Blondfire is an indie pop

Indie pop

Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s, such as Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera, and the dominant UK independent band of the mid...

 band from New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 composed of the brother-and-sister duo Bruce

Bruce Driscoll

Bruce Driscoll is a Brazilian/American record producer, songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist. He first gained notoriety as one half of the indie pop band Astaire . Co-writing/Producing/Self-releasing songs with his sister, Erica, the duo quickly became iTunes darlings...

 and Erica Driscoll.

Childhood

The Driscolls were born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

, to an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 father and a Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian mother. They spent many summers in northern Brazil, and are citizens of both countries. Both Erica and Bruce

Bruce Driscoll

Bruce Driscoll is a Brazilian/American record producer, songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist. He first gained notoriety as one half of the indie pop band Astaire . Co-writing/Producing/Self-releasing songs with his sister, Erica, the duo quickly became iTunes darlings...

 cite Antonio Carlos Jobim

Antônio Carlos Jobim

Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim , also known as Tom Jobim , was a Brazilian songwriter, composer, arranger, singer, and pianist/guitarist. He was a primary force behind the creation of the bossa nova style, and his songs have been performed by many singers and instrumentalists within...

, Caetano Veloso

Caetano Veloso

Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso , better known as Caetano Veloso, is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicalismo which encompassed theatre, poetry and music in the 1960s,...

, and Astrud Gilberto

Astrud Gilberto

Astrud Gilberto is a Brazilian samba and bossa nova singer. She is well known for the Grammy Award-winning song "The Girl from Ipanema".-Biography:...

 as musicians that they listened to often while growing up. In high school, Erica, Bruce

Bruce Driscoll

Bruce Driscoll is a Brazilian/American record producer, songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist. He first gained notoriety as one half of the indie pop band Astaire . Co-writing/Producing/Self-releasing songs with his sister, Erica, the duo quickly became iTunes darlings...

, and their older sister Monica

Mônica da Silva

Mônica da Silva is a Brazilian/American singer, songwriter, musician, and producer. She is best known for her multi-lingual music compositions that span five languages - English, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and French. Mônica grew up between the U.S. and Belém, Brazil, a city on the Amazon...

 formed the band Nectar, and forwent classes to tour nationally. The siblings disbanded after the publishing company EMI

EMI

The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...

, with whom they had a development deal, pressured them to record more mainstream songs. .

Astaire

Erica and Bruce

Bruce Driscoll

Bruce Driscoll is a Brazilian/American record producer, songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist. He first gained notoriety as one half of the indie pop band Astaire . Co-writing/Producing/Self-releasing songs with his sister, Erica, the duo quickly became iTunes darlings...

 formed Astaire and toured locally behind songs recorded in the basement of their parents' home. During this time, the siblings were featured in many music and fashion publications, such as z!nk, America, YRB, College Music Journal

College Music Journal

College Music Journal, commonly known as CMJ, is a music events/publishing company which hosts an annual festival in New York City, the CMJ Music Marathon, as well as a weekly magazine of and for the music industry and college radio stations in the United States and Canada. It publishes top 30...

, and Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...

. Two of their songs, "Maximum Speed" and "Today", appeared on the DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

s of the fifth and sixth seasons of the Dawson's Creek

Dawson's Creek

Dawson's Creek is an American teen drama television series which debuted on January 20, 1998, on The WB Television Network and was produced by Sony Pictures Television. The show is set in the fictional seaside town of Capeside, Massachusetts, and in Boston, Massachusetts, during the later seasons...

. The Driscolls relocated to New York City and recorded "Weightless" with Ivy

Ivy (band)

Ivy is a New York City band composed of a trio of musicians, Adam Schlesinger, Dominique Durand, and Andy Chase.-Lately and Realistic:...

's Andy Chase

Andy Chase

Andy Chase is a New York based musician/songwriter/producer. He is a member of the bands Ivy, Brookville, and Paco. He is also a co-owner of New York City recording studio Stratosphere sound with partners James Iha , and Adam Schlesinger .In 1995, Chase co-produced and engineered the title track...

. They released their first EP

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

, Don't Whisper Lies, on their own record label, Wax Divine. The collection received moderate critical acclaim, earning a 4.5 star review from Allmusic.

The EP's single, "L-L-Love", was featured in the films, Monster-in-Law

Monster-in-Law

Monster-in-Law is a 2005 romantic comedy film directed by Robert Luketic and starring Jennifer Lopez, Jane Fonda, Michael Vartan and Wanda Sykes. It marks a return to cinema for Fonda, being her first film in 15 years after Stanley & Iris. The screenplay is written by Anya Kochoff...

and Mozart and the Whale

Mozart and the Whale

Mozart and the Whale is a 2005 romantic comedy-drama film starring Josh Hartnett and Radha Mitchell, and directed by Petter Næss.-Plot:...

and the band embarked on a national tour with Ivy

Ivy (band)

Ivy is a New York City band composed of a trio of musicians, Adam Schlesinger, Dominique Durand, and Andy Chase.-Lately and Realistic:...

, Robbers on High Street

Robbers on High Street

Robbers on High Street are an American rock band from Brooklyn, New York.-History:Robbers on High Street began performing publicly during the summer of 2002, but the band's roots stretch back much further. Ben Trokan and Steve "Sparky" Mercado have been friends since their preteen years growing up...

, and Stars.

Blondfire

In the middle of the tour, the Driscolls were contacted by the representatives of the estate of Fred Astaire

Fred Astaire

Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...

, asking the band to stop using the name immediately. Facing an expensive legal fees, the siblings changed the band's name to Blondfire. They announced the name change with the release of a new iTunes-exclusive acoustic live EP. It featured "L-L-Love" from Don't Whisper Lies, and three new songs, "Paper Doll", "Running Back", and "Fade to Pale".
In October 2006, Blondfire signed a record deal with EMI Records UK. In a March 2008 interview, Bruce Driscoll

Bruce Driscoll

Bruce Driscoll is a Brazilian/American record producer, songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist. He first gained notoriety as one half of the indie pop band Astaire . Co-writing/Producing/Self-releasing songs with his sister, Erica, the duo quickly became iTunes darlings...

 stated that the band had left the label. A full-length self-produced album was released on their own label, Tender Tender Rush, in April 2008.

Compilation appearances

• Monster-in-Law
  Monster-in-Law
  Monster-in-Law is a 2005 romantic comedy film directed by Robert Luketic and starring Jennifer Lopez, Jane Fonda, Michael Vartan and Wanda Sykes. It marks a return to cinema for Fonda, being her first film in 15 years after Stanley & Iris. The screenplay is written by Anya Kochoff...
  
  soundtrack (2005, New Line) (song: "L-L-Love" (as Astaire))