Friendly Fires
Encyclopedia
Friendly Fires are an English band from St Albans
, Hertfordshire
, England. They are currently signed to XL Recordings
. Their self-titled debut album was released on 1 September 2008 and was announced as one of the shortlisted twelve for the 2009 Mercury Prize on 21 July 2009.
. At age 13, in Year 8/9 (the second or third year) the members formed their first band, a post-hardcore
outfit called First Day Back , covering songs by Green Day and other rock-like artists, which existed until they began university. During this time lead singer Ed Macfarlane released his own music (under his own name) through the electronica label Skam, and Precinct Recordings. Upon leaving university they formed a new band inspired by dance music, "lush shoegaze melodies", and classic pop songwriting. The name Friendly Fires originates from the opening track of the Section 25
LP Always Now. The band consider German techno label Kompakt
, Carl Craig
and Prince
to be their greatest influences.
In late 2007, they became the first unsigned band to appear on Channel 4's Transmission
programme. Their single "Paris" achieved "Single of The Week" in The Guardian
newspaper, NME
magazine, and also on Zane Lowe
's BBC Radio 1
show. They have toured extensively, with past performances taking place throughout the UK, Europe, Japan, USA, Canada, Mexico, South America and Australia.
In May 2008, their song "On Board" was featured in North American television commercials for Nintendo
's Wii Fit
. "On Board" is also featured in the trailer for the upcoming PlayStation 3
game Gran Turismo 5
. "White Diamonds" is featured in one of the episodes in the second season of the American television series Gossip Girl
. "Jump in the Pool" is the theme tune to BBC1's Final Score for the 2009/10 Football Season, aired on Saturday afternoons. "In The Hospital", and "Lovesick", are featured in the PC/Xbox360/PS3 driving game "Colin McRae: DiRT 2". "Lovesick" is played on Soccer AM as the weeks football fixtures are announced.
In September 2008, theiy released their first LP : Friendly Fires
, featuring the singles "On Board", "Paris", "Jump in the Pool", "Skeleton Boy" and, later on, "Kiss of Life", present on the second disc of the enhanced
LP edition (featuring various remixes).
The album was certified double gold in the UK; the band was nominated for a Best Breakthrough Award at The South Bank Show
Awards and for ‘Best Dancefloor Filler’ at the NME Awards. They were also second on the bill on the NME Awards Tour 2009.
On 21 July 2009, the band was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize.
On 19 January 2010, the band was nominated for two Brit Awards; Best British Group and British Breakthrough Act.
Friendly Fires have contributed the soundtrack to the Frank Miller-directed advertisement for 'Guilty', a women's fragrance by Gucci. It is a cover of Depeche Mode's song 'Strangelove'.
On 27 September Friendly Fires released a mix CD through Berlin-based K7 records, and London club promoters Bugged Out!. It leans heavily towards the band's disco, house, boogie and techno influences.
In May 2011, their second album, Pala
was out. The first single is "Live Those Days Tonight", that will soon be followed by "Hawaiian Air".
On 25 May it was announced that Friendly Fires were planning their biggest UK tour to date, starting in Brighton on 10 November and going through cities such as Birmingham, Newcastle, Glasgow and London.
On 20 August Friendly Fires announced that their trumpet player, Richard Turner, who contributed to their live shows, had died. Richard Turner suffered a cardiac arrest while swimming on 19 August.
St Albans
St Albans is a city in southern Hertfordshire, England, around north of central London, which forms the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans. It is a historic market town, and is now a sought-after dormitory town within the London commuter belt...
, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
, England. They are currently signed to XL Recordings
XL Recordings
XL Recordings is a British independent record label owned by Richard Russell. It originated as a 1989 offshoot of Beggars Banquet Records.Though only releasing an average of six albums a year, XL Recordings has worked with The Prodigy, Radiohead, The White Stripes, Dizzee Rascal, M.I.A., Vampire...
. Their self-titled debut album was released on 1 September 2008 and was announced as one of the shortlisted twelve for the 2009 Mercury Prize on 21 July 2009.
History
Friendly Fires met at St Albans SchoolSt Albans School (Hertfordshire)
St Albans School is an independent school in the city of St Albans in Hertfordshire, in the East of England. Entry before Sixth Form is for boys only, and co-educational thereafter. Founded in 948 by Wulsin , St Albans School is not only the oldest school in Hertfordshire but also one of the oldest...
. At age 13, in Year 8/9 (the second or third year) the members formed their first band, a post-hardcore
Post-hardcore
Post-hardcore is a genre of music that developed from hardcore punk, itself an offshoot of the broader punk rock movement. Like post-punk, post-hardcore is a term for a broad constellation of groups...
outfit called First Day Back , covering songs by Green Day and other rock-like artists, which existed until they began university. During this time lead singer Ed Macfarlane released his own music (under his own name) through the electronica label Skam, and Precinct Recordings. Upon leaving university they formed a new band inspired by dance music, "lush shoegaze melodies", and classic pop songwriting. The name Friendly Fires originates from the opening track of the Section 25
Section 25
Section 25 is an English post-punk band, best known for its single "Looking from a Hilltop" and its association with the Manchester record-label, Factory Records.-Early recordings 1977 - 1982 :...
LP Always Now. The band consider German techno label Kompakt
Kompakt
Kompakt is a Cologne-based electronic music record label and vinyl/CD distributor, owned by Wolfgang Voigt, Michael Mayer and Jürgen Paape. They specialize in microhouse and minimal techno, and are known for their Total compilation series which reached its eleventh installment in 2010.Kompakt...
, Carl Craig
Carl Craig
Carl Craig is a Detroit-based producer of techno music, and is considered to be one of the most important names in the Detroit second generation of techno producers and DJs...
and Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
to be their greatest influences.
In late 2007, they became the first unsigned band to appear on Channel 4's Transmission
Transmission (TV series)
Transmission is a British television programme broadcast on Channel 4, offering live performances and interviews of famous music artists that ran for three series between 2006 and 2007...
programme. Their single "Paris" achieved "Single of The Week" in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
newspaper, NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
magazine, and also on Zane Lowe
Zane Lowe
Zane Lowe also known as 'Zipper', is a radio DJ and television presenter. He was born in New Zealand and grew up in Auckland, where he was a presenter on the local music station Max TV, before moving to England...
's BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
show. They have toured extensively, with past performances taking place throughout the UK, Europe, Japan, USA, Canada, Mexico, South America and Australia.
In May 2008, their song "On Board" was featured in North American television commercials for Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
's Wii Fit
Wii Fit
is a video game developed by Nintendo for the company's home video game console, Wii, designed by Hiroshi Matsunaga. It is an exercise game consisting of activities using the Wii Balance Board peripheral...
. "On Board" is also featured in the trailer for the upcoming PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
game Gran Turismo 5
Gran Turismo 5
is the fifth edition of the Gran Turismo racing video game series. Developed by Polyphony Digital and published by Sony Computer Entertainment, it was released for PlayStation 3 on November 24, 2010...
. "White Diamonds" is featured in one of the episodes in the second season of the American television series Gossip Girl
Gossip Girl (TV series)
Gossip Girl is an American teen drama television series based on the book series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series was created by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, and premiered on The CW on September 19, 2007...
. "Jump in the Pool" is the theme tune to BBC1's Final Score for the 2009/10 Football Season, aired on Saturday afternoons. "In The Hospital", and "Lovesick", are featured in the PC/Xbox360/PS3 driving game "Colin McRae: DiRT 2". "Lovesick" is played on Soccer AM as the weeks football fixtures are announced.
In September 2008, theiy released their first LP : Friendly Fires
Friendly Fires (album)
"Friendly Fires" originally debuted on the UK Albums Chart at number 38 on 13 September 2008. The following week, the album fell to number 88, before falling out of the Top 100 the week after...
, featuring the singles "On Board", "Paris", "Jump in the Pool", "Skeleton Boy" and, later on, "Kiss of Life", present on the second disc of the enhanced
LP edition (featuring various remixes).
The album was certified double gold in the UK; the band was nominated for a Best Breakthrough Award at The South Bank Show
The South Bank Show
The South Bank Show was a television arts magazine show, originally made by London Weekend Television , presented by Melvyn Bragg, broadcast on ITV and seen in over 60 countries worldwide — including Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States...
Awards and for ‘Best Dancefloor Filler’ at the NME Awards. They were also second on the bill on the NME Awards Tour 2009.
On 21 July 2009, the band was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize.
On 19 January 2010, the band was nominated for two Brit Awards; Best British Group and British Breakthrough Act.
Friendly Fires have contributed the soundtrack to the Frank Miller-directed advertisement for 'Guilty', a women's fragrance by Gucci. It is a cover of Depeche Mode's song 'Strangelove'.
On 27 September Friendly Fires released a mix CD through Berlin-based K7 records, and London club promoters Bugged Out!. It leans heavily towards the band's disco, house, boogie and techno influences.
In May 2011, their second album, Pala
Pala (album)
Pala is the second album from British alternative dance band Friendly Fires. It was released in the UK on 16 May 2011, and charted at number 6 on the UK Albums Chart...
was out. The first single is "Live Those Days Tonight", that will soon be followed by "Hawaiian Air".
On 25 May it was announced that Friendly Fires were planning their biggest UK tour to date, starting in Brighton on 10 November and going through cities such as Birmingham, Newcastle, Glasgow and London.
On 20 August Friendly Fires announced that their trumpet player, Richard Turner, who contributed to their live shows, had died. Richard Turner suffered a cardiac arrest while swimming on 19 August.
Studio albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications Music recording sales certification Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,... (sales threshold) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
AUS ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
IRE Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically... |
US Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
US Heat Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical... |
US Indie Independent Albums The Billboard Independent Albums is a chart of the highest-selling independent music albums and extended plays in the United States, compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is used to list artists who are not signed to major labels... |
US Rock |
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| Friendly Fires Friendly Fires (album) "Friendly Fires" originally debuted on the UK Albums Chart at number 38 on 13 September 2008. The following week, the album fell to number 88, before falling out of the Top 100 the week after... |
|
21 | — | 50 | — | — | — | — |
British Phonographic Industry The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies... : Gold |
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| Pala Pala (album) Pala is the second album from British alternative dance band Friendly Fires. It was released in the UK on 16 May 2011, and charted at number 6 on the UK Albums Chart... |
|
6 | 19 | 29 | 152 | 3 | 22 | 36 | ||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||||||||||||
EPs
| Year | Album | Track listing |
|---|---|---|
Photobooth
|
1. "Photobooth" – 7:08 2. "It's Over Now" – 4:12 3. "Your Love" – 4:45 |
|
| Cross the Line EP
LP album The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry... , digital download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment... |
1. "Bring Out Your Dead" – 2:12 2. "On Board" – 3:45 3. "Strobe" – 3:09 |
|
| The Remix EP
LP album The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry... , digital download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment... |
1. "On Board" (Nightmoves Remix) – 8:33 2. "Photobooth" (Mock & Toof Mix) – 7:10 3. "Bring Out Your Dead" (Clark Remix) – 3:37 |
|
Singles
| Single | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
UK IND UK Indie Chart The UK Independent Chart or Indie Chart is a chart of the best-selling independent record releases in the UK.- History :In the wake of punk, small record labels began to spring up, as an outlet for artists that were unwilling to sign contracts with major record companies, or were not considered... |
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| "On Board" | 2007 | — | — | Friendly Fires (+ Deluxe) |
| "Paris Paris (song) "Paris" is the second single by Friendly Fires taken from the band's self-titled debut album Friendly Fires. The song features backing vocals from the members of the American indie pop trio Au Revoir Simone, and samples the song "Sun and Ice" from the album From Here We Go Sublime by The Field.The... " |
— | — | ||
| "Jump in the Pool Jump in the Pool "Jump in the Pool" is the second single by Friendly Fires taken from the band's self-titled debut album Friendly Fires. It was first made available as a single on iTunes on 1 September 2008, the same day the album was released, along with a promotional video. There was also a hand numbered, one... " |
2008 | 100 | — | |
| "Paris" (re-release Reissue A reissue is the repeated issue of a published work. In common usage, it refers to an album which has been released at least once before and is released again, sometimes with alterations or additions.... ) |
— | — | ||
| "Jump in the Pool" (re-release) | 57 | 31 | ||
| "Skeleton Boy Skeleton Boy "Skeleton Boy" is the third single by Friendly Fires taken from the band's self-titled debut album Friendly Fires. It was released on March 2, 2009 in the UK, while it was released on March 1, 2009 in the United States... " |
2009 | 48 | — | |
| "Kiss of Life Kiss of Life (Friendly Fires song) "Kiss of Life" is a single by Friendly Fires, released on 31 August 2009. The song premiered on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show on 13 July 2009 and is the first single taken from the band's re-released self-titled debut album Friendly Fires. The video premiered on Channel 4 on 23 July 2009 and was... " |
30 | 19 | ||
| "Hold On" | 2010 | — | — | Friendly Fires / Holy Ghost! split 12" |
| "Live Those Days Tonight" | 2011 | 80 | 11 | Pala |
| "Hawaiian Air" | 92 | 9 | ||
| "Hurting" | — | — | ||
Guest appearances
| Year | Song | Album |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | "Paris" | Radio 1's Live Lounge – Volume 4 Radio 1's Live Lounge – Volume 4 -See also:*Live Lounge*Radio 1's Live Lounge*Radio 1's Live Lounge – Volume 2*Radio 1's Live Lounge – Volume 3*Radio 1's Live Lounge - Volume 5*Radio 1: Established 1967... |
| 2010 | "Stay Here" (with Azari & III) | Suck My Deck |
External links
- Suck My Deck release site with free single download
- Friendly Fires on the NME Tour
- Jack Savidge Interview with Voluume & Poule d'Or
- Friendly Fires interview on UGO
- Friendly Fires Live Review on dailymusicguide.com
- Stereokill Live Review: Edinburgh, 10 May 2009
- http://www.dailymusicguide.com/Reviews/friendly-fires-leeds-o2-academy-06052009-2006.aspx
- Friendly Fires Essential Mix