Straight Up Random

Featured Florida Band: Dang, We’re On Fire

DANG WE’RE ON FIRE is prone to member changes, but that doesn’t let them get in the way of spreading their music. After solidifying their line-up, the band has been able to make a name for themselves in the Florida scene. They just recently released their B-sides EP “There’s No Place Called Home,” and will be releasing their actual EP “Heart Stopped Beating” in the near future. Be sure to check it out when it’s released!

LINKS: MySpace | Twitter | Purevolume

INTERVIEW:

**All questions answered by Greg Kaufman of Dang, We’re On Fire**

You guys have been working on your upcoming full length record. How has the recording process been going?

The recording process was great! We worked with our good friend Tom Denney, recording in his studio everyday for a few months. We actually slept on the floor in his studio many many nights to make this happen. Since, he actually left A Day To Remember to be a full time producer, engineer. Bands, go do work there! Haha, but yeah the album turned into an EP because we couldn’t settle on some of them. We’re very happy its an EP now though, and don’t worry because we are now releasing the b-side tracks from the album, in the original demo form that we self-recorded them in.

 
As you’ve been making this album, what bands and artists would you say have been a big influence?

We definitely got to jam some ideas with tom, he added a bit of flavor to some parts, and we were seeing A Day To Remember practice every week in the studio while doing the record. As far as the music we were listening to that kept us alive up there, I’d say Third Eye Blind, The Beatles, and Blink. I remember we were in the studio and our friend called us during tracking and said Blink announced a come back on the Grammys.

Who influences your music in general?

We probably have influence from what we know, like what we grew up listening to, what we hear from recommendations, and jamming at the time of recording. Our band has never set out to sound like someone else. We want to stay unique and keep expanding our horizons in song writing.
 
How has the scene in Florida influenced your music?

Florida used to have a great scene when I was growing up, and it has slightly died down since then. There is definitely a lot of ups and downs with it, and I feel that pushed us to keep writing because we love music, even when the shows were slow because of venues closing. A lot of venues close over time down here, and new ones eventually open. Like in West Palm, we used to sell out of a venue on Clematis called Ray’s Downtown Blues. Its gone now, but those shows had kids singing in your face and really made you feel like it was a music community with everyone connected.
 
How was it working with Tom Denney as your producer? Why did you choose him to produce your album?

Tom’s a great friend, and he did the first demos that ths band ever wrote in his small upstairs studio he rented from a friend. Now he has his own place, Titan Studios, which has a great live room and Tom has some awesome amps and equipment. We trusted that he knew what we wanted to do, and that he could add his input to help us really capture the feel we wanted, which is really in your face and rock n roll.
 
Why did you choose to name your album “There’s No Place Called Home?”

We actually decided to release our B-sides record under that name, because it was the feeling we had in the studio. Never being home, always wondering around and having a few friends that were really the only reason we ate or had a place to go sometimes. Our band had been ripped off in Ocala at shows, equipment was stolen, and we didn’t have a wanted feeling at first. But as the record progressed, kids from all over the city were coming in and listening and really giving us positive feedback. It ended up being a lil party with all of us a few nights. So we have decided to name the album “Heart Stopped Beating” in reference to the main single, which we jammed out originally in a newly built studio in Orlando. We all wrote our parts and came together, freestyled the structure in a take, and that song really reflects the passion we have to write music together.
 
On your song “Boston,” it features Jonathan Cook of Forever The Sickest Kids. How’d you get hooked up with him?

Jonathan was one of my good friends, we did a tour with Forever the Sickest Kids, actually their first tour, and we all had a blast. I’ll never forget how much fun we all had, and they were super nice dudes. When it came time to record the song Boston, we thought Jonathan had the perfect voice for a cameo. But actually, as the recording of the song progressed, and Anthony laid down the scratch vocals to give him the idea, we decided to keep his takes instead. No hard feelings J-Cook! We’ll get ya on next time.
 
Any crazy things happen during the recording of the album?

Yeah, cops actually raided the studio looking for someone because of the typical 15 passenger van! not us, nope.. sorry 5-0!
 
What’s your favorite song off the new album?

My favorite would be Heart Stopped Beating.
 
What has been your favorite show you’ve done thus far?

Favorite show was probably with Between the Trees at the Orlando House of Blues in August.

 
Do you have any routines before going on stage?

We all kind of run around and keep busy right before, keeps the nerves from running too fast. And usually we all started jumping around for second. I personally always have a drink or two to loosen up for the stage.
 
How did the band come about? Did you know each other previously? 

I moved to West Palm and joined the band ‘Upper Class Trash’, and we toured and had a record out and all that. Then our singer quit in the middle of a tour with Forever the Sickest Kids, so I immediately got home and started advertising tryouts for a vocalist. Anthony hit me up, drove down and tried out, and he impressed me that day. So we asked him to join. Since we’ve gone through a complete member change except for Anthony and myself. When we parted ways with our guitarist and bassist last summer living in Orlando, we moved back to Sarasota and asked my brother and his friend to join. Zovath is actually one of my good friends from high school’s younger brother.
 
How did you come up with your name?

I believe I was joking about us writing a better song than we ever had with the previous lineup, and I said it out loud. Everyone kinda said it stuck out, and we just decided to keep it to help spread the music.
 
What’s your favorite memory you have with the band?

Ahh, I’ve had soo many. Um, I think I had a great time on tour in Muncie, Indiana. We went to some crazy party that looked like it was from ‘Old School’ the movie in this college town. Me and Ant met some really rad girls, partied all night, and they snuck us into the girls dorm so we could shower.
 
What was your favorite things to do with your parents while growing up?

For me, playing a lot of sports. Baseball, basketball, football, and we would go fishing, bike riding, and have awesome barbeques. Always sirloin steaks on the grill!

Which do you prefer, Skittles or M&Ms?

Skittles.
 
Can you give us one straight up random fact about each member of the band?

Zovath is a horrible driver! hahah. Well, he’s getting better now. Anthony plays his guitar upside, and he’s left handed. Nick sleeps in till three ‘o clock every day, haha. I was a really big athelete growing up and played baseball since I was like 5, all the way to Varsity baseball as a senior.
 
Any last words for the readers of Straight Up Random?

Thank you for reading this and being interested in our band! We can’t explain how much it means to us, and we do it not only because we love music, but because we love the way music touches people. Our new B-sides ep will be out this week! and our new record, ‘Heart Stopped Beating’, will be out this winter everywhere ;) Lots of tour in 2010, so come see us! Thank you, we love you.