What’s the first album you remember loving as a kid?
Stephen: Sports by Huey Lewis and the News. Huey Lewis was everything at the Russ household.
Collin: Commonwealth by Plankeye. I learned my first guitar licks from that album too!
Jesse: Howard Shore’s scores to the Lord of the Rings films. They blew my mind.
What was the first album you bought with your own money?
Stephen: I bought Collective Soul’s debut album on tape at K-Mart (the one with “Shine” on it). I remember trying to read the tiny lyrics to make sure I fast forwarded through any songs with profanity in them.
Collin: R.I.O.T. by Carman on cassette tape. And I am saddened by that fact every time I remember it.
Jesse: I too am ashamed to provide the same answer as Collin. One of our few shared young musical interests.
Stephen: I had that too… but at least I didn’t spend my own money on it.
What was the first local band you were a fan of?
Stephen: I recorded Treadmill Trackstar songs off of 93.5 like some kind of cello rock junkie.
Collin: Growing up out of the country I didn’t have a chance to really find/like local bands until college. Daniel Machado was probably the first local artist who’s music I really liked.
What’s the most recent album you bought or have been listening to lately?
Stephen: I picked up Bowie’s Aladdin Sane on vinyl the other week. Not my favorite group of Bowie jams but that album sounds ridiculously good.
Collin: Jesse introduced me to Hiatus Kayote and their new album Choose Your Weapon makes me fall in love with music again every time I hear it.
Jesse : Evan Marien’s Artifacts has been expanding my mind lately. He’s one of the best bassists and electronic producers you’ll hear and writes some clutch grooves.
The Fire Tonight as a band has evolved so much over the years and you’re now to your self titled album. Do you feel like you’ve come into your own more over the last year than ever before?
Stephen: I think the (really) long break we took from touring really changed the direction of the band for the better. Jesse officially joined us right at that break and we worked on a lot of music, became happier people, and learned a lot by working on our music and other people’s music. We were still all over the place musically at the end of that time though. I think at the second 2014 show in Raleigh, when we came out as a piano trio, everything just clicked. We had played some really great shows before but I had never felt electricity like that. When we dedicated ourselves to that configuration this album came out far more naturally than anything we had ever done. I guess it’s weird to say that since we used a guitar in this video… but that’s just us I guess.
