Fire Records

"I Wouldn't Piss On It If It Was On Fire"
( a history of "indie pyromania" and great music ! )

As artist manager and later as club entrepreneur, Clive Solomon became the architect of the so-called "New Psychedelic" revival which splashed across London's club and music scene in the early mid 80s. Meeting Alan McGee (who was to form Creation Records and later sign Oasis) and recognising a kindred musical spirit who shared his passion for the Television Personalities (Clive's very first signing as a music publisher), he began a loose working relationship with Alan as publisher to some of his earliest Creation signings. Then in 1986, Clive started Fire Records to develop the recording careers of his publishing proteges, notably The Farm, Blue Aeroplanes and Pulp.

From the mid 80's until the mid 90's, London-based Fire Records was on the cutting edge of indiedom, gaining a reputation for inspired and often maverick A&R; it released records regardless of prevailing musical trends and soon became firmly established as an important "signpost" label, widely regarded as one of the most fertile breeding grounds of new music.

The label released many of the most influential UK and USA artists of the last ten years including Teenage Fanclub, Spacemen 3 (Spiritualised), Blue Aeroplanes, Television Personalities, the Pastels, Telstar Ponies, Urge Overkill, The Lemonheads, Gigolo Aunts, Thea Gilmore and multi million-selling bands, Pulp and Everclear. The label also acquired the rights to the catalogue by the Adverts, the seminal band who provided a nascent Punk movemeent with it's first Top 20 single. Then - ptooff! The label was gone.

But equally out of the blue, Fire is back. According to label owner Clive Solomon, Fire's initial demise was due to being "fed up with losing money" and disillusionment over feeling he "wasn't connecting with vital music anymore."

Batteries now recharged, and aided by the sharp A&R eyes of label manager James Nicholls, the new-look label has already unleashed a swathe of gloriously eclectic records from the likes of Puerto Muerto, Sphyr , Bark Psychosis, War Against Sleep, Matthew Bayot (which will all be released domestically by Redeye in May 2005) as well as putting the finishing touches to the eagerly awaited Chamber Music project which involves Mercury Rev, Peter Buck (REM), Mike Watt, Jessica Bailiff, Mary Lorson, members of Sonic Youth etc. They'll also be re-issuing a host of records including the forthcoming limited edition of Neutral Milk Hotel classic 'On Avery Island'