Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
Not only are FIREWORKS GO UP led by guitarist/vocalist Dan Coutant (ex-Joshua), one of the more articulate/intelligent jagged-pop writers to come along in the past five years, the band's first release is on producer/engineer John Agnello's new imprint. These facts alone warrant a rave, but really:the music is as good if not better than anything Joshua ever did. Agnello's production has brought out the most imaginative chord changes Coutant has ever penned, not to mention stellar vocal performances that pack a wealth of surprises. These are fabulous post punk gems that deliver as much of pop's essence as Foo Fighters or the Fire Theft. A must!
-Tim Den - Lollipop magazine
This New York quartet lights up the skies with fireworks of their own, with the release of their first record entitled, You’re Welcome. This is the premiere and flagship release of Baryon Records, a new independent imprint launched by producer John Agnello. A witty, uplifting and enlightening release, Fireworks Go Up! scores positive on all cylinders, creating delightfully catchy pop songs and meaty rock hooks. From the irresistible “Say Right Things,” to the infectious “A Glorious Mood,” and the mesmerizing opening track “The Sun Don’t Burn Without Her,” this is a tremendous milestone effort of creativity and artistic flair. The songcraft of lead singer/guitarist Dan Coutant, formally of the group Joshua, is full of classic melodicism and uplifting pop at its finest. Each of the original tunes are in essence captivating, revealing stories told that are both emotionally alluring and gripping. Fireworks Go Up! is only looking to have fun and take each project, each live performance as a mere stepping-stone to greater notoriety, but their potential is limitless with belief and a strong desire to develop their original sound. “Me Myself” presents further proof of immeasurable talent of compositional and lyrical wit that can only be heard and appreciated with a grateful listening heart. This is a group in focus of achieving powerful musical atmospherics. - Shawn M. Haney - Copper Press
Of all the albums released since the underground emo boom of the late 1990s (or shall we call it “emocore” to distinguish it from the tripe being released now?), You’re Welcome comes the closest to mimicking that sound. Fireworks Go Up! play a brand of emo that is closer to the Get Up Kids rather than Sunny Day Real Estate, but heck – at least it’s not Dashboard, you know?
While the emo-pop sound is all over this album, it’s obvious the band plays it because that’s where their musical roots are – not because they want to jump on the latest trend bandwagon. The trademark emo sounds make apparent and frequent appearances (“Chewed Up and Spit Out”), but so do the occasional mid-‘90s indie/alternative sounds of Buffalo Tom or Matthew Sweet. Lyrics may focus on the downside of relationships (“The Sun Don’t Burn Without Her,” “Chewed Up and Spit Out”), but they also discuss other emotions (“Just a Hate Song”). The desire to move beyond emo is also apparent in the band’s name and album art. One would not expect to hear emo from a band called Fireworks Go Up! Nor would they expect it from an album featuring a collage of random items (muscle car, tree, speakers, fence, microphone) cut and pasted in place on the cover.
Ultimately, if you like late-‘90s emo-pop or more modern styles of emo, the chances are pretty good that you would enjoy this album. However it’s possible that older, more elitist emo kids might have some issues with this album. While it’s deeper than a lot of material released these days, it’s not the emo equivalent of Michel Foucault. Plus, its pop oriented – the focus is more on melody than technicality. The final album detractor is the mix. Oddly, the drums seem to be louder than all the other instruments. This doesn’t destroy the album, but after listening to half the songs it does begin to stand out and detracts from the overall listening experience.
To summarize, You’re Welcome is an enjoyable throwback album that stands out from the pack. - 30music.com
Fireworks Go Up!, You're Welcome (Baryon)
Fireworks Go Up! is the first artist to release a record on producer/engineer John Agnello's (Chavez, Dinosaur Jr., Jay Farrar) new imprint, Baryon Records. This New York-area trio offers up ten lovingly crafted pop/rock numbers that fall somewhere between the proper bite of guitar-driven indie rock and the dusty glow of 70s pop. A more well-developed sense of both would probably be an improvement but songs like "The Sun Don't Burn Without Her", "Stronger As it Goes", and "Me Myself" still manage to bristle with enough energy and spirit to elicit a smile. It seems as if singer/guitarist/songwriter Dan Coutant (ex-Joshua) is still struggling to fully realize the weight of his influences. Will he ever channel into that great unconscious pop song that underlies all the world's great love and splendor? Maybe so, maybe not. Overall, Fireworks Go Up! is a new band on a new label worth watching. - pop matters.com
This fresh-faced New York quartet was formed around the edgy pop songcraft of ex-Joshua frontman Dan Coutant. Owing a lot to vintage pop stalwarts Squeeze and Split Enz, the trio's debut, You're Welcome, launches veteran producer John Agnello's new Baryon label. – Greg Beets
- the Austin Chronicle
Discography
You're Welcome LP (2004, baryon Records)
You can get mp3's at www.fireworksgoup.com
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
The New York trio with the explosive monicker of Fireworks Go Up! delivers an appropriately incendiary set on its debut disc You're Welcome. The 10-song album merges punk's liberating adrenaline rush with a deeply-rooted affinity for classic pop-rock songcraft, thanks to the band's punchy interplay and the melodically uplifting, lyrically barbed songcraft of singer/guitarist Dan Coutant.
You're Welcome.the flagship release of Baryon Records, a new independent imprint launched by noted producer/engineer John Agnello.introduces FWGU! with ten impressive originals that are as inventive as they are accessible. Smart, infectious Coutant compositions like "A Glorious Mood," "Stronger As It Goes" and "Say Right Things" abound with irresistible hooks and barbed lyrical insight, offering a bracing blend of head and heart. Onstage, Coutant and bandmates David Fateman (bass) and Scott Treude (drums) channel the same combination of craft and creativity to deliver an irresistibly tuneful punch.
Coutant previously achieved considerable grass-roots success as leader of the highly regarded post-hardcore combo Joshua, which released three well-received CDs for Doghouse Records, played headlining tours of Europe and Japan, and toured in the U.S. with the Get Up Kids and At the Drive-In. "Being in Joshua was an inspiring situation for me," Coutant recalls. "The musicianship was great, the members of the band were great, and people responded to what we were doing. But the band ultimately fell short of its potential due to internal strife, bad career decisions and lack of motivation. The experience taught me a lot about what I really want.and don't want.from being in a band."
Following Joshua's breakup in early 2003, Coutant felt the urge for his next band to address a broader musical and emotional palette. "I didn't want to make sad records anymore, I just wanted to write the best songs that I could and maintain an element of fun," Coutant explains. "I wanted to stop writing songs that just bitched about what can go wrong.where's the fun in that? On this record, even the songs with sad subject matter are kind of tongue-in-cheek.
"There comes a time," he continues, "when you have to stop trying to be someone else and realize that you get very few chances to truly express who you are and what you're feeling. I looked at this record as if it was my big opportunity to write the best music and say all the things that I wanted to say, and to touch on all the great music that has inspired me. You're Welcome is my attempt at making the record of my life. I don't know if that's what happened, but it's as close as I could come at this point in time."
While still with Joshua, Coutant's talents had caught the ear of John Agnello, who produced Joshua's final release. A versatile studio vet whose extensive discography includes work with acts as diverse as Patti Smith, Rosanne Cash, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Jay Farrar, Cyndi Lauper, Dinosaur Jr., Steve Wynn and the Smithereens, Agnello recognized in Coutant the same creative spark and star quality that he'd encountered in the aforementioned artists, and volunteered to lend his talents to the singer/writer/guitarist's next project.
The producer also introduced Coutant to drummer Scott Treude, who became the first to sign on to the band that would become Fireworks Go Up! Treude's eclectic resume includes live and studio work with a variety of NYC combos, as well as membership in the noted hardcore-metal combo Iron Christ, a stint as guitarist with D.C. ska legends The Skunks, not to mention his parallel careers as environmental physicist and web programmer.
An intense woodshedding period followed, with band and producer honing the material to maximum sharpness, setting the stage for the recording of You're Welcome at Headgear studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and Water Music in Hoboken, N.J.
According to Coutant, "The experience was fun, intense, stressful.all the things you feel when you're working hard on something that you truly care about.and very rewarding. John Agnello got more out of me than I could ever have gotten out of myself. A couple of the best songs were written on his couch, while he was in another room answering email or out walking his dog. The atmosphere in the pre-production stage was so inspiring that songs started coming very easily. By the time we got into the studio to do it for real, the songs already had a story and had already taken on a life of their own."
"Making the album was a great time," adds Treude. "It was inspiring watching Dan work with a clear and absolute vision for each tune and each performance. We didn't have a lot of time to get fancy, which was probably a good thing because the songs were already great and we didn't get much of a chance to clutter them up."
FWGU!'s musical arsenal gained added firepower with the addition of bassist David Fateman shortly after the album's completion. Fateman had previously paid his dues p
Links
