Fire Alley
Fire Alley is a Melodic Hard Rock band from Phoenix, Arizona showcasing kick ass rockers with incredible vocals.
2
songs
716
plays
She's A Deceiver She's A Deceiver
This a up-tempo rocker relating that age old story of being lied and cheated on.
Wait Wait
An old fashioned, kick ass, “riff” song about asking someone one last time before closing the door on a relationship. A bit of early Van Halen influence on this one.
Based in Scottsdale, Arizona; Fire Alley was formed in 1997 by guitarist Jack “Jaxxon” Schwarz and his son James. The band showcases an aggressive blend of melodic hard rock and blues...a result of the four members diverse musical backgrounds.Band/artist history
Jaxxon is the elder statesman of the band. Born in The Netherlands, Jaxxon and his family immigrated to the USA in 1957. He started his career in the music business in 1965 playing all over Southern California. He has played in groups traveling from Southern California to Alaska and has been involved in many facets of the music business. Jaxxon is a well-respected guitar technician and for over fourteen years has traveled the world giving seminars and hosting guitar clinics for Fender Musical Instruments . He is the band's main songwriter and arranger. Jaxxon draws his guitar influences from the greats... Hendrix, Clapton ,and Beck, but he has developed a style very much his own. Playing with a fluid style, tone, and flair, he also adds his vocal talents to the band.
Lead vocalist , James Welch was born in Klamath Falls, Oregon. James , though a die-hard rocker, sings with pure emotion . He draws from his love of such diverse vocal influences as Otis Redding, Paul Rodgers, and Steve Perry. He can deliver a tender ballad or belt out a driving rocker with equal expertise. James started singing at age 9, and was performing by age 11. He also plays guitar and keyboards to help round out the bands melodic capability.
Born in Dallas, Texas the home of the “Texas Blues”, bassist Mark Blythe brings the groove and drive to the band's rhythm section. He brings with him an extensive background in guitar, including a degree in guitar luthiery. He has honed his bass guitar skills, drawing from guitar influences like Eric Johnson and bass influences like Geddy Lee. Mark also lends his vocal talents, adding to the textures of harmonies flavoring the band's sound. He has also traveled with several bands throughout the Western US and Canada.
The newest addition to the group, multi-talented drummer Michael Scott is originally from Kansas City, MO. He is well-known for his spectacular playing while a member of the recording acts "Vyper" and “Prizoner”. Michael brings a new dimension and drive to the Fire Alley rhythm section and when combined with bassist, Mark Blythe, is a thunderous force to be reckoned with.Have you performed in front of an audience?All of the members of Fire Alley are working musicians who play in the classic hard rock cover band Roxster around the metro Phoenix, Arizona area. Fire Alley is the alter ego for the bands original material.
Your musical influences
Fire Alley draws its influences from great hard rock bands like Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Aerosmith, Hendrix, Deep Purple, and Styx just to name a few.What equipment do you use?
We are proud endorsees of Fender Musical Instruments.Anything else?
Fire Alley’s first self-titled cd was released in September of 2002 and is available through Nightmare Records (www.nightmarerecords.com). It has since received numerous favorable reviews around the world . Here are some excerpts:
From the UK :
Nicky Baldrian of AORDreamzones: Singer James Welch has a great voice that is like Stryper's Michael Sweet. In fact, this song (Wait) is very much like Stryper circa "Against The Law", catchy chorus, layered guitars. Check it out...it's a good song, if you love Stryper then you will love 'Wait'.
From Italy :
Andrea Bertamino of AORwebsite : Opener "Wait" (with a malicious slice of Motley Crue) is son of the typical Southern American States rock and in the ‘70s airplay would be massive, but one of the best moments arrives with "Call On Me", delicate AOR semi ballad showing a perfect mix of Richard Marx and Bad Company. "Thick And Thin" (originally written by Bad Angels) is another semi ballad, a little more melancholic and at the same time a little less fine than "Call On Me", is a good appetizer for "Living For The Moment" alternating powerful blues blows (chorus) with a pompous verse like Styx/Angel, and for the hard rock like Led Zeppelin "Reaching For You" offering a great final portion melodic as Boston. "Dear Child" was written by Jack in 1977 and results to be a very nice pomp rock with those usual blues hints featured also in melodic rocker "Lost In Yesterday” . “Winner Takes It All" has a rock blues basement over which Jaxxon plays a long solo showing his love for Eddie Van Halen and Jimi Hendrix, so it’s up to "By My Side", enriched with piano and keyboards, to give sweetness to the soul before "Black Cat Crawl" (again between Bad Company and Motley Crue) salutes us. Fire Alley have released a sincere, old fashioned as still good to listen to rock album that will hit regularly my cd player.
From The USA:
Dan of HeavyHarmonies: S o what's going on in Arizona? If this CD is any indication, they've got some good music going on down there.
Fire Alley's debut CD is quite solid for a self-produced effort. A nice mix of both mid-tempo numbers and melodic ballads, the band shows it is capable of performing multiple styles equally well (it would have been nice to hear them "rock out" on at least one number, if nothing else but to hear what they're capable of doing at that end of the musical spectrum).
Building on a '70s base with a hint of blues from time to time, this band cranks out a very capable brand of melodic rock. If I had to sum up the band's sound in one swell foop, I'd call it a "stripped back version of Styx". At times the songs have a bit of a "demoish" sound to them, and you can hear where various parts need a bit more depth and polish. This will come in time (and budget). Overall a very good start! Rating: 81/100
From The Netherlands:
Gabor Kleinbloesem of Strutterzine: Out of Arizona, USA comes FIRE ALLEY, a good quality Rock band that combines elements of all sorts of 70 Rock styles (Blues rock, Melodic Hardrock and Pomprock). The band sounds like a mixture between BAD COMPANY, BOSTON, URIAH HEEP and STYX, combining good melodic lead and harmony vocals with a Bluesy Hardrock sound. No straight-forward uptempo rockers can be found on this disc, it's more slow tempo with a Bluesy and Groovy riff here and there, while never forgetting a catchy melody in each and every song. Highlights on the CD are "Call On Me" (calmer AOR ballad), "Thick and Thin" (typical 80s melodic rock ballad), "Reaching for You" (good slow tempo 70s rocker with a great catchy chorus a la BOSTON meets HEEP), "Dear Child" (lovely high class Pomp Melodic Rocker like ANGEL meets STYX, yet without a big keyboard sound) and "Lost in Yesterday" (another great 70s melodic rocker). There's also some more clear Blues rock orientated material on the album, such as "Wait" and "Winner Takes It All", but in general this is a recommended 70s orientated Rock album. Interesting for fans of bands like REO SPEEDWAGON, HEAD EAST, early FOREIGNER, BOSTON, URIAH HEEP, ANGEL, BAD COMPANY Rating: 8/10
From Greece:
Michael Dalakos of The Temple Of Metal: Hmm I’ve listened this album many times. Nice, delicate work with passion was my first opinion about it. Fire Alley hails from the States and in the self titled album they are giving us the gift of melodic heavy rock. Lot of bands came in mind after the listening: Motley Crue, Styx, Bad Company, Boston and so many others
Wait a minute though. I don’t mean that the band copy/paste all the above. On the contrary all the above influences are well molted into one music entity. The material is guitar driven by the talented Jack Schwarz. But their joker in sleeve is the brilliant singer James Welch, I really loved his voice, so delicate and powerful like very few out there.
So the heavy/groovy opener “Wait” is followed by the semi-ballad “Call On Me” (what a nice track). Other killing tracks are “Winner Takes It AllContact
Sorry, this artist currently doesn't accept email messages.
