Friendly Fires

Friendly Fires

Friendly Fires are an English indie rock band, hailing from St. Albans in Hertfordshire. The band is signed to XL Recordings, home of The White Stripes and Vampire Weekend.

Friendly Fires: The Story

The members of Friendly Fires (Ed Macfarlane, Jack Savidge and Ed Gibson) met at St. Albans School. As teenagers, they formed a band named First Day Back, playing post-hardcore style rock music. This band continued until the members left to attend university.

Ed Macfarlane, the singer of Friendly Fires, made his own electronica, which he released on the revered electronic music labels, Skam (home to Boards of Canada) and Precinct Recordings. Once the members of Friendly Fires had left university, they formed another band - this time inspired by dance music, citing Carl Craig, the Kompakt record label and Prince among their biggest musical influences.

In 2007, Friendly Fires appeared on Channel 4's music programme, Transmission. They were the first unsigned band to appear on the show. When they released their single, 'Paris', it became Single of the Week in both NME and The Guardian.

The following year, the Friendly Fires song 'On Board' was selected to soundtrack TV commercials in North America for Nintendo's Wii Fit. The same song is also played in the commercial for Gran Turismo, the PlayStation 3 game. Their song 'White Diamonds' was played in the background of an episode of Gossip Girl, the US TV series.

Friendly Fires were chosen to appear in the NME Awards Tour 2009. Playing a number of large university venues and 'Academy' venues, the tour also features Florence and the Machine, White Lies and Glasvegas.

Friendly Fires: Record Releases

Friendly Fires' debut EP was released on People In The Sky Records in November 2006, entitled 'Photobooth EP'.

In June the next year, People In The Sky Records released the 'Cross The Line EP', followed by 'The Remix EP' in October 2007.

Moshi Moshi released 'Paris' in December 2007. The track was later re-released in 2008, when it reached number 13 in the UK Indie Charts.

Friendly Fires debut, self-titled album was released in 2008.