on the band, how it all came about, how it’s
evolved and where you call home etc?
Whitefire
- It started a couple of
years ago, a few of us (Chris Mills, John Maughan and Stephen
Mee) were looking for a singer to front the band, we must of
auditioned about 5 or 6 different singers until we saw Jon
Sibley singing ‘Whole lotta love’ at a pub karaoke. We
sorted out a practise and he was definitely what we were looking
for. We have recently got a new bass player, Robert Cocks, who
we feel has brought the band up to a new level. Where we call
home that would have to be the barn which we practise in and
share with a few farm animals.
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MM
- How
do you feel the bands sound has developed since it originally started?
Whitefire - When we first started we
just used to turn up really loud and bash away and not take time in
writing songs, we were absolutely dreadful. Now we take time in writing
songs, trying songs at different tempos and recording ourselves to see
which parts of songs sound good and which parts don’t really work. So
hopefully our sound has gone from mediocre to pretty damn good.
MM - At what age did you
become interested in being a performer and what/who inspired you to join
a band?
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Jon
Sibley – Around 16 when I was
studying music. Paul Rodgers and Robert plant were a huge
influence on me wanting to become a singer.
Stephen Mee – 14/15 after hearing Bat out of hell.
John Maughan – John Bonham, Phil Rudd and Ian Paice have
all influenced me. When I was 15 and practising with other
musicians was when I became interested.
Chris Mills – 14 after seeing the AC/DC let there be
rock video and seeing Angus running around the stage like a
lunatic. He was the main reason I wanted to be in a band and
play guitar and the fact that my old fella had spent his hard
earned money on my guitar and would have cried if I’d given
up.
Robert
Cocks – About 5 years ago I became interested in being a
performer. John Paul Jones and Andy Fraiser were big influences.
I also like a lot of Jazz but the rest of the band hate it.
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MM
- How do you see the current climate for Classic/Hard Rock in the UK at
the moment and even further in the rest of the world? Who do you
see as your target audience?
Whitefire - It’s
definitely making a comeback with bands like Roadstar and The Answer in
the U.K and Silvertide in the U.S. If the bands got the exposure they
deserved it could be like the 70’s with hard rock bands filling
stadiums. Our target audience is anyone who will listen to us.
MM - Where
did the bands name come from and what does it represent to you?
Can you remember any of the other names that were considered at the
time?
Whitefire - The
name doesn’t really have a meaning, we were at the Velvet Revolver gig
in Newcastle a while back and we really needed a band name so we were
doing a game of which names would look good on the bill with Velvet
Revolver. Whitefire was said, it sounded good so we kept it. We had some
bad names before, 5 killer volts was one of them.
MM - Now’s the time to sell
yourselves, what can our readers expect from a live ‘Whitefire’ show
and why should they come along to one of your shows and check you out?
Whitefire - They
can expect a lot of energy, big guitar riffs and an hour or two of great
music. They should come and see us so they can witness the next Led
Zeppelin playing in a tiny venue. (Laughs all around).
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MM
- What song is
your personal favourite to play live and which one(s) really get
the crowd going wild?
Jon
Sibley – Set it Free
Stephen Mee – Everywhere I Go
John Maughan – Keep it Alive
Chris Mills – Soul Stealer
Robert Cocks – Set it Free.
Whitefire - S.L.R gets the crowd going wild as it’s a
very up tempo song.
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MM
- The band currently has a
self titled EP out at the moment. Would you like to tell us a
little bit about the songs that feature on it?
Whitefire - The
E.P was recorded a year ago now; it has 3 songs on it S.L.R, Yesterdays
Sorrow and a cover of Wishing Well.
SLR seemed like a great opener for as it’s very in your face and grabs
your attention. Wishing Well was just a jam and it sounded great,
Elliott Randall suggested using a cover to help showcase our talents so
we decided to put it on the C.D. It came out really good, it has some
cool slide on there by Jethro Tull founder member Mick Abrahams and some
Keys by Wayne Brown which sounds brilliant, Elliott also laid down a few
riffs which was pretty awesome. Yesterdays Sorrow is a different kind of
song with the Acoustic Guitar opening and closing the track, it has a
moody feel to it but when everything comes in it sounds so powerful.
MM - I believe you’ve already managed
to catch the eye of the legendary guitarist Elliott Randall who helped
to both record and produce the EP, how did that come about and what was
Elliott like to work with?
Whitefire - We were very fortunate in
how we came about to be working with Elliott. He came up to North
Yorkshire to see the local music scene and all the local bands. It was
something the council organised. So we had a chance to play 3 songs to
him and then have a little chat afterwards. Once all this was finished
we saw him in Tesco's a couple of hours later and Chris asked him, would
you mind producing us, which to our amazement he said yes. He is great
to work with, he is such a great all round musician that he gets the
best performance out of everyone. Elliott also believes in the best take
of a song is the one which has the most energy, so he is able to capture
a great live feel onto C.D. and gets the best results.
MM - How does the song writing process work within the band? Is it
down to one particular person or do you all get involved?
Whitefire - A guitar riff is usually
what we work around and we will all chip in ideas. Sometimes though we
just mess around jamming and Sibz will hear something he likes which he
wants to work on. There isn’t a Jagger/Richards or Page/Plant type of
combination just yet.
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MM
- 2006 really saw the band come out of the shadows and into the
larger arena with some high profile festival and support slots.
Would you like to tell us about some of the highlights of the
year for you as a band?
Whitefire - Supporting Tygers
of Pan Tang at Rio’s was great and the Wickerman festival was
another big one for us as we got to share the stage with The
Animals and The Sensational Alex Harvey band. Playing with The
Answer at a sold out fibbers was also great fun. These three
would have to be the main gigging highlights so far, although
recording a debut E.P. with Elliott Randall was a big highlight,
in fact probably the biggest.
MM
- For
you personally what bands do you think were the most influential
from: (a) the 70’s, (b) the 80’s, (c) the 90’s, and (d)
today?
Whitefire - 70’s
– Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Bad Company. 80’s –
Guns n Roses, Whitesnake and AC/DC. 90’s – Pearl Jam,
Soundgarden and The Black Crowes. Today – Deep Purple,
The Who and Aerosmith as they’re all touring this year, does
that count?
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MM
- Making
a living from music does not seem to be that 'easy' anymore as it was in
the past. How do you predict your future as a musician?
Whitefire - Our
future is going to be big, we will be filling stadiums and wreaking
havoc across the world, or we will be taking song requests at your local
pub, it’s very much hit and miss. It’s really down to good fortune
and if the ‘right’ person hears you.
MM - We’re often told that there’s a
big problem now of people copying and downloading albums instead of
buying them. As a young and up and coming band does this trend
worry you at all and if you had the chance to speak to a room of people
who copied/downloaded your music, what would you like to say to them?
Whitefire - It doesn’t worry us as we
just want as many people as possible to hear our music and if that means
1 person buying our E.P. and 5 people copying it then so be it. Being a
young band your main goal is for people to hear you which will hopefully
result in them coming to one of your shows, if downloading and copying
your music is the main way for that to happen then there is no point in
trying to stop it. We couldn’t really say anything to the room of
people as people we know are probably doing the same thing.
MM - I’d also like to probe your conscience and ask have you ever
copied or downloaded music?
Whitefire - Heaven forbid, we may have
unknowingly listened to copied music but never ‘stolen the bread’
out of the mouths of wealthy music companies.
MM - In your opinion, who is
the greatest genius of all time in the music business, and why?
Whitefire - Jimmy
Page, as he was the founder of one of the biggest and best rock bands
ever, he has wrote classic songs and influenced pretty much every
guitarist out there. Not only this but he has produced some of the best
albums ever made.
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MM
- What one thing do
most people not know, have never known, and will probably never
know about you unless they read this interview?
Whitefire - We
shamefully stripped our drummer when he was blind drunk and left
him in our hotel corridor outside someone’s room bare arsed
naked. That would have been a lovely surprise for that person.
MM - Are
there any other upcoming bands that you'd suggest people keep an
ear out for?
Whitefire -
Silvertide, Rattlesnake Remedy and Tygers of Pan Tang, who
aren’t up and coming but there doing some gigs this year on
the comeback trail and everyone should go and check them out.
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MM
- Finally is there anything you’d like to say to
all our readers out there?
Whitefire - If we are playing near you
come and check us out, if you work for a record label sign us up, and if
you’ve got shed loads of money chuck some our way, we’d all
appreciate it.
Cheers for reading this.
WHITEFIRE.
MM - We'd like to thank
Whitefire for taking part in this interview with us today. If you
like good solid classic hard rock done well then we'd highly recommend
you check this up and coming band out. They certainly have the
talent and the songs so let's hope the Gods give them the breaks they
deserve. |