Boston-based Fire in the Field immediately makes an impression with their eclectic style of heavy driving rock, pushing the boundaries with energy, depth and detail. Known for dangerous improv overlaid with poetic sensibility, the music is an honest attack on the soul played with a sense of urgency and unfettered passion. The band’s signature endorphin-releasing, guitar-driven sound has a bluesman’s swagger with a punk heart. Frontman Mike Moore channels Hendrix via Prince, both musically and in showmanship, exploring the limits of the guitar with true abandon. Leaving it all on the stage, Moore pushes the envelope, exploring a melting pot of influences, from psychedelic and blues to funk and R & B.
The band returns with the studio album Ash & Cinder, eight tracks of the seasoned outfit exploring their blues and folk roots with their ever pouding heavy fury. A band known for their impenetrable riffs, has a new offering off the beaten path, familiar, yet ever deeper down the rabbit hole. The initial inspiration for songs like “Hummingbird” for example, the seed of that music took place in 2008 on acoustic guitar in a backyard on a sunny day in August, tuned to open D like the blues great like Skip James. Another, “One Lie” and even “Guillotine”, these tracks first musical germinated in 2015 or 2016, inspired by players like R.L. Burnside or Mississippi John Hurt.
Jared Graham (Drums), Jeff Badolato (Bass), Mike Moore (Vocals/Guitar), recorded basic tracks at New Alliance Audio in Somerville, MA in the October fall of 2019 with Tony Hamoui co-producing with the band and assistant engineering with Ethan Dussault as lead engineer. This record was referred to as “the blues album” by the crew, before the title came along and was intended to be a direct follow up to Resurrect which was already in the can and ready for release at the time. Needless to say the pandemic followed suit and the recording session was abandoned. Ash & Cinder came together over time though with Andrew Blowen (keyboards & backing vocals), and Lindsay Paige Garfield (backing vocals) tracking their harmonies from their house while Mike overdubbed acoustic guitars in his apartment. The band noticed the songs referred to as “the blues album” stood the test of time through the major societal shift since conception. The blues is for always. The tracks were mastered to crisp perfection by Nick Zampiello of New Alliance East.
“They’re just songs that have the blues deep down in them, even though it’s us doing it in our own feel,” says Jeff Badolato of the band. In a way it feels appropriate since releasing all the Fire in the Field music over these long years (like fifty-ish tunes since 2009?! See bandcamp for the proof) the band arrives with Ash & Cinder in a reflective tone and depthful exploration of the power of blues and rock n’ roll together.
Fire In The Field’s releases:
Ash & Cinder - 2023
Resurrect - 2020 (self released on vinyl) 2021 (streaming)
“Jimmy Rover” (single) - 2019
“Under The Sun” (single) - 2019
The Pink Noise Session - 2019
Live On WMFO - 2018
War Bonnet - 2017
Look So Strange - 2016
Gypsy Tea Room - 2014
A song from Look So Strange was licensed to a Discovery Channel Network show. Since the release of War Bonnet the band has gone on to tour heavily and get audiences whooped up into a frenzy at venues such as Once Ballroom (Somerville, MA), The Stone Church (Newmarket, NH), Tender Trap (Brooklyn, NYC), The Well (Brooklyn, NYC), Rockwood Music Hall (Manhattan, NYC), Radio Bean (Burlington, VT), Geno's Rock Club (Portland, ME), Ralph's Rock Diner (Worcester, MA), The Cantab Lounge (Cambridge, MA), New World Tavern (Plymouth, MA), Starlite (Southbridge, MA), Taffeta (Lowell, MA) among others.
Additional Accomplishments:
Boston Music Award Nominee 2020
New England Music Award Nominee 2019