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 The UK's Whitefire may well be a new name to many of you, but that could be set to change in 2008, as the young band from the North of England are to accompany the legendary Tygers of Pan Tang on their UK tour, and with a slot at the Wickerman Festival already booked in as well, they're set to spread their wings and bring their classic rock sound to the rest of the country.
Lauded at home, and championed by the Tygers, Komodo Rock sat down with the band to find out more.
Komodo Rock: Can you give us a little background on the band, how you came together?
Whitefire: It all began with Chris Mills (Lead
Guitarist), John Maughan (Drummer) and Stephen Mee (Rhythm Guitarist)
jamming together in High school, they all shared a passion for Classic
Rock bands like AC/DC and had only been playing their instruments for a
short period of time but just wanted to have some fun.
In the next couple of years the band got a bit more serious playing
various Battle of the Band shows in the local area and started looking
for a front man with a great vocal range and impressive stage presence,
after auditioning 5 or 6 different singers they stumbled across Jon
Sibley singing ‘Whole Lotta Love’ at a karaoke night and immediately
asked to him to come to a rehearsal, practices went really well and he
was quickly offered a place in the band. To finish off the current
line-up Robert John Ellershaw was recruited towards the end of 2006
after Sibley mentioned a Bass player he attended Music College with
that would be an ideal addition to the band.
Komodo Rock: How did the name come about?
Whitefire: A few of us were at a Velvet Revolver
gig in Newcastle and we hadn’t really decided on a permanent band name
yet, we were imagining how great it would be to support them one day
and were thinking what name would look good next to theirs, Whitefire
was what we came up with and it just stuck with us.
Komodo Rock: You have a self titled EP out right now. Can you tell us a little
more about it?
Whitefire: It was recorded in 2006 with Elliott
Randall, a premier American Session musician who has played alongside
several legendary bands such as Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers. It
was amazing to work with such an experienced professional as we had
previously only recorded at local recording studios, he gave us a great
insight on how Records are made and showed us the wide range of
possibilities available when in the studio.
Komodo Rock: And a little more on the tracks that were included?
Whitefire: The EP starts off with ‘S.L.R’, a song
that we have had in our repertoire for quite some time. It’s an
up-tempo song that really gets the crowd going when we perform it live.
Next is a cover of ‘Wishing Well’ by Free, It has Mick Abrahams
(founding Jethro Tull member) playing some great Slide Guitar, and
Wayne Brown producing some textured Hammond Organ parts throughout the
song. Elliott also performs some guitar licks, which are just immense.
The E.P closes on ‘Yesterday’s Sorrow’ a song that starts off with
quiet acoustic guitars and crescendos into a powerful song with shades
of Bon Jovi throughout.
 Komodo Rock: Can we expect a full album from you in the near future?
Whitefire: We are currently in talks with Elliott
with regards to our next CD, we are looking to record sometime in April
2008, at the moment we are debating whether to release a full album or
a 4 track E.P, hopefully our fans will give an indication on what they
would prefer us to do.
Komodo Rock: You've been confirmed as the main support on the Tygers of Pan Tang's
tour next year. How did that come about?
Whitefire: We played with the Tygers in Bradford
at the end of 2006 and were immediately impressed with their live
sound, thankfully the feeling was mutual and they asked us to support
them for a couple of dates in 2007. At one of the gigs they approached
us, saying they were planning a tour in 2008 and they would like us to
be their main support act!!! After falling off our chairs we calmly
accepted their offer.
Komodo Rock: What can fans expect from you on those dates?
Whitefire: Whilst on tour with the Tygers we are going to give 100% on
stage, we pride ourselves on our tight live sound and impressive stage
show, but we are gonna step it up a gear this time round, we are
determined to leave a lasting impression on all the crowds we play in
front of.
Komodo Rock: What have been your 3 biggest influences as a band?
Whitefire: All of our individual influences are
different, for example the majority of us love Led Zeppelin, but one of
us isn’t too keen. We feel that is a key a factor to how our music
sounds, if you limit yourself to one main influence or even just one
genre of music you immediately compromise your creativeness.
We have been compared to bands like Led Zeppelin and Free and that is
not too dissimilar from our own influences, we all like Thin Lizzy and
Lynyrd Skynyrd…that’s about it, (everyone laughs) but that makes things
interesting, we get to argue why we like specific bands or what gets on
our nerves about other bands.
Komodo Rock: How hard is it as a band to get out on the road?
Whitefire: This year has really seen us hit the
road hard, by the end of the 2007 we would have comfortably played over
100 gigs ranging from Aberdeen to London and we have loved every minute
of it!!! For us there is nothing more exciting than playing to a pumped
up audience.
Komodo Rock: Do you find that the internet has helped you a lot, myspace for example?
Whitefire: Myspace has been imperative to our
progression as a band, it has helped us promote our current E.P,
arrange and promote various gigs and update pictures and videos on a
regular basis, without Myspace we wouldn’t have played half the gigs we
have performed this year.
Komodo Rock: Who do you rate as the best up and coming rock band other than yourself?
Whitefire: We wouldn’t really put them in the ‘up
and coming’ category but our favourite new bands are Black Stone Cherry
(who recently won Best New Band at the Classic Rock Awards) and British
Band The Answer, we were lucky enough to play with them last year to a
sold out crowd at Fibbers in York, that was an experience we will never
forget.
Komodo Rock: Can you give us any relevant Whitefire links please?
Whitefire: Certainly, Here’s our Myspace:
www.myspace.com/whitefirerock
And our own Website
www.whitefireband.com
Komodo Rock: Again, a big thank you for taking the time to answer our questions.
Whitefire: The pleasure was all ours, have a great 2008!
A
big thank you to Whitefire for taking the time to talk with us, and
we'll keep you posted on how their tour with the Tygers of Pan Tang
progresses.
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