Bumblefest Week: Day 4 The Darling Fire
Day 4 of our deep dive into the best local bands of the two day West Palm Beach based music festival
West Palm Beach- We've spoken of the hallowed venues amidst the 500 Block of Clematis Street. Small haunts, and the sacred ghosts of those past, sit quietly in repose in the daytime as the train tracks and bus exhausts narrate the rest of the daylight.
But upon moonrise? The cement blocks that hold the history of all the sounds it has absorbed, come alive in neon glory, reverb and, coincidentally, best described as the name of our fourth pick for best local acts at Bumblefest, The Darling Fire.
The Southern Florida based act will be playing the Respectable Street Main Stage, Saturday September 14th at 9:30pm, and while we still encourage you to sample all of the flavors you can of the Florida acts that will be playing the festival, The Darling Fire make our list due in part, to their ambition.
A beautiful, and passionate combination of The White Stripes, the storming ferocity of The Doors and a touch of Metric, the five piece are a force to be reckoned with. Though the band itself is in it's infancy (it's members, all seasoned local vets of the scene) they have quickly and impressively earned the accolade of becoming a statewide favorite, drawing a steady following everywhere from Orlando to Miami. Not just because of their compositions, but the flames the band kindle through their sound, with hills and valleys that always remain fresh with every listen.
We posed our Bumblefest Introduction Questionnaire to Jolie Lindholm, frontwoman and guitarist of the group, to get you excited and as always, dancing.
The first artist you were influenced by?
Jolie Lindholm- For me personally, this would have to be The Beatles. My parents used to play their albums continuously through our home stereo when I was younger and I would sing along to every word. I've always loved their melodic sensibilities.
How did you all meet, and how have you influenced each other since?
JL- Our guitarist Jeronimo and I are married and played together in the early 2000's in a band called The Rocking Horse Winner on Equal Vision Records. We knew our drummer Steve from back then as well. He was an old friend and played in the band Further Seems Forever. We ran into our guitarist Matt and asked him to join after writing a couple of songs. Gregg was a good friend of Steve's and was brought in last. We've become close and work so well together. We definitely have the same idea of what kind of direction we'd like to take this band - which is as far as we're able to. We've brought slight variations in musical taste to the table and that helps shape the sound.
JL- That's difficult to answer - there are so many great Florida bands...but some of our favorites that we've shared the stage with this year are Rilian from Tampa, The Pauses from Orlando, In Motion from Hobe Sound and Palomino Blonde from Miami. All of them work so hard, write great music and put on a great show.
What was the first instrument you learned?
JL- Well, the very first instrument I learned to play was my own voice. I'm still learning...
Your favorite local spot?
JL- My husband Jeronimo and I have become Friday regulars at O'Shea's in West Palm recently. The staff are awesome and it's a pretty relaxed crowd.
How is your local music scene, and what's one good thing about it; similarly, one thing you wish you could fix?
JL- Our local music scene is very eclectic. There are a lot of great hardworking bands within different genres in the area, if you know what to look for. The bands are also supportive of each other. One problem would be the lack of venues. There aren't as many cool places to play as I remember there being back in the day.
Where was the first show you all played at?
JL- Our first show was in December of last year at Voltaire. We had a great turnout and it was nerve-wracking, but so much fun at a great venue with a group of bands we were so glad to have been able to put together. It was the best experience we could've wished for, for our first show.
What is the driving force of your music now, and what are your hopes in terms of evolution/development of that sound?
JL- We play what we would like to hear and are having a great time! We hope to gain some listeners along the way. We continue to write and our sound is naturally evolving in the process.
JL- We've continued to write new songs since the release of our album Dark Celebration on Spartan Records in June and are looking forward to releasing something again very soon!
And finally, what's the feeling that you hope to have listeners and those who come out to your shows, leave with?
JL- In my opinion, our music is heavier and more energetic for our live shows than may come across on the album. I think it's important to experience bands live when possible, so you can really feel the emotion that went into the songs and get a better sense of what we're all about.
Listen to “Dark Celebration” here http://thedarlingfire.bandcamp.com
Purchase Bumblefest Tickets here: http://bumblefest.com