finetune artist: Jonathan Fire*Eater

The members of Jonathan Fire*eater - Stewart Lupton (b. 1975, Washington DC, USA; vocals), Walter Martin (b. Washington DC, USA; organ), Paul Maroon (b. Washington DC, USA; guitar), Matt Barrick (b. Washington DC, USA; drums) and Tom Frank (b. Washington, DC, USA; bass) - began playing together as a punk outfit. In 1995 they transplanted to a one-bedroom apartment in New York City in the hope that the city's atmosphere would be more receptive to their fusion of garage rock sounds with smart suits and bohemian overtones. Within a year the quintet was playing to thousand-strong houses and comparisons with everyone from Smokey Robinson to Nick Cave were flying around. A succession of independently released singles, dominated by Lupton's intensity and Martin's atmospheric keyboard lines, attracted major label interest and they were among the first signings to DreamWorks Records in the USA. There was initial suspicion in the UK, where post-Goth "suit" bands were ten a penny, but the band's live set and debut album Wolf Songs For Lambs soon won over the critics. Sadly, the band imploded in 1998 before they could build on the success of their initial releases. Their cult mini-album Tremble Under Boom Lights proved a lasting influence on the new wave of "no wave" bands that burst into the mainstream charts in the new millennium. Maroon, Barrick and Martin reconvened as the Walkmen, enjoying commercial approval with their 2004 album, Bows + Arrows.

Listen to Jonathan Fire*Eater at Finetune.

(1997) Wolf Songs For Lambs
(1996) Tremble Under Boom Lights

The Search For Cherry Red
When The Curtain Calls For You
Bipolar Summer
Make It Precious
A Night In The Nursery