The Fire Tapes

The Fire Tapes are a Charlottesville indie-rock band that's been getting a bit of attention lately through high-profile gigs like Charlottesville's Tom Tom Founders Festival, as well as opening for Dirty Ghosts when they played DC's Black Cat. Their debut album, Dream Travel, was released last fall, and they've just released a video for "Attack Of The Clones," a track from that album. The song itself is an uptempo indie-rock tune driven by jangly guitars. It fits in well with the recent revival in the local indie scene of more 90s-identified sounds--which, to my mind, is always an improvement over the recent mellow pop/electronica direction that a lot of indie rock has taken. The music The Fire Tapes are making would be a surefire hit for fans of local bands like The Diamond Center, Heavy Midgets, and Young Adult Fiction, and should connect with anyone who enjoys bands like Yo La Tengo, Television, and The Dream Syndicate. The video for "Attack Of The Clones" is pretty interesting in its own right. In keeping with the song's title, the video appears to document an intrusion into singer/guitarist Betsy Wright's life of a clone with disruptive intentions. The use of a body double is pretty obvious at certain points, but it's still an entertaining visual fable, especially at the end of the video, when Wright and her "clone" face off in a duel with pistols. Check it out.

The Fire Tapes will be performing in Richmond next week, on Thursday May 24 at The Republic (2053 W. Broad St.), along with Wild Moccasins, from Austin, TX. The show is presented by Ontology Promotions, and it is FREE! - RVAmag.com

The Fire Tapes are a Charlottesville indie-rock band that's been getting a bit of attention lately through high-profile gigs like Charlottesville's Tom Tom Founders Festival, as well as opening for Dirty Ghosts when they played DC's Black Cat. Their debut album, Dream Travel, was released last fall, and they've just released a video for "Attack Of The Clones," a track from that album. The song itself is an uptempo indie-rock tune driven by jangly guitars. It fits in well with the recent revival in the local indie scene of more 90s-identified sounds--which, to my mind, is always an improvement over the recent mellow pop/electronica direction that a lot of indie rock has taken. The music The Fire Tapes are making would be a surefire hit for fans of local bands like The Diamond Center, Heavy Midgets, and Young Adult Fiction, and should connect with anyone who enjoys bands like Yo La Tengo, Television, and The Dream Syndicate. The video for "Attack Of The Clones" is pretty interesting in its own right. In keeping with the song's title, the video appears to document an intrusion into singer/guitarist Betsy Wright's life of a clone with disruptive intentions. The use of a body double is pretty obvious at certain points, but it's still an entertaining visual fable, especially at the end of the video, when Wright and her "clone" face off in a duel with pistols. Check it out.

The Fire Tapes will be performing in Richmond next week, on Thursday May 24 at The Republic (2053 W. Broad St.), along with Wild Moccasins, from Austin, TX. The show is presented by Ontology Promotions, and it is FREE! - RVAmag.com

“The band crafts the kind of music you can get lost in, driftingthrough an aural landscape, comfortable and relaxed. And yet, unlike the majority of bands who claim the same aural properties, The FireTapes write actual SONGS with pretty melodies and interesting guitarwork. It’s this wonderful combination of elements that makes Dream Travel an album you want to listen to more than once.” - Indie Monday

“The band crafts the kind of music you can get lost in, driftingthrough an aural landscape, comfortable and relaxed. And yet, unlike the majority of bands who claim the same aural properties, The FireTapes write actual SONGS with pretty melodies and interesting guitarwork. It’s this wonderful combination of elements that makes Dream Travel an album you want to listen to more than once.” - Indie Monday

“..the group rocked thoroughly through a rousing set that placed them as much in the camp of Sonic Youth and White Light-era Velvet Underground as more mellower cuts from DT place them in the ranks of the Beach Boys or Beach House….The Fire Tapes have come up with darker, somber songs played in such a way that defies those adjectives. They occupy a space not achieved by many where the band is galloping through songs that are not necessarily happy—a style perfected by bands like Joy Division and The Smiths.” - The Declaration

“..the group rocked thoroughly through a rousing set that placed them as much in the camp of Sonic Youth and White Light-era Velvet Underground as more mellower cuts from DT place them in the ranks of the Beach Boys or Beach House….The Fire Tapes have come up with darker, somber songs played in such a way that defies those adjectives. They occupy a space not achieved by many where the band is galloping through songs that are not necessarily happy—a style perfected by bands like Joy Division and The Smiths.” - The Declaration

“A Virginia band that kicks all sorts of ass… The Fire Tapes sound is a little hard to pin down, but incorporates bits and pieces of post punk, shoegaze, folk, and even pure country (yes, really). And sometimes all that happens in the same song. They cite Sonic Youth, the Velvet Underground, and Brian Wilson as sonic influences, and you’ll hear all of that in their songs. But they manage to manipulate and contort and tangle those sounds into something undeniable, something at times like a waking dream, and for being so new on the scene the band is well ahead of the curve.” - Fuzzy Logic