The two of us in Firedaze have a passion for rock, folk and roots music. We love making original, folk rock music that is contemporary, relevant and above all fun: live music that you can dance to and enjoy singing along to.
“A band who clearly enjoy playing together and are a lot of fun live.” Fatea magazine
We are currently performing as a duo with a mix of our original songs (with a few covers).
You get – 2 voices, guitar, bass guitar and stomping foot percussion!
Videos and new songs coming soon.
We’ve been performing at a few folk clubs to get back into playing live after Steff recovered from having broken her wrist. We have played at the Albany Theatre, Coventry; Wurzel Bush Folk Club, Rugby; Temperance in Leamington and also appeared at Lighthorne Folk and at venues like Southbound Cafe in Leamington Spa.
Unlike our all-acoustic folk club sets we do also play music that is more of a mix of acoustic and electric guitar with the emphasis a bit more on the rock element rather then the folk!
We find this seems to work particularly well at beer festivals!
We are currently in the process of lining up gigs in various venues around the Midlands.
We hope to have a new album or more likely an EP in the coming months.
Steff and String – Firedaze
Vocals, guitar, bass, foot percussion
Steff has been playing guitar since she was 10. Her first paid public appearance was at age 14, and she enjoyed it so much she’s never wanted to stop performing. “Being on stage, playing music together with a good mate, and knowing it sounds good, is just the best.”
Steff says “On stage, I play a Patrick Eggle LA electric guitar or an Overwater Custom guitar, through a Marshall Valvestate amp.”
She continued – “I also play a Stonebridge GS20-CM/C acoustic with an onboard Fishman preamp – it’s strung with ridiculously expensive Elixir strings that sound lovely. I sing through an AKG headset wireless microphone.”
“For foot percussion I have my stomp boxes (literally a wooden box to stamp on with a mic inside it!) they are Shadow Stompin’ Bass pedals which we use to trigger bass drum and snare sounds on a Roland SPD-SX .
For acoustic gigs we are also now using a Bass Box coupled with a snare box – literally percussion boxes with a beater pedal attached to each. The set up works well for acoustic gigs and smaller venues where there is not much room.
Away from music I love ice skating (that’s how I broke my arm recently) and I’m also a dedicated supporter of Coventry Blaze Ice Hockey team. I wrote a song for them. You can hear it as the first track on our last album – Let’s Have Another One”.
Bass, acoustic guitar, backing vocals, foot percussion and loops
String was originally a lead guitarist (which may explain his approach to playing the bass).
After years playing a traditional 4 string bass he now almost always plays a 5-string bass which has fulfilled his long-held desire for even deeper, lower notes. “There’s a sweet spot where we rehearse , where you can really feel those notes. It’s the best place to stand,” String said.
String says “My bass is an MTD Kingston series 5 string,. Just occasionally it might play my old Yamaha 4 string. For strings I use Rotosounds on the Yammy and 5 string D’Adarrio sets for the MTD. My current bass rig is a Genz Benz. It gives me great clarity for the high notes and plenty of bass at the bottom too.”
String’s pedal board provides a range of tones, sounds and delays for the bass plus some very useful distortions for songs with a more rocky sound. There a triggers for drum loops too.
For drum sounds live String and Steff work together: he controls the Roland SPD-SX sample pad to select the drum sounds Steff triggers with her foot percussion.