Category: Stolen Fire

Post Civil Protection tour shenanigans, album plans, and all that fun stuff

Posted adfieldingLeave a commentPosted in Civil Protection, General, Music, Patch design, Stolen Fire

It dawned on me recently that I probably should have updated this page when the Civil Protection album was actually released, or after we finished touring it… but I guess I’m just not that smart. In any case, both of those things happened, and you can listen to the Civil Protection album in its entirety using this handy little music player doofer. Hooray! I’m afraid you’ll have to forgive the gaps between tracks, but you can get around those by buying the album.

So. Anyway. The tour. Well, that was an interesting experience – full of fun! Full of laughter! Full of Sylvester Stallone impersonations that totally didn’t get old at all, I don’t care what you say. And full of glorious, glorious noise!

We ended up performing the bulk of our gigs up North, with a couple of gigs a little further south (namely in Nottingham & Islington). Unfortunately, a lot of the planning was a bit of a last-minute affair, so there were a couple of gigs where maybe things didn’t go as smoothly as I would have hoped. Having said that, those moments were overshadowed by the moments where things went more-or-less exactly as planned, and it’s always fantastic to play to a crowd who really gets what we’re trying to do. We’ve all learned a lot from the experience, and I’d just like to say a huge thanks to everyone who came along to our noise-making sessions!

As an aside: if I ever see a lead vocalist yawn on-stage again during a set (seriously, this actually happened) then I will genuinely lose my shit.

So, right now I’m currently knee-deep in another patch design project which I imagine will keep me occupied for a good chunk of this month. However, that hasn’t stopped me from working on some new material in the past couple of months. I don’t want to get too ahead of myself, but I have a few ideas in place regarding my next album, and what I want to do with it. One thing I am quite keen to do is to release it independently – it’s early days at the moment, but I’ve had a few interesting ideas regarding distribution since my last independent release – which would be 2010’s Lightfields album, which has since been re-released – and I’m not entirely sure whether I’d be able to do what I want to do any other way.

Anyway… I do believe I am getting ahead of myself here, and it’s going to be a very long time before I’m ready to release another album. In the meantime, you can have a sneaky listen to what I’ve been up to lately via this second handy little music player doofer.

(18/03/14: sorry, I’m being all sneaky and hiding my stuff and that)

Civil Protection album “Stolen Fire”, out 7th October

Posted adfielding2 CommentsPosted in Civil Protection, General, Music, Stolen Fire

As some of you may or may not know, I play guitar & perform vocals in a band called Civil Protection alongside my solo work.

Earlier in the year we were signed to indie label Bunnysnot Records, and started working on our debut album – which was also mixed & produced by yours truly.

Titled Stolen Fire, the album’s a bit of a departure from our earlier work, and is a mostly instrumental post-rock affair. Working on the album was quite the learning experience, especially given that it’s the first project I’ve properly worked on featuring entirely live instrumentation & manipulated audio based on live recordings (outside of a drum-machine & synth based track intro).

We’ve had a couple of glowing reviews come in, which you can check out here, here, and here.

I’m really excited about this, and we’ll be following up the album release with a short UK tour from October 11-20th. In the meantime, you can listen to one of the tracks from the album (Alaska) on our Bandcamp page, which we will also be using to take pre-orders in the near future.

Here’s a bit of information regarding the release:

Post-rock outfit Civil Protection are gearing up to release their highly anticipated debut album ‘Stolen Fire’.

The Yorkshire band – formed of members Adam Fielding, Nathan Bradley, Josh Clark, Philip Birch and Kenny Skey – came together back in 2010. Sharing a love for bands such as The American Dollar and Mogwai, it was a natural progression for the band to edge towards the post-rock, highly atmospheric sound they quickly developed.

Their experimental approach, which favours mood and texture, transmits immediately into the arresting soundscapes the band creates. Motivated by their support slots with like-minded acts such as Scottish math-rock band Vasa and The Indelicates, the band released a handful of early demos showcasing their sound. Continuing to gig and pen material, the band caught the eye of independent label Bunnysnot Records and are now looking towards their debut LP.

Composing the record between their guitarists’ own studio and Active Audio in Harrogate, the skeleton of ‘Stolen Fire’, which had been floating around for years, soon took form. From the mysterious opening guitar drones to the final crescendo, ‘Stolen Fire’ is a truly arresting listen. Evoking elements from Mogwai’s own record Come On Die Young, as well as sharing similarities with groups such as Caspian and This Will Destroy You, the album wrestles the listener between beautifully ambient sections through to heavier moments.

The band’s talents are quite clear throughout, – whether it be in the epic guitar tremolo riffs found in ‘My Memories Will Be Part Of The Sky’, or chugging bassline in ‘Many Moons Ago’ – and their refined sound is apparent for all to hear. Inducing moments of melancholy and euphoria in equal parts, ‘Stolen Fire’ is a stunning debut release from this Yorkshire group.

You can also check out Alaska via the Soundcloud player below.

Stolen Fire will be released in physical & digital formats on the 7th October. You can find Civil Protection on Facebook and Twitter. Drop by and say hello!