This is Bringing the Darkness to the Light with Catherine Nadal, professional psychic medium.
Today's guest is John Tora, lead vocalist of the band Fire and Ice.
It's a pleasure to have you on, John.
Thank you. It's an honor to be on here.
Yes, you know, it's really a lot of fun. Just for the sake of the audience.
I have met you twice. You're very interactive with the fans.
I was at Dingbats and you opened for Corarazzic and also my friend Ray West from Spread Eagle.
And wow, the crowd really comes out.
I remember running up to you at the merch table and I grabbed your arm and I'm like,
where are you guys from? And you were like, well, I'm from Long Island.
And I was like, my sister lives in Long Island.
And you were like, where? I think you guys were like one town away from each other or something.
So I was like, I have to follow this band. I was like, they're local enough. This is cool.
So I want to hear all about it. You know, it's interesting because I do know that we're going to introduce the band.
We're going to promote the new album, which is called High Roller.
I want to go back to how your band came about, but also how you got involved with music.
I mean, everyone I always feel is younger than me, but you guys are young.
So I want to hear the whole story. So when did you get involved with music?
Well, I started taking into music when I was 13 years old.
I got my first guitar for my 13th birthday. And upon playing guitar, I wanted to be like Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, you know, like the starter guys.
And, you know, kind of feel around it. First, I didn't really have like a real passion to do this as a full-time career.
And then another instrument that apparently I had that I was given was the ability to be a singer, which I started doing at 15.
So I'm 23 now. So I've been doing this for over essentially like 10 years.
And it just started from there. And then when everything changed for me was when my old man introduced to me, Van Halen.
And then later on, I got into other bands in like the hair metal scenes such as Cinderella, Doc and Rat.
And those bands I got introduced to by my uncle. And it just, it grew on me so much.
And I just was like mesmerized by like all this like, wow, like, you know, the teased hair, the leather jackets, the flashy guitar.
And then just people just having a good time and rocking out. I'm like, that's what I want to do.
You know, so just more so just the energy of just a party every single night and everyone's having a good time, you know, no bad energy, nothing like that.
So I was, I knew that was going to be my choice for a career.
Even back then, my dad was in bands and he played in those bands as well.
He was a drummer though, which actually was supposed to be my first instrument.
I was actually supposed to be a drummer. But unfortunately, I just couldn't, I couldn't grasp the concept of multitasking with my entire body, you know, using my legs, my hands.
And all that. So it just, it didn't work for me. But guitar essentially worked in my favorite and the ability to play guitar and sing at the same time while doing all this crazy stuff.
Apparently that works, but drums don't.
That's so cool. So what kind of music was your dad listening to or what was he playing in his band when you were little?
So, I mean, my dad when he was growing up, he was a kid in the, in the 70s. You know, so he loved bands like Kiss. Zeppelin was a big influence on him. He loved John Bottom.
He loved Steve Smith from Journey, Aerosmith, you know, Ted Nugent, all those great bands.
And then later as you get into the late 70s, you know, Van Halen came around.
Then you have the whole new way to British Heavy Metal. So he was in the bands also like, you know, Judas Priest, Aussie, you know, all that, all that great stuff.
And when he was a teenager in the 80s, that's when he started playing in somewhat like glam metal slash shock rock bands.
His first like big band he was in was a band called Lace, which was more of like kind of like a shock rock kind of vibe, I would say.
And I got pictures of him all in like this custom leather like outfits he made, you know, teased hair lipstick eyeliner every in the whole nine yards.
Essentially, you know, he just, he kept playing and playing and playing until eventually the 90s came in.
Then he kind of took a break from drums. But then when I started to play, I was like, you know, get back on the kit.
And from there, you know, we pretty much jammed together. And it's the greatest thing ever.
One thing I will say to people out there, if you got family members or anybody in your family that plays musical instruments jam with them, it's the best experience you could have.
That's awesome. I know it's really true though, because I really think playing with family members, you're going to get like an honest opinion.
You know, they're going to say, you know, I could see this going better or something like that.
That could trick you a little bit.
I agree with you on that because for me as a vocalist, I never took vocal lessons ever.
And my vocal coach essentially was my uncle because he was like the most brutally honest person.
I would say something and I'd be like, oh, did I sound good? He'd be like, no, that sounds terrible. Do not do that.
But it toughened me up and it made me push more and strive, strive. And I'm a very, what's the word I'm trying to think of, uh, persistence.
I'm like, I got to do this. I could be worn out and tired. I'm like, nope, I'm not going to quit until I get it right.
And the hard work pays off.
Absolutely. I think that's the pure sign of it being an ambitious person.
So when you started to realize that you were singing, when you really looked at what it's like to be a singer,
every song kind of presents its own challenges.
So if you took on a Van Halen song or if you took on a journey song, you can see how those songs have different vibes.
So what was the real feeling that you felt like, oh, this is the better way for me to sing?
Because not every singer can sing every song, right?
Yeah, no, everything is different.
And the one thing I've been told by not even just my peers, by people I've met in the industry, as well as friends I made throughout the years, you know,
I've been referred to as the parrot. And the reason why is I can imitate other singers.
The reason that came about is when I was a kid, I used to do impressions of cartoon characters.
I used to watch old classic Looney Tunes, Scooby-Doo, all like, you know, the classic Hannah Bobbearer characters.
And I would just imitate them because I just was fascinated by it.
You know, I was one of those kinds of kids growing up.
So when it came to singing, the way it started out for me, every band I was in before, fire, and ice, no one wanted to sing.
And the people I did step up to the plate, they couldn't hit the ball. They couldn't really sing.
So I was just like, when I got to lose, you know, and I knew if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it right at least.
You know, that's the always the mentality I had.
If you're going to do something in this world, do it the right way.
I just kept singing and at first it was okay.
And then I just, you know, would do is record myself and then hear myself back and then just re-sing and re-sing until I get it right.
So, I mean, there's been times where I've had trouble singing certain things or hitting certain notes, but I just, you keep trying.
It's like building like a, I wouldn't say a tolerance, but basically, like, you know, you're at a plateau and you're just trying to get over that.
So, yeah, it's like building a muscle on this. Like, you have to literally work at it.
Yeah. And that's pretty much how it came to be.
Like, I could sing anywhere, you know, stuff from, let's say, you know, Tom Keefer, you know, that like very raspy voice, you know, and my band is on cover tunes of that to like something like Skid Row, you know, Sebastian Bach.
He's had a really like beautiful high voice, you know, with that grit to it, you know, it's, it's a lot of trans to like transform, go from one vocalist to another.
And even like, you know, doing stuff, I would say, like, you know, Don Dachin, Vince Neil going very nasally or a Getty Lee, you know, you kind of just, it's really the main key is all in here, as well as in here in the nose and knowing how to work those muscles in your body.
If you can master that, you can essentially alternate your voice and make different sounds as well as, you know, vocal noises.
So it's just a lot of practice. It's a curse and a blessing. It's a good thing if like you're doing cover tunes, because people love hearing like, wow, like, you know, this guy sounds exactly like how that guy did on the record.
But at the same time, it was also a trouble for me to find my own voice because it's like now you sing and you're like, how do I sing?
So it took me a little bit to figure that out. But in the end, I found my true voice so far, I'm happy about it. I'm really bad at any complaints.
But, you know, well, I have to say from standing in the audience, you can hit the high notes. Yeah. Yeah. I've seen it. Yeah. It's good.
Yeah, no, it's some people have, it's because I said to me like, damn, like, how high can you hit? I'm like, I could get up there. You know, some days I can hit this level.
And then if a day is like, you know, the voice is rested and the adrenaline is high enough all the way up. So.
That's great. Yeah. So do you think when you started playing guitar that you played by ear? Because when you talk about being able to do imitations of cartoon characters,
a lot of people that can do that, a lot of times they feel like they hear differently than other people. So that somehow could translate to learning to play instruments by ear.
Is that your case? Yeah. I mean, in the beginning, after like I got the basics down, I used to read tablature because I never could read sheet music.
I never was musically inclined like that knowledge on theory. I knew him handful, but I essentially made my own book. Like most of the rock musicians.
Well, I should say rock guitarist. They kind of make your own book, even Eddie Van Halen, you know, he made his own book and he did his own thing and made things work for him.
The same thing I did, you know, I mean, obviously you have your scales and your panatonics and stuff like that. But essentially, like for me, it was, I learned the basics, but then I made my own, my own guitar book and learn how I do it and knew how to, you know, construct riffs or, you know, write songs in my own fashion.
Like, you know, where to go. I might know the, not know the technical term, but I knew where to play and why you play it there.
That's cool. So how did you get involved with fire and ice? Because your bio, it says that you're a band from New Jersey. So is that the beginning of fire and ice? How did it come about?
Fire and ice is a very interesting story, how we all came together. So fire and ice, how it started was I had been looking for a band to do this music with for years on the Long Island circuit.
Or even if I should say it even is a circuit. There's not really much of a club scene in Long Island. You know, if you're going to play clubs, it's mainly bars. And most of the time, the bar is the venue is wanting to play cover tunes just to keep, you know, the customer's happy.
You know, and that's really it. And there's no like original action going on. So I had put an ad out on a thing called band mix trying to find other musicians that want to do what I do.
And not even just the taste of music, the style, the attitude and going all the way. So I had gotten hit enough by Hidden New Jersey, who is a drummer for a band called Chasing Stars Now, a guy named Danny Gaddish.
He had messaged me and saw my ass saying, Hey, I like what you're about. I think you're a good fit. We are putting together a band. I got my old bass player for my old band.
We're looking to do stuff like was Van Halen, Y&T Cinderella and sweet. I said, Would that something be up your alley? And I'm like, absolutely. At first, I didn't realize this guy was in Jersey. You know, we were going back for Texas. Like, Oh, you know, this band? Yeah, I like that band. I said, Okay, perfect. I said, where are you located? I believe it was somewhere in North Jersey. I forgot the town name.
And I'm like, Oh, I'm like Jersey. Hmm. I said, let me give it some thought because I never thought I would go exploring outside of Long Island. You know, I'm being like Jersey. That's a whole other state. Am I really looking forward to really doing that?
Of course I am because you know why? Because I wanted this is what this is my life. You know, I love doing this. You know, I live, breathe and eat the stuff. So I love, I love music.
So I said, Okay, let's set up a date. I will be there. And I remember when I showed up and I'm thinking like, God, are these guys even like, you know, like me? You know, I got the hair. But you know, compared to like that whole genre, like I'm a bigger dude. I'm not really like the skinny, you know, with the whole girly look to it. You know, I got like the baby face. My hair wasn't like too long. And I showed up with a metallic shirt and acid wash.
And my Reebox and a Les Paul, and which is another thing, another guitar that's not like 80s. You know, that was more than 70s thing.
So I showed up and at that rehearsal, I had met the kid Danny who was a drummer. And later in the night, I had met Mark, our bass player. We jammed and we were like, Okay, we got this all set up. Unfortunately, it didn't work out.
Essentially, I don't even think we had another rehearsal. Actually, no, we did. We had one more rehearsal after and then essentially the plug got pulled on that. And I was kind of destroyed like, great, I found guys that want to play this music. And that just went out the window. So I didn't give up. So I had Mark's number. So I called Mark over my came in. Listen, I know that already fell out. We didn't even play a show yet. We didn't do anything. We just did two rehearsals. And that was it. I was like, listen, I want to keep this thing.
Going. I said, I found a kid on Band Mix from the South Bronx. He says he's in the same stuff like us. He's basically Warren D. Martini and George Lynch combined. I said, he's definitely our guy. I said, would you be up to that if he's down? You know, and Mark was like, yeah, I don't know how Mark didn't put two and two together. But essentially, I found out that person I was referring to that I found the Bronx was our original guitar.
Shane Chester and Shane and Mark used to play in a band together with that other kid Danny. So I'm like,
thinking like at first, like, hmm, I don't know how you didn't click to and to together. 80s shredder kid from the Bronx, but whatever the case. So it was the three of us at first. We jammed. And we're like, OK, this is great. Now we need a drummer. Shane had someone he had met in Staten Island who was a lot older than us. But that wasn't going to work out. I had a college buddy who, you know,
had short hair and, you know, he liked some of the songs, but he was more so a classic rock guy. He was more into bands like The Beatles, Rush, you know, some of the classics.
You know, nothing wrong with that. Just wasn't what we were going for. And Shane had brought up. He goes, well, I was in a band called Conquer at Will.
It was an upstate New York band, but the guy that plays drums is from Bayon, New Jersey. I said, let me give him a call. That guy was Mike.
And essentially Mike came down. It was January of 23. We all got together in jam for the first time.
The first song we ever did was a cover tune. We did Shout of the Devil.
And I remember Mike twirling his drumsticks like Tommy Lee going into that first crash and we were just, it sounded just like the record.
We were like, wow, we are tight. We're doing our parts the way they're supposed to be played.
And we sound great. And I'm like, this is it. This is a spark. And we all sat down, had a drink. And we're like, I think we got something going for it.
And pretty much from there, we've been taking ever since. You know, we didn't do our first show until a year later.
And then that same year, we released our debut EP hypnotized. And then a year from that, Hy roller came out.
So for the past, you know, going on almost three years, we've been just trying to get to the next level each way.
But that's essentially how Fire and Ice came together.
Wow. So before we speak about Hy roller, tell the audience about hypnotized. How did that come about?
Like how many songs did you put out or?
So hypnotized was basically a demo EP. I wouldn't say it was a bad demo.
You know, it was definitely not good quality compared to Hy roller, but it was our first attempt at putting out music.
And we put out a four song EP and featured rock this night, escape into the night, lust for love, and the title track hypnotized.
So we said, let's put out an EP. Let's see if people really like what we're doing. And then we continue from there.
That EP, we did actually at Mark's house and my house. We kind of did it ourselves. So we had no, no professional recording for me like that.
We were recording it through a scarlet focused right and Shane's laptop. And then we would transfer the files to Mark's computer.
And then basically we mixed it ourselves and produce it. So it was basically our own like unique demo.
We put it out there and people really liked it. And they were like, whoa, this is some cool stuff.
These, these fans sounds like Doc and Cinderella and Skid Row. Like these guys are great.
And we're like, yeah, this is, this is good. Okay. So people are digging it.
We didn't promote it as much as Hy roller just because we were still trying to figure stuff out.
This was our, our baby phase, you know, where's like kids shouting, I'm like, you know, figure, okay, how do we, how do we market this and do this?
You know, we put it out. And like I said, people liked it. It got to a point where we, we kept like using the same stuff over and over.
And then we eventually, I was like, guys, I said, everyone's not going to listen to the same four songs over and over.
Eventually the album's going to be like this. Oh, so that's when we were like, I think we're in a position.
People are liking what we're putting out. We're doing a lot of shows. And I mean, we played heavily. Like when we released, I hypnotized, we were playing gigs.
Like three gigs a month, every month. We had like no months off. We were just, whatever was available we took and we put it out there and played.
And I was like, we need to do an album. That's when we went into the studio and started the process of recording Hy roller.
Yes. I saw in your bio that it says that you were opening for shows like Steven Adler and Ted Polis, Spreading Go like we mentioned before.
So you seem to have a very busy period. How long did it take to record Hy roller?
Hy roller, essentially, it took about a year. Originally, we recorded in a studio in bail in the first two tracks.
We did in bail at a place. It was a buddy of ours. His name was Igor. He recorded. We did Black Widow.
And I believe it was maybe a scape into the night. We recorded those two there and then the studio closed down. So we ended up scrapping those tracks.
And then we were trying to figure out like, you know, where we're going to record. So we ended up recording at Hellhound, where we rehearse in Rawway, New Jersey.
And we were friends with the owner, Eddie, and he introduced us to our producer, Beto. And pretty much from there, that's when we started to record.
And it was the reason why it was a longer process than we thought. I originally thought this would take maybe six months because we were very on top of things.
But the one thing that was great with working with Beto is that he was a producer. And what I mean, he's a producer. Yeah, of course he's a producer.
I said, no, he's a producer. And the reason why I say that is because we record something. And on our heads, everything, like, oh, that was a good take.
And he'll be like, do it again. And there was multiples of that. And that's why it took longer because we were he was, he saw our vision.
We had given him a couple of albums that were like albums of our heroes. So, you know, we said, like, here, listen to these albums, listen to Doc and albums, listen to Cinderella, Quiet Riot, Winger.
Skid Row, Aerosmith, Van Halen. So he listened to all those albums. And he got an idea of what we're looking for.
And so when we went to record, he was like, if he'd hear what we would play, if it was not like if it was just off by that, he was like, you gotta do it again, boys.
At first, we were like, oh, like, this is very stressful. But then all the hard work paid off because in the end, it was masterpiece. And we were so happy and so proud.
There were sometimes we were in there like, whoa, I said, people are going to love this one. This comes out like, you know, I wonder what people are going to think of it.
It paid off in the end. So, and it wasn't terrible. I think in the end, it was close to $15,000 we spent to make the album, which is cheap.
In the record world, I know a lot of records that we grew up listening to, they probably cost like 50 grand to 100 grand just to make, you know, for us for a low budget album, it came up great.
Yeah, well, there's a way, right? So tell us about the tune High Roller, which is named after the album. What is that song about or give the audience an idea of how that song came about for the band?
Well, the whole inspiration behind High Roller and essentially the whole image of the album came from Mike. Mike had always been fascinated with dice and the whole casino.
You know, good fellas kind of kind of scenery, you know, because we were New York, New Jersey.
So, and we love like the Sopranos and like good fellas, you know, Bronx, like all those classic, you know, Italian mob type movies.
So, Mike essentially brought the idea of that and we liked it. And we essentially, we want to do something that no band has ever done.
And we've never seen really any band do that whole casino vibe except for like Bad Company. I believe they have an album where it has a dice on a table, what a poker table in the background.
I forgot what the album was called, but we came up with that idea and then basically high rule was essentially about the generate gambler.
That's the whole thing we wrote like brought around it, like this like character who's just like evil and just just basically just gambling his own luck.
You know, so that's how that came about that track was a fused lyrics mark had written majority of it.
And then I had some lyrics slipped over from stuff I had written and we put it in together.
And we took Mike's inspiration, a lot of Mark's songwriting and some of the stuff I had and we just fused it. And that's how Hy roller came about.
Oh, wow. Well, let's play it now. Here is Hy roller from Fire and Ice.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, this belong to man in a strange
a happy
ever
You're living like a high roller
Live back, dying, you're born to lose
You're living like a high roller
You want to act out a movie scene
A blood-dellin' with a scar so weak
But the way you are, you tricked yourself into a lie
You should've known wrong, wrong, right
But never crossed your mind that night
They pushed into a wrong price
But in each of your mind, everyone feels their lives
And she is
That's all you're gonna know
Let's play again
You wait, away
Until you've got no more to play
The score is even less fast
Dying, you're born to lose
You're living like a high roller
Live back, dying, you're born to lose
You're living like a high roller
Live back, dying, you're born to lose
Life and tears
That's all you're gonna know
Let's play again, you wait
Away, until you've got no more to play
The score is even less fast
Dying, you're born to lose
You're living like a high roller
Live back, dying, you're born
Till you've got no more to lose
You're living like a high roller
Live back, dying, you're born to lose
You're living like a high roller
Wow, you know, it's so exciting
I love when I was able to see you twice
at DINGBAD's Play Live
It was the energy of the crowd
If the audience has ever been to DINGBAD's
It's a smaller club
But it's the type of club you can get really close to the stage
Yeah, there's a lot of energy when you guys play
Song number two that we picked out is Don't You Cry
And I had read in the bio that this is like a crowd favorite
So why use it become the crowd favorite and how did the song come about?
Don't You Cry?
Essentially, it's like one of our, I would say, ballads in a way
It was a song that Mark had written
He basically wrote like, kind of like this love song
He was very heavily influenced by AOR bands
And he loved Kip Winger, so essentially it was like his own like
Winger kind of take of a song
And he presented it to us, a little demo track
Which I actually listened to a couple of days ago
And he said, yeah, that sounds nothing like how we have it out on all the streaming platforms
And he presented it to us, I'm like, this is cool
And that was the one thing that makes Fire and I stand out that a lot of bands today
Is that we have dual singers
Because a lot of times you see a lot of bands
And they're great bands, they have one singer
Us, we got two singers, kind of like a Gene Simmons Paul Stanley
Or bands like Night Ranger where each person sings or the Eagles
Yeah, so Mark had presented it and I'm like, you're singing this, right?
I'm not singing this, you know, nothing, I had nothing in the song
I just was like, this is more of a song for your voice Mark
And that was the one thing with me and Mark what we do
And I loved when it comes to us in songwriting
Sometimes we'll write something and I'll be like, all right, this is a song that you should sing Mark
That's more of your voice and then something he'll write like, no, I want you to sing because you have more of that style
So this was basically like Mark's little love ballad song
It was a great song and just like the whole vibes and energy and just the chorus
It's simple, people could sing along to it
Basically our own AOR ballad song
And when Shane went to the studio and came up with that solo, I was blown away
And I'm like, this is the perfect solo for the song and this
It all came together and it was a great song and a great first single to introduce Hy roller
So great, so we're gonna play Don't You Cry
Don't You Cry
Every time it's the same
When I gaze into your eyes and when you're
Looking at the stars above
It makes you want to fly
I know you want to cry into the moon
I know you too because all to say for you
Don't You Cry
Don't You Cry
Don't You Cry
Don't You Cry
Don't You Cry
Don't You Cry
Don't You Cry
Don't You Cry
Don't You Cry
If You I Go To Guns
I know too because I'll do the same for you
Don't you cry my love
To save it for a rainy day
Don't you cry my love
Cause when you're alone
I'll be there
Don't you cry my love
Don't you cry my love
Don't you cry my love
Cause I'll be there
Yeah
Don't you cry my love
Don't you cry my love
Don't you cry my love
Cause I'll be there
Don't you cry my love
Don't you cry my love
To save it for a rainy day
Don't you cry my love
Cause when you're alone
Cause I'll be there
Don't you cry my love
Cause to save it for a rainy day
Don't you cry my love
Cause when you're alone
I'll be there
Yeah
Don't you cry my love
You know I really want to know when you guys are playing again
Because a lot of this music
I think needs to be heard live
To me I was recently speaking with a musician
Actually Vinny Appacy and I was telling him as a fan
I really enjoy hearing songs played live
Even when they're on an album live
And he was like really like you know
It was so interesting because I gave him the perspective of the fan
Because when you hear it live
You hear the fans in the audience
So we're like included in the song
You know it's kind of really cool
So when are you guys playing out again
Do you have anything coming up?
So so far we have as of right now
What we have lined up for gigs is all in Los Angeles
We have a whole summer prepared for all our West Coast fans
And people that are still rocking out the sunset strip
So we have in June we are direct support for the legendary Dachin at the Whiskey at Gogo
July we're playing with Steelheart
That's another show we're being direct support for as well
And then in August we're back at the Whiskey again to play with Slaughter
So we have a whole summer lined up
Sunset strip
And we have three iconic bands from that era
One iconic venue
And then the newcomers
The new kids on the block fire nice
So we have that lined up for our summer
But we have definitely other stuff planned
To be finalized that we're definitely going to announce soon
And as well as for our fans out of California
We're going to make it a point as well to make other venues to play out there
You know book some other shows while we're still out there in LA for the Whiskey shows
Maybe on the lookout for that we'll post any details on that on our Instagram
But yeah so far as of right now we have three Whiskey at Gogo shows lined up
Wow that must really give you a thrill to realize that you're playing at the Whiskey
I mean just think of all the maneuvers you've made to get to where you've been now
You know if you had easily given up or just said forget about it
You know you wouldn't be playing in the upcoming events of the Whiskey
Well that's pretty much you know and when it comes to this music business
You know you kind of just got to keep striving even when you get knocked down
You get back up doesn't matter what it is you know
You get back up and you keep going
You don't let anybody or anything stop you because the minute you let that happen
It all goes away in the blink of an eye
We work hard as a band we're very humble and we appreciate everything that comes our way
We try to be supportive of everybody you haven't seen because we're all in this together
That's the one thing we just keep going on to the next next level
And just keep going from there
Absolutely so you have the next song we're going to discuss called Lush for Love
What is that about?
Well Lush for Love
Lush for Love was the first song Fire and Ice wrote as a band
And actually my first song I ever wrote
I have previously written Riffs or I've tried a little stuff
But I mean first fully constructed recorded whole nine yards
Was Lush for Love
Lush was essentially written about a previous relationship I was in
And just my feelings at the time just I was not happy
As well as Mike as well
Pretty much we just fused with that and we made it more so kind of a universal topic
Instead of it being more personal
There's a lot of people out there that's going through bad relationships or bad love
So we made that our song so people can relate to it
But essentially it stemmed from that but we made it so more so a universal kind of statement
Then shining light on those people from our past
Because you always got to look forward in the future you never want to look back
You know the minute you dwell on the past or keep on about the past you go nowhere
That's so true
But you know I find the title very iconic to the 80s
There is a song I think going way back to the early 80s with the Go-Gos
That reminds me of that there was a lot of bands that talked about love in different ways
So White Snake is another one
You know Bon Jovi is another one
There's a lot of bands that would mix in the idea of love and not always the positive side of it
It's the struggling side of it which is really true
No yeah it's definitely like one of those songs
The title actually Shane had kind of came up with I originally entitled the song Lost At Love
And Shane was like that's not really a good name
I'm like well you got anything better and he was like why don't you call it Lust for Love
I'm like fine and I said it's good enough for me
And that's essentially how it came to be
But it's actually one of my personal favorites
Not even just in being like my first real song as a musician writing
Everything about it just the energy the riffs and just the darkness of it
You know it's a really cool song
And that was the reason why we brought it back from hypnotized
Because it was originally on the EP
And then the demo was good
I definitely had that raw like cassette era sound to it
We knew like that was the song that was so good
We couldn't just leave it behind on the EP
We had to bring it to high roller and give it a whole reboot on it
The way we did it was perfect because the one thing I was very strongly about in the studio
I'm like the energy from the EP the sound it was so unique
I said we shouldn't get rid of that
We should definitely keep that energy
But give it that spark polished clean edge
That people can hear it and be like whoa
So great so now we're going to play Lost for Love by Fire and Ice
A miserable light with nowhere to hide
Working hard to make a time to go by as a lifetime
Cause I feel nothing is time
And I feel the story is coming to the end
This touch in love will never be forgotten again
Lost for Love, your passion is so cruel
Lost for Love, will I ever be alone again
Cheated by last was it my surprise
For you to leave a heart behind
Say well you taught your end last fall
Another fallen man
Why did you see what you love is done to me
Cause I'm gonna break out
Cause your love will never hurt me again
Your evil ways will never control me again
Lost for Love, your passion is so cruel
Lost for Love, will I ever be alone again
Lost for Love, your passion is so cruel
Lost for Love, your beauty smells more make me alone
Love for Love, will I ever be alone
Will I ever be alone
Will I ever be alone again
This is really great, before we go
I want to mention one of the last songs that we had
Brought up, but before we get on to that
I want to be able to have you promote all of your social media
Where they can find your music, your website
And all of that, especially like following you
Because of the upcoming shows that are going to be at the whiskey
Yeah, everything you would need to know on information
We have a TikTok and Instagram under fire and I span
So F-I-R-E, the letter N-I-C-E band
So that's our user, so it'll be under that
YouTube, it's just fire and ice
Sometimes if it doesn't come up, usually just put in either hipman's eyes
Don't you cry, one of our songs, it'll pop up
We're on YouTube as well
We do have a Facebook as well, Fire and Ice, that's another one
Usually our primary social media we use is Instagram and TikTok
TikTok for promoting the album, Instagram for updates with the band
As well as shows, merch, anything
So if you really want to keep up to date with the band
Instagram is your best friend
That's so great, well I follow you and I love following you
Your band is great
Just before we go, we're going to mention your song Coming Home
What is that song like for the band?
Coming Home, that song was essentially the last song of the recordings session
It was like one of the last ones I'd written for the album
Coming Home was basically about my feelings being on the road constantly
And commuting from lunch to New Jersey
Because it takes a toll on you after a while, it's a lot of driving
Crossing the George Washington Bridge or the Verizano
You know, the late nights to hanging out, getting home at 4am
Just to get up for work at 6, being away from my family
Because a lot of times my grandma used to give me the nickname the Gypsy
Because I would always disappear
And I used to be with my dad's old nickname
Because he would be out late nights with the band and hanging with friends
And that was the whole thing with me, I was always away in Jersey
My weekends were, what were you doing this weekend?
Oh, I was at home playing video games, what about you?
Oh, I was in Jersey playing shows, recording
So I basically wrote about my time away from home, away from my loved ones
You know, my girl, my family
It was just a lot of time I was in Jersey
The late nights, so that's essentially how that song came to be
And Shane had came up with the rhythm on all the instrumental parts
And I just was hearing it over and over it
I'm like, what am I gonna write about?
And then I'm thinking like, all the time I was away for these sessions, shows, everything
I'm like, that's what I'm gonna write about
Who knew that would be our most popular song off the album?
Wow, well this has been a pleasure
We're gonna roll out with the song Coming Home by the band Fire and Ice
It has been a pleasure to interview you
And I'm looking forward to seeing more and more of Fire and Ice
Again, thank you again, John, it's been a pleasure
Thank you, thank you for having me on here
Thank you, we're gonna roll out with Coming Home
I'll only stop the roads I've been roaming all night
And lights come through the dark
To chasing the morning light
Every turn I take
Every mile I drive
As I get closer to you
No mile on the ride
With your face on my mind
As I ride through the spine
Through the fire and rain
And all the time we're away
Hold on, I'm almost there
Don't go, I'm coming home
Every mile I take
As I get closer to you
No mile on where I am
I'm coming home to you
Oh, so far from home
I'm not in alone
The city like faith
On this endless road
Your love is my guide
On this endless ride
I'm holding on tight
Don't die inside
This is for my eyes
I'm burning inside
Without your touch
I miss you so much
Hold on, I'm almost there
Don't go, I'm coming home
Every mile I take
As I get closer to you
No matter how far I am
I'm coming home to you
No mile on where I am
I'm coming home to you
Oh, so far from home
I'm coming home to you
Oh, so far from home
I'm coming home to you
Oh, so far from home
Every mile I take
As I get closer to you
No matter how far I am
I'm coming home to you
You have been listening
To bringing the darkness to the light
With Catherine Adele, professional psychic medium
Dream Central Station, LLC
My audio editor is Al Hemberger
At the Law for Quoting Studios in Bronxville, New York
This is WNEW 102.7 FM radio