Push to Fire: Alternative Music Webzine

Push to Fire Interview: Fighting with Wire
Ellen Tomlinson interviewed Fighting With Wire on 31/01/09 at Manchester Roadhouse.

It's the 22nd of June 1992 and along with Teenage Fanclub and The Breeders, Tonight Nirvana will take the stage at The Kings Hall in Belfast. Tim Wheeler who will go on to front the band 'Ash' is present, along with 15 year old Cahir O'Doherty who has never even heard of Nirvana, yet will leave The Kings Hall tonight possessing a new ambition to play guitar, start a band and later look back on tonight's show as a completely life changing experience.

Ambitions are accomplished and Cahir O'Doherty is the vocalist and lead guitarist of Derry alternative rock band; 'Fighting With Wire' who tonight, headline the Manchester Roadhouse following the release of their fantastic debut album 'Man vs Monster.' The 8th leg of the tour, Fighting with Wire are in town to promote their new single 'Sugar' which is released on the 16th of February. After already playing Ireland, Newcastle and Hull the band are clearly thrilled with the tours response and the increasing numbers their shows are attracting.
"This is the third time we've been around since the release of the album and it's definitely the best. Much more people are coming out to the shows, it's really exciting for us, really encouraging." Cut back six years ago to Derry Northern Ireland. Cahir along with Fighting with Wires drummer, Craig Mckean are in the band Clearshot who break up following the suicide of their bass player. After the bands split, Cahir joined Jetplane Landing for who he still plays lead guitar. Still wanting to play together, Cahir and Craig formed a new band and recruited bass player Jamie King to complete the trio. Despite 'hijacking other peoples shows' and initially playing without a name, the band would later go on to be known as Fighting With Wire and would lead to Jetplane Landing taking a backseat after FWW soon began earning more momentum.

Fighting with Wire by Hannah Clarke

Today, FWW are seen as a very healthy influence to an ever impressive yet very difficult Derry music scene. Although it can't really be argued, upon receipt of these comments, the band are very humble. "Northern Ireland is really hard to get out of," explains Cahir, "There's only a handful of bands who have made it and managed to get out, like Snow Patrol, Therapy? and Ash. We weren't for giving up, we just went out and played and stuck to ourselves and stayed true. We just wanted to play rock music. We love early '90s bands like Fugazi and Nirvana, we just wanted to be like that and not be part of any fashion or metal scene."
Indeed, the band didn't give up. After forming in 2003 the bands big break came in 2008 and now the band find themselves signed to American label, Atlantic Records.
"The whole thing happened by pure chance, I uploaded a few tracks onto an internet radio and networking site called Shadowglobe which is ran by Andy Ashton who used to run XFM in London who is good friends with Craig Coleman from Atlantic and he absolutely loved the tracks, Craig used to ring Andy up and asked him about music over here and he sent him a few of our tracks and within a week we were in New York, playing in front of a label and they loved it. It was as simple and as quick as that." Radio 1 D.J Zane Lowe, who was always a big supporter of Jetplane Landing also requested some FWW tracks from the band, "We sent him the album and he loved it, he'd play it all the time, 2008 was a rollercoaster for us, it was mental!"
2008 also saw the result of the bands debut album 'Man vs Monster' which is bursting with intensive yet melodic rock music, reminiscent of the 90's Rock period the band are highly influenced by. "Bands from that era had albums full of really great songs, stuff that comes out now just isn't. It's full of apparent album fillers, we wanted to release an album where every song was catchy or good in some kind of way."

Fighting with Wire by Hannah Clarke
The album took around two to three weeks to record, and due to it being made up of already written and rehearsed material which the band have been playing for years, they are now highly eager to play new songs and explore more of their ideas "doing the album was natural, now we get to sit back and write, and come up with new ideas, it's very exciting for us, due to a lot of good work in 2008, which sets us up well for 2009, we are dying to progress and now we can now like a normal band."
Indeed, 2009 will be a big year for the Fighting With Wire, their album comes out in the US in March followed by an appearance at the South by South West festival in Texas which will then be followed by their own tour around the states. However, the band are quick to assure me that they will not be neglecting to the UK and will be soon after writing and recording material for a new album.
With any band like Fighting With Wire, who have enjoyed a large underground cult following, mainly due to their non-conformist musical efforts and lack of need to adhere to the needs of a mainstream audience, their signature sound suffering in the hands of a major label is always a concern and upon bringing up the subject, O'Doherty is quick to respond in a way all Fighting with Wire fans will be pleased. He explains that the band have full creative control and that Atlantic are actually a very understanding label offering the band a lot of freedom. "They like everything we do, they ask to hear the stuff, we play it, they like it and only ask if we have any more. We are not going to write or play any songs we are not happy with, it's as simple as that."

Although it's been said before, yet eventually contradicted with bands entering into the mainstream, I thoroughly believe him. It is clear that it is important to him as it is to fans that the band stay true to themselves and isn't going to jeopardise his beliefs for the sake of a labels orders. I think the reason for this is simple, Cahir O'Doherty loves music. He too, like all real music fans is sick to death of the repetitive, generic mainstream music scene consisting of bands fed to us by national charts and major labels and upon the introduction of the subject, curse words are regularly adopted by O'Doherty when commenting on the state of today's music scene. "Everything sounds the same, it's either washed out Emo bull shit or repetitive indie, full of bands who sound like terrible versions of The Clash. "It's been done before, and it was perfect, don't mess with it!" O'Doherty pleas. "It's all made up of shit scenes, dominated by NME, bands like us are supposed to be careful when talking about the NME, but I don't give a shit." He is honest, truthful and clearly in possession of a genuine passion for genuine music. Although he only names Minus the Bear, Future of Left and Foals, who to which he refers to as a band 'grouped with yet not trapped in the indie-bull shit scene' as bands active today he likes, it is when his peers back in Northern Ireland are mentioned that Cahir truly begins to get excited. "I personally listen to a lot of bands from back home like 'And so I watch you from Afar', 'La Faro' who are fucking brilliant, 'General Fiasco'; there's a whole scene in Northern Ireland made up of just really fucking brilliant bands, who are true to themselves. We have always said since day one, there are so many great bands in Northern Ireland, if we reach any point in our career where we can help out, we will for the bands that we love." And, true to their word, they have.
La Faro join FWW as support for the tour, and like he said, the band are fantastic and fit nicely into his description as a mixture between Queens of the Stone Age and Jesus Lizard. Cahir also goes onto explain that the best new bands are found from bands themselves and support slots and La Faro's performance is sure enough to prove his point to be true. "Bands know what their fans want, and what their fans like, they know what's good. It's when you get people with money, trying to buy their way onto the tours ruining things. Let the bands choose, it's much more exciting, that's how scenes are built, real scenes, not by NME!" he continues, "Too many people are reeled in by gimmicks and fashion scenes that they are missing all the good things that are happening." It is a subject that O'Doherty clearly feels strongly about and I strongly admire his passion, truth and honesty. He has a character and belief that is strongly lacking in many bands today, and although it is arguable that a lot of bands feel this way, what's different with Fighting With Wire is they are not afraid to let it be known and stand by their music and opinions regarding it.
It's at this point that Fighting With Wire clearly establish themselves as a notable, fearless and exciting band. They are true to what they believe in and what they set about doing. They shine through a music scene which is saturated with mass produced, safe and generic music and are sure enough about to finally embark on a successful career they more than deserve.

MAN VS MONSTER IS AVAILABLE NOW! And single 'Sugar' is released Feb 16th 2009! Thanks to the band for speaking to Ellen. Check out myspace.com/fightingwithwire for more info and tour dates. Photos courtesy of Hannah Clarke from the band's tour in May 2008.

Push to Fire Interview: Fighting with Wire Ellen Tomlinson interviewed Fighting With Wire on 31/01/09 at Manchester Roadhouse.
It's the 22nd of June 1992 and along with Teenage Fanclub and The Breeders, Tonight Nirvana will take the stage at The Kings Hall in Belfast. Tim Wheeler who will go on to front the band 'Ash' is present, along with 15 year old Cahir O'Doherty who has never even heard of Nirvana, yet will leave The Kings Hall tonight possessing a new ambition to play guitar, start a band and later look back on tonight's show as a completely life changing experience.
Ambitions are accomplished and Cahir O'Doherty is the vocalist and lead guitarist of Derry alternative rock band; 'Fighting With Wire' who tonight, headline the Manchester Roadhouse following the release of their fantastic debut album 'Man vs Monster.' The 8th leg of the tour, Fighting with Wire are in town to promote their new single 'Sugar' which is released on the 16th of February. After already playing Ireland, Newcastle and Hull the band are clearly thrilled with the tours response and the increasing numbers their shows are attracting. "This is the third time we've been around since the release of the album and it's definitely the best. Much more people are coming out to the shows, it's really exciting for us, really encouraging." Cut back six years ago to Derry Northern Ireland. Cahir along with Fighting with Wires drummer, Craig Mckean are in the band Clearshot who break up following the suicide of their bass player. After the bands split, Cahir joined Jetplane Landing for who he still plays lead guitar. Still wanting to play together, Cahir and Craig formed a new band and recruited bass player Jamie King to complete the trio. Despite 'hijacking other peoples shows' and initially playing without a name, the band would later go on to be known as Fighting With Wire and would lead to Jetplane Landing taking a backseat after FWW soon began earning more momentum.
Today, FWW are seen as a very healthy influence to an ever impressive yet very difficult Derry music scene. Although it can't really be argued, upon receipt of these comments, the band are very humble. "Northern Ireland is really hard to get out of," explains Cahir, "There's only a handful of bands who have made it and managed to get out, like Snow Patrol, Therapy? and Ash. We weren't for giving up, we just went out and played and stuck to ourselves and stayed true. We just wanted to play rock music. We love early '90s bands like Fugazi and Nirvana, we just wanted to be like that and not be part of any fashion or metal scene." Indeed, the band didn't give up. After forming in 2003 the bands big break came in 2008 and now the band find themselves signed to American label, Atlantic Records. "The whole thing happened by pure chance, I uploaded a few tracks onto an internet radio and networking site called Shadowglobe which is ran by Andy Ashton who used to run XFM in London who is good friends with Craig Coleman from Atlantic and he absolutely loved the tracks, Craig used to ring Andy up and asked him about music over here and he sent him a few of our tracks and within a week we were in New York, playing in front of a label and they loved it. It was as simple and as quick as that." Radio 1 D.J Zane Lowe, who was always a big supporter of Jetplane Landing also requested some FWW tracks from the band, "We sent him the album and he loved it, he'd play it all the time, 2008 was a rollercoaster for us, it was mental!" 2008 also saw the result of the bands debut album 'Man vs Monster' which is bursting with intensive yet melodic rock music, reminiscent of the 90's Rock period the band are highly influenced by. "Bands from that era had albums full of really great songs, stuff that comes out now just isn't. It's full of apparent album fillers, we wanted to release an album where every song was catchy or good in some kind of way."
The album took around two to three weeks to record, and due to it being made up of already written and rehearsed material which the band have been playing for years, they are now highly eager to play new songs and explore more of their ideas "doing the album was natural, now we get to sit back and write, and come up with new ideas, it's very exciting for us, due to a lot of good work in 2008, which sets us up well for 2009, we are dying to progress and now we can now like a normal band." Indeed, 2009 will be a big year for the Fighting With Wire, their album comes out in the US in March followed by an appearance at the South by South West festival in Texas which will then be followed by their own tour around the states. However, the band are quick to assure me that they will not be neglecting to the UK and will be soon after writing and recording material for a new album. With any band like Fighting With Wire, who have enjoyed a large underground cult following, mainly due to their non-conformist musical efforts and lack of need to adhere to the needs of a mainstream audience, their signature sound suffering in the hands of a major label is always a concern and upon bringing up the subject, O'Doherty is quick to respond in a way all Fighting with Wire fans will be pleased. He explains that the band have full creative control and that Atlantic are actually a very understanding label offering the band a lot of freedom. "They like everything we do, they ask to hear the stuff, we play it, they like it and only ask if we have any more. We are not going to write or play any songs we are not happy with, it's as simple as that."
Although it's been said before, yet eventually contradicted with bands entering into the mainstream, I thoroughly believe him. It is clear that it is important to him as it is to fans that the band stay true to themselves and isn't going to jeopardise his beliefs for the sake of a labels orders. I think the reason for this is simple, Cahir O'Doherty loves music. He too, like all real music fans is sick to death of the repetitive, generic mainstream music scene consisting of bands fed to us by national charts and major labels and upon the introduction of the subject, curse words are regularly adopted by O'Doherty when commenting on the state of today's music scene. "Everything sounds the same, it's either washed out Emo bull shit or repetitive indie, full of bands who sound like terrible versions of The Clash. "It's been done before, and it was perfect, don't mess with it!" O'Doherty pleas. "It's all made up of shit scenes, dominated by NME, bands like us are supposed to be careful when talking about the NME, but I don't give a shit." He is honest, truthful and clearly in possession of a genuine passion for genuine music. Although he only names Minus the Bear, Future of Left and Foals, who to which he refers to as a band 'grouped with yet not trapped in the indie-bull shit scene' as bands active today he likes, it is when his peers back in Northern Ireland are mentioned that Cahir truly begins to get excited. "I personally listen to a lot of bands from back home like 'And so I watch you from Afar', 'La Faro' who are fucking brilliant, 'General Fiasco'; there's a whole scene in Northern Ireland made up of just really fucking brilliant bands, who are true to themselves. We have always said since day one, there are so many great bands in Northern Ireland, if we reach any point in our career where we can help out, we will for the bands that we love." And, true to their word, they have. La Faro join FWW as support for the tour, and like he said, the band are fantastic and fit nicely into his description as a mixture between Queens of the Stone Age and Jesus Lizard. Cahir also goes onto explain that the best new bands are found from bands themselves and support slots and La Faro's performance is sure enough to prove his point to be true. "Bands know what their fans want, and what their fans like, they know what's good. It's when you get people with money, trying to buy their way onto the tours ruining things. Let the bands choose, it's much more exciting, that's how scenes are built, real scenes, not by NME!" he continues, "Too many people are reeled in by gimmicks and fashion scenes that they are missing all the good things that are happening." It is a subject that O'Doherty clearly feels strongly about and I strongly admire his passion, truth and honesty. He has a character and belief that is strongly lacking in many bands today, and although it is arguable that a lot of bands feel this way, what's different with Fighting With Wire is they are not afraid to let it be known and stand by their music and opinions regarding it. It's at this point that Fighting With Wire clearly establish themselves as a notable, fearless and exciting band. They are true to what they believe in and what they set about doing. They shine through a music scene which is saturated with mass produced, safe and generic music and are sure enough about to finally embark on a successful career they more than deserve.
MAN VS MONSTER IS AVAILABLE NOW! And single 'Sugar' is released Feb 16th 2009! Thanks to the band for speaking to Ellen. Check out myspace.com/fightingwithwire for more info and tour dates. Photos courtesy of Hannah Clarke from the band's tour in May 2008.