Ignite The Fire

A song can be a powerful thing.
This is especially true for the songs of Ignite the Fire. And, their new EP, Between Shadow and Solace, is no different with its range of music and emotions from the hard-hitting, metal-edged defiance of Lazarus to the melodic and achingly beautiful Echoes.
“There are six different songs on this album and six different emotions,” says guitarist Mark Quinn of the songs Shadow (intro), Victim of Shame, Lazarus, Anchor, Echoes and Solace.
“This whole EP is about being human, what it means to be human,” says Caelan Gregory, drummer and lyricist. “We don’t want to just connect with listeners on a musical level, but an emotional one as well, and in doing that we hope to connect with people in a real and significant way.”
Since its beginnings nearly a decade ago, the Maryland band, which also includes singer Jack Gurecki, guitarist Michael Nelson and bassist Holly Smith, has touched countless lives. Their music has been played around the world from the United States to the United Kingdom, and from Australia to Brazil, and they have shared the stage with such bands as Three Days Grace, Bad Wolves, In this Moment, Theory of A Deadman, Pop Evil, Black Stone Cherry, among many others.
The band’s music has been streamed thousands of times on top digital platforms such as Spotify, and the band has been named a Band to Watch and one of the top 20 artists of the year. One of its singles, Criticize, from the last EP, Trial and Triumph, was chosen song of the year by Z98 and iHeartRadio.
“They have evolved from, ‘Oh, Ignite the Fire is on the show we should go see them,’ to ‘Ignite the Fire is on the show. We GOT to go see them,’” says Rocky Marr of Mid-Atlantic Rock Reviews and the Marr Army Radio Rock Show.
Between Shadow and Solace is already making its mark as many fans will attest after hearing the new music played live. So much so that there are those who have made the commitment to permanently ink themselves with tattoos of the musical notes for the song Echoes, which appears to be one of the favorites off the new EP.
“I just like the way it makes me feels,” says Gina Baker of Ohio, who along with her friend got matching tattoos for Echoes. “It’s sad yet hopeful. And, I love the band.”
I fear that I’m right, but I pray that I’m wrong. I’ll echo this silence, and I won’t let go. You left me uncertain, don’t leave me alone. I’ll search through the darkness, and I won’t let go. –Echoes.
Then there are those who have taken such a liking to the song that they were demanding a copy of it before its release. “A friend of a friend heard them perform it live and came to me and asked for a copy since I was the producer,” says Jeremy Dove of Darkesville Studios in Winchester, VA, where the EP was recorded. He declined, telling her good naturedly, “You know doctor-patient privilege? Well it’s like that.”
But she has remained relentless. “She was contacting me about once a week, asking, ‘Is it out yet? Is it out yet?’” Adding, “I know what the song is about because the band told me when we were recording it. But she has taken her own interpretation from it and it is powerful and unique for her.”
For Rocky Marr, it was the song Lazarus that offered comfort and inspiration. “This song came into my life not once, but twice, during painful and life-altering moments,” says Marr.
The first time, he says, it was while he was watching the band play acoustically. “During a private party at my house where they were playing I received a phone call from my father’s nursing home to indicate that he had begun the dying process and would not be with us much longer,” says Marr. “As I listened to the band perform the song that night, it became to me an anthem of hope and strength for my father as he passed, but also for me as I remembered him upon his passing.”
Bring to life, don’t let go. Holding on, I’ll follow. Crawling back from the edge, I will rise from the dead. Through the darkest shadows I’ll expose the unknown. At the end I begin, I will rise from the dead. –Lazarus
Then only five months after his father’s passing, “I would face my own ‘rise from the dead’ challenge,” he says. “I suffered a heart attack. I was fortunate to receive excellent care and have made a full recovery, but the song would once again speak to me. It is a song of strength and recovery in the face of life-changing adversity.”
And that for the band is what it is all about. “We really want people to listen to the message,” says Nelson. “Really listen to the words because they are yours. They came from us and they mean something to us but it’s completely up to you what it is going to mean to you.”
“Any good song will relate to any person,” adds Dove, who has produced not only Between Shadow and Solace, but the band’s earlier EP, Trial and Triumph, at his Darkesville Studios. “And to me these songs can do that.”
These “good” songs are in many ways a reflection of the consistent cohesiveness of the band, which has primarily remained the same since it began in 2010. “Something that is not all that common,” says Quinn. Ignite the Fire was co-founded by Gregory and Quinn, who were both in high school at the time. Gurecki with his soaring vocals joined shortly after and was soon joined by Nelson, the band’s resident “unclean” vocalist.
The newest member is Smith who joined in 2017 and is the only female band member in a genre still much dominated by men. As such she has been enthusiastically embraced by Ignite the Fire fans who thrill to her energetic and physical live performances. As one fan posted on the band’s Facebook page, “When I grow up I want to be Holly.” Or, as Baker says, “Her kicks onstage are amazing.”
“It means a lot to me when someone comes up and says what an inspiration I am to them, especially, the young girls,” says Smith. “If I could tell 14-year-old Holly what she has done in the past year and a half since I joined the band I am sure she would be like, ‘Shut up. Get out of here. Really?’”
Yes, really.
Smith is an important part of the band’s efforts on Between Shadow and Solace which is Ignite the Fire’s second EP. “Adding Holly was the last missing piece of the puzzle,” says Gregory.
With Smith in tow, the band created its usual “magic” in the studio says Gurecki.
“You’re putting sticky notes on the wall in practice,” he says, “but then seeing it set in stone in the studio. That’s incredibly rewarding.”
Sticky notes and a variety of ideas from different perspectives create something special. Ignite the Fire is a mix of personalities and musical influences, yet the result is great chemistry. “They are all so different people wise,” says Dove. “It’s not like a group of people that are just copy cats of each other. And, that comes out in their music.”
Musical influences for each band member range from rock to blues to progressive to EDM. And that’s a good thing, says Dove. “They bring elements to their music that make you feel like you’re in a different world,” he says. “With this EP, for example, they take you on a musical journey. Their spectrum is huge as far as genres and everything. But it works.”
And while choosing a favorite song from Between Shadow and Solace, is like “picking your favorite child,” says Quinn, there are band members who are drawn to particular songs.
Anchor, for example. “It’s so aggressive. It’s so fast. It’s fun and fast,” says Nelson. “I think it is the most mature song we’ve ever written.”
I’m pulled by your anchor, I’m losing control. Fighting in anguish, just leave me alone. I tried to breathe you in, you take my breath away. Cast aside, overthrown, anchored I sink below. –Anchor.
As a producer, Dove is drawn to it as well. “It has this driving, encapsulating riff that keeps your head spinning while listing to the vocals,” he says. “When they get to this break, it just stops, and there’s this atmosphere and feeling with just Jack there. Then it just comes back in. You’ve already heard the chorus, but when it comes back into the chorus again it feels different.”
Gurecki says he is most keen for Victim of Shame. “Every time we do a new project I’m looking to do something a little different,” says Gurecki. “I love when we push the envelope. This one is the first song we’ve ever done that uses triplets as a rhythm. And, I love the melody of the chorus… it’s the song I can push my vocals the furthest with.”
The anger inside is just a disease. The fear in your eyes is what they believe, for now. – Victim of Shame.
But whatever song is the favorite, they are all well-loved and well-intended by the band for its audience.
“The title speaks for itself, Between Shadow and Solace,” says Quinn. “We are writing about battling the darkness but also about the hope that is there. You see that in the world we live in. There’s this feeling of dread and darkness around us but also there’s hope.”
So, lay me down inside of your hands. And help me to see all that we are. Please show me now how shadows give way and solace remains in what we become. These broken pieces rearranged and defined. - Solace
A message they feel is important to convey for those struggling to navigate an ever-changing and constantly challenging world.
“We are really hammering out what we feel needs to be said,” says Smith. “We want people to know that it’s okay to not be okay. People do mess up. People do slip up. But it’s okay. It’s okay to be human. We are all human.”
Written by Lisa Gregory