Firescape on purevolume™

Rock / Alternative

Commercial success can be a double-edged sword just ask Josh
Partington. As a guitarist and co-songwriter in the platinum-selling
pop act Something Corporate, Partington has had the opportunity to
travel the world, play in front of tens of thousands of screaming fans
and enjoy the kind of success that every musician dreams of.
However, while Something Corporates brand of piano rock is what
made Partington a success, at heart hes always written alt-rock
thats decidedly moodier and more riff-oriented than his previous
works.

In the past few years, Firescape has gradually evolved into a full-time
proposition, culminating with the bands debut full-length, Dancehall
Apocalypse. I think a lot of times when you see side-projects come
out, people are like, Oh, well, they were part of this band so it was
really easy for themand this journey really wasnt easy for me at
all. In fact, the unsigned act spent most of last year in their van
opening for acts like Hawthorne Heights, Straylight Run, Gym Class
Heroes and A Static Lullaby, gaining fans via their emotive live
performances and word-of-mouth appeal.

Listening to Dancehall Apocalypse, its not difficult to see why the
reaction to Firescapes music has been so favorable. The opener
Right From The Start sets the albums tone immediately via palm muted
guitars and impassioned vocals, which unexpectedly diverges
into an explosive chorus that stretches toward the stratosphere.
However, the most striking thing about the album is the way
Partington manages to eschew formulas. The Sound sounds like a
marriage between Jimmy Eat World and The Foo Fighters; the
groove-heavy Impossible flirts with balladry while still retaining a
distinctive rock edge; and the grunge-influenced The Way You Are
sounds like Soundgardens Badmotorfinger recontextualized into a
pop template.

Part of doing Firescape was this realization of a lot of elements that
in my past efforts, I hadn't truly realized in my music, Partington
explains when asked about the more aggressive influences which
inform Dancehall Apocalypse, also citing acts as seemingly disparate
as Metallica and Pearl Jam as influences. Obviously, I dont think
anyone would listen to our music and think it sounds like Metallica,
but I think the dynamics of certain songs were definitely inspired by
the rhythmic-style of such bands that influenced me from a young
age.

Lyrically, the album deals largely with relationships, but not in the
whining and pining manner that seems to dominate the radio waves
these days. Instead, the album tackles issues like mental abuse,
infidelity and, yes, STDs in an honest and direct manner. I feel like a
lot of the time when I read interviews, musicians try to make their
lyrics into something overly dramatic but I just try to write what I
know, Partington candidly states. You listen to Tom Petty and he
writes songs about love and longing and breaking up and wanting a
girl that he cant have, but he still has his own voice, he continues.
Thats what I wanted to achieve with this batch of songs.
Having already experienced mainstream success and everything that
goes along with that, Partingtons feelings on Firescape are simple.
Im really proud of this album and how it came out, and I cant
imagine anything disappointing that could happen now, just short of
people hearing it.

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May 21

Interview with Josh..

Firescape: Interview with Josh Partington
from volume 02 issue 01 // Christian Crider

Firescape
Interview with Josh Partington
Words: Christian Crider
Photo: Courtesy of Another Reybee Production

Appearing:
May 28, 2007
The Social, Orlando

May 29, 2007
Rays Downtown Blues Club, West Palm Beach

May 31, 2007
Jack Rabbits, Jacksonville

Josh Partington, singer-slash-guitarist-slash-songwriter, sat with REAX to discuss his new side-project, Firescape. Josh is better known for his contribution to the piano-wielding pants-droppers known as Something Corporate.

REAX: What do you feel is the most innovative aspect of Firescape's sound?
JP: I didn't set out to be an innovative band. I didn't want to change music necessarily. I wanted to write an album that just had, you know, twelve great songs on it. I don't really find the need to go out and change the sound of music or anything, because I find that you write that music that you write, and when you try to write songs that aren't true to yourself, or try to push yourself into a direction that isn't organic, then it comes across as sounding bad. All of us have that album by that band that we love, who went and tried to make their experimental album. And everyone says, God, that was the worst album. And it becomes a coaster. And I think a lot of that is because bands try to become another band. We saw a lot of bands trying to do what Taking Back Sunday did on Tell All Your Friends, or theyre trying to be The Mars Volta. Those bands were just trying to be themselves, and that's a very organic sound for them. But there's a difference between pushing yourself, and pushing yourself out of the boundaries of what you write. So for me, is there anything that's super innovative? I don't think so, and I don't necessarily feel bad about that. In the beginning, there was nothing really innovative about The Beatles, either. They just took what was going on and did it better than everyone else.

REAX: Have fans of Something Corporate been receptive to Firescape, or are you looking to appeal to a different audience?
JP: It's such a catch-22 with that. I'm by no means ashamed of being in Something Corporate. I appreciate all of the support of the fans of both bands. But at the same time, we're not Something Corporate. We're not anything like it. We're a rock band. It's just in a different vein I think. It really comes up more within the industry. It's definitely a hard line for us to walk as a band, because we don't want to be seen as a side project, you know, we're a band. However, if it helps get things going starting a band and having an album come out is a really hard time. There are a thousand bands going for ten spots on different things all the time. So, anything that gives us a leg up, we're gonna be better off. On the other side of it, it's funny because I talk to a lot of guys in bands who are like, You know, I hated Something Corporate, but I love Firescape, I think it's really good. So people who would otherwise like Firescape might be put off by it. And I think that's a valid point. Not that there's a bunch of haters of Something Corporate or anything, you know.

REAX: Your album being released on June 12 is entitled Dancehall Apocalypse, does this album mark the end of the dance hall as we know it?
JP: You know, it's funny that you say that. I was talking to someone yesterday, and they said when they heard the name of the album, they thought it was going to be a dance album. And I never thought of that until yesterday. I guess with all of these quasi-rock dance albums that are coming out, like Head Automatica and Young Love, and whoever I definitely see how that could be taken that way, but the actual metaphor of Dancehall Apocalypse has nothing to do with that.

REAX: Would you like to explain?
JP: It's a lyric from the third song on the album, The Way You Are. It's about how something horrible happens at the best time of your life. A dance hall is supposed to be a place where there's fun and joy and everyone's having a good time. It's a place where things are positive, and obviously an apocalypse is not that, its the complete reverse of that. So its this dichotomy of bad things happening at really great times, or good things happening at the worst possible moment. And that's summing up the album in a lot of ways, that theme runs throughout the album.

visit:
http://www.reaxmusic.com/articles/view/firescape_interview_with_josh_partington-211

The Wait Is Over!!

Rejoice ladies & gentlemen, for the preorder for Dancehall Apocalypse is up!

As an added bonus, you have the option to preorder Dancehall Apocalypse and Revolution on Canvas II together and save some scratch. You read it here first folks, the bundle of Dancehall Apocalypse and Revolution on Canvas II is only $15.00 (a total discount of five bucks)

See if I'm lying at http://smartpunk.com/product.php?item_id=21186

Thanks for the support everyone. The tour so far has been absolutely incredible. It is because of you that the shows rock so hard! If you haven't seen it yet, or if you want to see it again we'll be coming to a city near you with MADINA LAKE & EMANUEL!!!

Thanks again, and have a kickass day,

-Firescape