ARTiST: Fireworks Night
TiTLE: As Fools We Are
LABEL: Organ Grinder Records / Kartel
GENRE: Indie
TiME: 42:37 min
SiZE: 51,3 MB
BiTRATE: VBRkbps
RiP DATE: Feb-26-2007
RELEASE DATE: Apr-09-2007
WEBSiTE: n/a
Track List:
01. Favours For Favours 04:11
02. When We Fell Through The Ice 03:43
03. The Beasts And The Bugs 04:23
04. Rewards, Rewards, Rewards 04:58
05. The Prettier Part 03:49
06. Dirty Acts Done Publicly 04:50
07. The Empty Orchestra 01:20
08. All The Little Insects 03:43
09. A Black Eye 04:39
10. What You Don't Know 03:57
11. Her Shiny Teeth 03:04
Release Notes:
Fireworks Night essentially began in the summer of
2003 when two James and Ricky spent a month or so
making an album. They recorded in a garage in North
Devon that was shared with the family dog, did one
song in a house in Jersey and recorded the drums in
a barn by an old stately home. The purpose was
partly recreational but also partly to help fulfil
some long held ambitions of making music together.
This combination led to sessions that were playful
and experimental û some vocals done under a snooker
table, the garage doors used as a percussive tool û
but also tense at times. During the weeks spent
recording they were joined and assisted by a few
friends û Van Carney, Nick Gill and Briony
Greenhill. Their help was invaluable to the extent
that without them there might not have been a record
at all. The end result was the album 'It's A Wide,
Wide Sea'.
James wanted a name for this project as, even though
they were not a band in the traditional sense, he
felt that it had definitely been a group effort. The
name Fireworks Night had been one heÆd brought up
half joking a year or so before. It didnÆt
pigeon-hole them and he didnÆt loathe as much as the
others he had thought up so they went with it.
For a while after that summer Fireworks Night only
really existed on record due to the dispersal of
some of musicians that had contributed to the album.
However, months passed, the album began to get heard
and people began to volunteer to help play these
songs live and work on new material. The band played
their first gig in the summer of 2004. It was a lot
of fun and more followed that were equally
enjoyable.
Fireworks Night began recording their new album æAs
Fools We AreÆ in Jersey in January 2005 with Ricky
again working as producer and added instrumentalist.
Then, as now, the band lined-up like this:
James Lesslie û Vocals, Guitars
Nick Gill û Bass, Ukulele, Saw, Bowed Guitars
Duncan Brown û Acoustic and Electric Guitars
Matt Edmonds û Drums, Backing Vocals
Tim Hancock û Piano, Electric Piano
Nico Beedle û Violin
Time was short and Nick suffered a particularly
nasty bout of gastric flu but they got down what
they needed to. Further contributions to the record
were made throughout that year with Briony Greenhill
doing her vocals in Jersey over Easter and the rest
of the band helping with mixing and overdubbing in
London for the rest of the year. Tim Burke was also
on hand to lend his skills on the Moog synthesisers
and help Ricky with a particularly tricky string
arrangement.
The first single from the album æWhen We Fell
Through The IceÆ was released on Organ Grinder
Records û the collective imprint that Fireworks
Night share with The Mules û in May of 2006 and it
was extremely warmly received with, amongst others,
Time Out declaring it simply æawesomeÆ and Musicweek
calling it æbeautifully executed folk-noirÆ.
The album is scheduled for a release early next year
and will hopefully help Fireworks Night find there
own unique corner in the alternative music scene. It
is a dense and beautiful record, one that has
obviously been very carefully constructed with the
aim of providing a listener with an experience that
will hold their interest long after the first
listen.