SUREFIRE is proving to us all that sometimes the best bandmate is your own blood! This sibling duo is breaking down all the barriers that stand in their way from success. They’re a pop-rock duo established in 2017, hailing all the way from Pennsylvania. Although both of them are two different individuals, they somehow blend perfectly well together to bring an infectious and powerful track to your speakers with a big-time punch on stage. Fronted by Natalie’s powerful, magnetic voice, often compared to the likes of Pat Benatar and Florence Welch (Florence and the Machine), supported by our collective uniquely intertwined songwriting, they bring a collection of original songs that we hope take you on a ride and make your head bop! SUREFIRE strategically plans their music.
At the start of 2019, they originally intended to release 3 singles titled “Cars”, “Ghost”, and “Say”, which they did in fact release but with a twist. Knowing that the combination of these songs captures the essence of SUREFIRE, they decided to remix and remaster all records and repackage them together into a compilation titled “Who We Are”. In “Who We Are” you will expect; Say, A pop-rock smash; Ghost, a gutsy piano ballad; and Cars, a heartfelt duet. All three of these tracks were organically written and shows us the authentic sound, style, and story of SUREFIRE. You do not want to miss out on this dynamic duo whose taking the music industry by storm!
Listen to SUREFIRE here.
Welcome to BuzzMusic SUREFIRE! What inspired your super cool stage name? What was the story behind it? Thank you :) When we started to do some open mics a couple of years back, I was kicking around some band names. SUREFIRE came to mind as something that would match the edgy yet 'not taking ourselves too seriously' vibe we were going for. I mentioned it to Natalie and said something ultra corny like 'can't you hear Ryan Seacrest saying 'up next on AT40 it's SUREFIRE with 'Bullet in the Gun'' (our first ever song). She rolled her eyes at me hard for the Seacrest reference (understandably) and a couple days later we agreed it would be a good fit! Talk to us about your compilation “Who We Are”.
What Was the major theme you think all 3 of these songs have in common? The biggest theme the three songs have in common is that they are all completely, 100%, us. They are each different stories but we feel they flow well when listened to together. In three songs, it captures the range of songwriting we offer. 'Say' is a pop-rock jam that will make you want to dance. 'Ghost' is a piano ballad that is stripped down to show the strength of Natalie's voice and songwriting. 'Cars' is a love story told through dual male/female vocal melodies and harmonies which allow the listeners to really feel the emotion of the story. The main theme is really that they are a reflection of 'Who We Are'.
How would you describe the songwriting approach to the records in “Who We Are”? As we have done in the past each of these songs started with one of us. Natalie wrote 'Say' and 'Ghost' and Jason wrote 'Cars'. All three songs were fully written, then we worked together to round out each song an get them into final form. While they were each written separately, the collaboration was so key to get them to the final version. For 'Ghost' for example, Natalie wrote Ghost with an acoustic, we tried it more up-tempo, we tried it more rock 'n' roll, and towards the end of the process, Natalie was like 'wouldn't this be so good with just a piano?' and she was right. Each song has a story like that, and that is a big reason why we are so proud of this product. Did you make any changes when remixing & remastering these songs for “Who We Are”? Little tweaks here and there. We originally released each song as a single and wanted to retool them a little bit to make sure they sounded right together. We got a little help on the mastering from our friends at The Vault Recording Studios in Pittsburgh. While we’re proud of how the singles turned out, the additional touch gave it a little extra something :)
What would you consider your personal favorite element to the compilation and why? The touches in each song from both of us. I mentioned the story about ‘Ghost’...for ‘Say’ we collaborated on the lyrics and melody a little more than most of our other songs, and ‘Cars’ was written for Natalie to sing, but she suggested the dual vocal path, which turned out great. It just feels that the finished product represents us as SUREFIRE, rather than 2 individuals..and that’s our favorite part.
What’s next for you SUREFIRE? We are working on a two-pack of singles for a spring 2020 release. Two upbeat, fun, pop-rock jams that were super excited about! They’re called ‘Boys. Cry. Love’ and ‘Cold Nights’. And we have started writing an EP where the goal is to write everything from scratch, together in a room to really build on the collaborative element. And of course, get out and play! Really looking forward to 2020! Keep an eye out ;)