Song Of The Week: 7/28/19

Song: "Folding The Pages"

Artist: Smoke Or Fire

Album: "This Sinking Ship"

Year: 2007

Place Of Origin: Boston, Massachusetts

Years Active: 1998 - present



WHAT I THINK THE SONG IS ABOUT:

"Folding The Pages" appears to be a song about people being trapped in the monotony of their own lives. You almost get a sense that people are imprisoned by their everyday lives. The vocalist describes various scenario's, but each is the person's own hell. They may be different, but pain is pain, no matter the form. People are being bombarded by entertainment, politics, consumption, society and religion and at the same time trying to get by living their mundane existence.

SMOKE OR FIRE DISCOGRAPHY (Full length albums only):

2000 - When The Battery Dies (Gunboat Records) (re-released in 2015 under Say-10 Records)
2005 - Above The City (Fat Wreck Chords)
2007 - This Sinking Ship (Fat Wreck Chords)
2010 - The Speakeasy (Fat Wreck Chords)

CURRENT STATUS OF SMOKE OR FIRE:

Smoke Or Fire formed as a band back in 1998, hailing from Boston, Massachusetts. Originally, the band was called Jericho, then had to revise that name to Jericho RVA to avoid lawsuit from a Houston based band of the same name. As Jericho RVA, the band released the 2000 album, "When The Battery Dies" and the 2003 EP, "Worker's Union". Before that EP was released, the band had relocated to Richmond, Virginia as it was getting too expensive to live in Boston. The band changed their name once and for all to Smoke Or Fire shortly after the release of "Worker's Union". That EP caught the attention of Fat Mike of NOFX who signed Smoke Or Fire to his label Fat Wreck Chords. The band's first release with Fat Wreck was 2005's "Above This City". The band's most successful release followed that up in 2007 with "This Sinking Ship". The band recorded a music video for the song "The Patty Hearst Syndrome" off of that album. In 2010, the band put out what would be their last full length album as of the current date with "The Speakeasy". Smoke Or Fire's most recent release was a 2019 split with the band Authority Zero. Smoke Or Fire is a solid melodic punk band. Lead singer Joe McMahon is a gifted songwriter and lyricist and no doubt should get more credit than he does in the punk rock world. McMahon actually moved to Germany a few years back and has been really heavily focused on his solo career. He is one of many punk rock frontmen to ditch the electric for an acoustic and has focused more on a stripped down form of music. The good news is that Smoke Or Fire just contributed to a split with Authority Zero in 2019 so that tells me the band is not dead and hopefully, they are planning on a proper studio album of new material. If you like bands like Banner Pilot, None More Black, Dead To Me, The Lawrence Arms or American Steel then you would most likely enjoy the music of Smoke Or Fire. They are unheralded and under the radar but really a fantastic band!

TEN SMOKE OR FIRE SONGS YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT:

1. Honey I Was Right About The War
2. The Patty Hearst Syndrome
3. What Separates Us All
4. 1968
5. Monsters Among Us
6. California's Burning
7. Everything Falls Apart
8. Speak Easy
9. Afghanistan
10. Filter