In this interview spotlight, I chat with Fuel On Fire about their latest EP (Them), being raised on a tour bus as part of a musical family, technology, challenges and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
In case you hadn’t gathered by our “evolution of Ed Sheeran” looks, we’re all brothers. We were all born in Buffalo, New York. When we were young teenagers we pretty much lived on a bus, touring in our family bluegrass band. There’s plenty of damning evidence if you google “Doerfel Family Band.”
We lived in Key West for our young adult years, started writing music, and moved to Nashville this last year.
As a band, we look up to a wide variety of artists such as Switchfoot, Nickel Creek, Empire of the Sun, and Relient K. If Mutemath and U2 had a baby, and that baby grew up and adopted a kid, our sound is that kid.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to stay the course?
Our mom was a music education major. She homeschooled all of us (did we mention we’re four kids of a ten-kid family?) and there were always instruments lying around. We all started off on the drums that were set up in the living room. If you want your kids to have an edge musically, the living room drum kit is the key.
Music is all we’ve ever known and as long as we love it and can tolerate each other we’ll be out there doing it. We’ve gotta tip our hats to our big brother TJ who got it all started. We wouldn’t be doing it without him.
How is your new release different than previous ones? Did you set out to accomplish anything specific?
Our new EP “Them” is different than others because we took songs that weren’t our own, from bands like Led Zeppelin and The Beatles, and arranged them as if they were. We are truly proud of the production on this record and love sharing it. It’s a great taste for what is to come on February 1st when our new original single “Figured You Out” drops.
Do you face any challenges as an indie musician in a digital age? On the flip side, how has technology helped you (if it has)?
Oversaturation. The talent pool on the internet is overwhelming. It’s almost impossible to stand out. That being said, we are grateful for the people who love and listen. Technology makes it easy to stay in touch, and being able to connect with them is extremely valuable to us.
Where can we follow you online and hear more music?
Instagram is currently our fav outlet (We’re @fuelonfireband on most socials). Our music is at all the usual places – Spotify, Apple Music, Youtube, etc. Hit us up! We’ll invite you over to have some dinner and hangout with our 7 cats
Anything else before we sign off?
Fun fact- we’re hockey nuts. When we’re not making music we’re looking for ice time. It’s so great living in a hockey town again!
