If a combo consists of three musicians averaging 16.5 years old, it can only be a student band that can barely hold their instruments without incident. But what’s that rushing in from Switzerland?
A band that has existed since 2007 (!) is now celebrating its third long player and has already shared the stage with legends like Jerry Lee Lewis and Brian Setzer. They have thrilled crowds of 250,000 at Europe’s largest music festival in Belgrade. That sounds anything but amateurish. It fits the picture that brothers Phil (Vocals + Drums) and Michael (Guitar) along with their companion John (E-Bass) deliver only original compositions on their current, new album.
This is all elaborately produced with plenty of reverb, trumpets, backing vocals, and saxophone parts, and it somewhat resembles the somewhat ridiculed Baseballs. The difference is that The Fires
from Zurich are not a cast-together project. "Newschool Revival" has become a light rock n roll album, which sounds quite different from its two predecessors, as well-informed sources confirm. Here, things can get quite sentimental and yearning, but this assertion does not provide grounds for a critical examination and does not diminish my astonished impression of these youngsters at all. One can only hope that the bright minds, who seem mature and grounded for their age, continue their work fearlessly. That in twelve years they will present us with their at least ninth album.
Currently, lovesick teens are listening to "Cause I Love You," while "Crush Panic" offers poppy rock n roll (which could directly come from the Hotknives), and R n R traditionalists will likely love "Love at First Sight."
Give it a listen, think about the age of the protagonists, and be amazed!
Well done, who has surprised us all positively? The Swiss...
