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FIRE (Official MySpace)

About Me


LATEST NEWS:
FIRE (ALL ORIGINAL LINE-UP - DAVE LAMBERT, BOB VOICE AND DICK DUFALL) ARE TO PERFORM AT STRAWBS' 40TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS, WEEKEND OF 12/13 SEPTEMBER 2009! FIRE, TOGETHER WITH SEVERAL OTHER SIDELINE BANDS AND PROJECTS OF STRAWBS' MEMBERS PAST AND PRESENT (AND, OF COURSE, STRAWBS THEMSELVES!) WILL BE PLAYING IN THE LIVE ROOM, SOUTH STAND, TWICKENHAM RUGBY GROUND. MORE INFORMATION TO BE POSTED ON THIS SITE SHORTLY!FIRE came THIRD in the the Marmalade Skies' "Hall of Psychedelic Superlatives" 2008 poll, and have now been inducted to join a "psychedelic elite"! (visit www.marmalade-skies.co.uk for more information). Thanks to everyone who voted for Fire, putting them above an illustrious list of bands to jump from 26th place in 2007 to 3rd place in 2008.
The amazing leap has been largely due no doubt to the October 2008 release of "THE MAGIC SHOEMAKER LIVE" CD, and "TREACLE TOFFEE WORLD", the APPLE Artists' compilation CD also released that month which features not just the title track from Fire, but three other Fire songs as well.MORE DETAILS ABOUT BOTH ALBUMS BELOW:
"THE MAGIC SHOEMAKER LIVE!", professionally recorded during Fire's 2007 reunion concerts and released on Angel Air Records in October 2008. The recording was made during the Fire's first ever performances of "The Magic Shoemaker" (released in 1970) in its entirety, and also features live versions of "FATHER'S NAME IS DAD" and "TREACLE TOFFEE WORLD".
Available NOW fromANGEL AIR RECORDS and most major retailers including PLAY.COM and AMAZON.COM .
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The latest APPLE ARTISTS' CD, (Vol. 3) was released during late October 2008 and features FOUR Fire songs ("Father's Name is Dad", "Treacle Toffee World", "Spare a Copper" and "Will I Find Love"). The album is entitled "TREACLE TOFFEE WORLD"!
That news delighted Dave....as also did the chance conversation which revealed that "Father's Name is Dad" was sampled by THE PET SHOP BOYS for the b-side of their 2004 top twenty CD "Flamboyant"! Dave's guitar riffs feature prominently throughout the song, which is entitled "I DIDN'T GET WHERE I AM TODAY". Lambert is credited as a co-writer - Dave was both delighted and stunned to hear that....in April 2008!
"FLAMBOYANT"
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Another of Dave's friends from Boys' Brigade days was JOHN ENTWISTLE of THE WHO. Their friendship continued well beyond boyhood years, and in 1978 when Dave recorded his first solo album "FRAMED" in Los Angeles, he was presented him with what sadly turned out to be his only opportunity to record with John, who played bass on the album.
"FRAMED" - DAVE LAMBERT
In a recent TV documentary entitled "THUNDERFINGERS", Dave and various other musicians (including RICK WAKEMAN and GORDON GILTRAP) recounted numerous tales of their friendships with John, following his sad and untimely death. The documentary was subsequently made available in DVD format and may be purchased from many major retailers.
"THUNDERFINGERS - A TRIBUTE TO THE LEGENDARY JOHN ENTWISTLE OF THE WHO"
"Father's Name is Dad" also featured in a BBC4 TV documentary entitled "The Rise and Fall of the Ad Man", first broadcast in the week commencing 9th March 2008 with further showings since.
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Pictured above: Dave Lambert, his sister Sue and Ian MacLagan (ex-Small Faces, Faces etc.) following Ian's Buckingham concert with The Bump Band in July 2008. Dave and Ian have kept in touch since their days as infant school classmates!

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WHAT ARE THE MEMBERS OF FIRE UP TO THESE DAYS..... DAVE LAMBERT has toured extensively in the UK, US, Canada, Japan and many parts of Europe since rejoining Strawbs approximately ten years ago (playing in both electric and acoustic formats). Strawbs have released several new albums, including a new album released in September 2008 entitled "THE BROKEN HEARTED BRIDE". Dave has also released his second solo album ("WORK IN PROGRESS"), and a collaboration with Strawbs' bass player CHAS CRONK entitled "TOUCH THE EARTH" (released under the name of LAMBERT CRONK in April 2007). Visit DAVE LAMBERT'S MYSPACE , LAMBERT CRONK'S MYSPACE and STRAWBS' website for further information.
BOB VOICE is now a highly successful comedy agent, handling many major acts, and until rehearsals commenced he had not played drums for thirty years!
DICK DUFALL, however, continued his career as a professional bass guitarist and continues to enjoy playing with a showband.
RAY HAMMOND is Europe's most experienced and most widely published futurologist, having spent more than 25 years researching, writing, speaking and broadcasting about how future trends will affect society and business. He is the author of four futuristic novels, ten non-fiction books and various film, TV and radio dramas (www.rayhammond.co.uk).
Many of Fire's creations continue to receive radio airplay around the globe, including Europe, USA, Canada and South East Asia. "The Magic Shoemaker" album, though now an extremely rare and highly valuable collectors' item in its original vinyl format, has been released on CD and is available from many leading music stockists.
"THE MAGIC SHOEMAKER" - FIRE (now widely available on CD).
DAVE LAMBERT USES, AND IS A FEATURED ARTIST OF, ROTOSOUND.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 6/23/2007
Band Members:

DAVE LAMBERT was born in Hounslow, Middlesex, and showed his desire to make music from a young age. He first learnt to play drums, then moved on to ukelele and guitar at the ripe old age of seven, and made his onstage debut at Alexandra Junior School when he was eleven years old.
In 1963 he began writing his own material, and in 1966 Dave formed FRIDAY'S CHYLD together with BOB VOICE (a friend from Dave's Boys' Brigade days), and DICK DUFALL. The following year the band's name was changed to FIRE, and Dave wrote "FATHER'S NAME IS DAD" which was recorded and released to much acclaim.

FIRE: (l-r) Dick Dufall, Dave Lambert, Bob Voice.
Dave turned fully professional on 1st January 1968 and whilst writing a new stage act for Fire he broke new ground by penning a very early concept album; a musical fairytale entitled "THE MAGIC SHOEMAKER". The album, now a much sought-after collectors' item, was released in 1970 on the Pye label and included contributions from DAVE COUSINS (who Dave Lambert had first met at an early STRAWBS concert) on banjo, and PAUL BRETT on electric guitar. The concept format was adopted by other artistes, and “THE MAGIC SHOEMAKER” subsequently became a rare collectors’ item and remains so to this day.Dave’s initial idea did not involve a central character of a magic shoemaker, but rather a whole series of cameo character studies. However, the shoemaker came to prominence, and those familiar with "The Magic Shoemaker" will know that the shoemaker's name is “Mark”, rather a rather strange choice given the story’s fairytale content. Dave has never been quite sure why he chose the name, however, during recent investigations into his family tree, Dave revealed he discovered several “Mark Lamberts”. Born in 1815 was one such "Mark Lambert", whose profession was slightly spookily listed as “shoemaker”!The original recording, which gave the impression of being made on a coach, actually occurred at a house in Walton-on-Thames (the engine sounds came from a music library and were overdubbed) where a party was thrown for several children who were close relatives of the record producers. Dave had the task of attempting to entertain them with his story, which he had “cobbled” together the previous evening.


DAVE ENJOYING A LIGHT ALE AT A RECORDING SESSION FOR "THE MAGIC SHOEMAKER"
Dave found the lengthy process of writing and recording "The Magic Shoemaker" draining and even now listening to the album evokes vivid memories of the intensity involved. He spent approximately a year writing the album, followed by a month working all through each night recording demos, a confusing and disorientating experience which he considers robbed him of his musical objectivity at the time. For two weeks after finishing recording Dave could not even bring himself to listen to the final mixes, eventually hearing them only when Ray Hammond brought them to his house in Hounslow. The album was released on the Pye label, however, despite their success, Fire disbanded when Dave felt he had reached a point of creative stagnation and had also become disillusioned with the unfathomable workings of the music industry. A vinyl album entitled “Underground and Overhead: The Alternate Fire” containing tracks from “The Magic Shoemaker”, together with classics including “Father’s Name is Dad”, “Will I Find Love” and “Treacle Toffee World” was released in 1997 on the Tenth Planet label. More recently, the album was re-released, in CD format by Wooden Hill and is currently available with six additional recordings, making a total of nineteen tracks.

"UNDERGROUND AND OVERHEAD: THE ALTERNATE FIRE" - (vinyl)

"UNDERGROUND AND OVERHEAD: THE ALTERNATE FIRE" - (CD)
TRACK LISTING1. Father's Name Is Dad 1 (Lambert) 2. Treacle Toffee World (Lambert) 3. Happy Sound (Lambert) 4. Spare A Copper (Lambert) 5. Will I Find Love (Lambert) 6. Man In The Teapot (Freedman) 7. Only A Dream (Lambert) 8. Magic Shoes (Lambert) 9. I've Still Got Time (Lambert) 10. I Know You Inside Out (Lambert) 11. Reason For Everything (Lambert) 12. Alison Wonderland (Lambert) 13. * I Just Can't Wait (Lambert) 14. * I Didn't Know You (Lambert) 15. * Can't Be So Bad (Miller) 16. * Green-Legged Auntie Sally (Lambert) 17. * Mama (Lambert) 18. * Oh Johnny (Lambert) 19. Father's Name Is Dad 2 (Lambert)* = CD only tracks
However, despite feeling Fire had run its course many years before, Dave was filled with enthusiasm in late 2006 when the idea of Fire reuniting to stage “The Magic Shoemaker” first began to evolve. This resulted from Dave being shown a book by a young guy in Upstate NY entitled “THEN NOW AND RARE: BRITISH BEAT 1960-1969” by TERRY RAWLINGS. Dave looked for Fire and was pleasantly surprised to find a full page photo and spread. Upon hearing of his embryonic plans to stage the album, the musicians involved in the original recording jumped at the idea of being part of the recreation of Fire, much to Dave’s astonishment and delight!

"THEN NOW AND RARE: BRITISH BEAT 1960 - 1969"
Another book, written in 2002 by Stefan Granados, dedicates a couple of pages to Dave's career and the history of Fire. "THOSE WERE THE DAYS: AN UNOFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE BEATLES' APPLE ORGANIZATION 1967-2001" was published by Cherry Red books. In April 2008 Dave was interviewed by Stefan for an updated version of the book due to be released in the USA.

THOSE WERE THE DAYS: AN UNOFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE BEATLES' APPLE ORGANISATION 1967-2001
The hard work and dedication involved in preparing for the shows was considerable; rehearsals involving the rhythm section, with Bob using an electric drum-kit, took place approximately once a month from the inception of the idea of reforming, with rehearsals intensifying greatly in the final weeks before the shows.
Finally, two amazing and unforgettable theatrical concerts took place at The Windlesham Club and Theatre on 30th November and 1st December 2007, during which "The Magic Shoemaker" album was played in its entirety as had been planned all those years ago, but had never before come to fruition.
RAY HAMMOND, Fire's earliest manager, kept the audience enthralled with narration of "The Magic Shoemaker" fairytale which served to introduce each song (and had been cunningly rewritten by Dave to include "Father's Name is Dad" and "TREACLE TOFFEE WORLD").
FIRE REHEARSING....
Not only did the band members play superbly despite the thirty-seven year break, but the shows involved theatrics, with psychedelic and strobe lighting, a smoke machine, a projector screen and other stage props.

.....AND FIRE IN FULL FLIGHTDespite his intensive schedule with Strawbs (electric and acoustic formats), Dave somehow found time to write out each individual’s part for the performances, and also completely rewrote the script for Ray to narrate, which he did beautifully throughout.

RAY HAMMOND NARRATING "THE MAGIC SHOEMAKER"
Fire classics "Father's Name is Dad" and "Treacle Toffee World" were cunningly woven into the story by Dave, who not only sang lead vocals and played guitars during the concerts but also played keyboards and harmonica.
DAVE PERFORMED A KEYBOARD SOLO........FOLLOWED BY A GUITAR SOLO
Each of the shows gave twenty-first century audiences a rare opportunity to experience classic sounds from the psychedelic '60s performed by their original creators, and finished with well-deserved standing ovations for the outstanding performances of all involved. The audiences consisted of fans of psychedelic music of all generations, many having travelled from overseas.
Dave, Bob, Dick and Ray were delighted to meet up with Fire fans old and new, some of whom had travelled long distances to be there, including fans known to have come from Hungary and Italy.

l-r: BOB, DICK AND DAVE RELAXING IN THE WINDLESHAM THEATRE BAR AFTER THE SHOWS

Grateful thanks for photos to: P. Bradley, A. Brown, L. Cotton, D. Greener, S. Holton, L. Sorrell and K. West. Apologies if I have omitted to thank any contributors - if so, please let me know!

Record Label: Angel Air Records
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

Dave Lambert radio interview link (mentions FIRE to play in Sept. 09!)

Here's a link to Dave Lambert being interviewed by Ross Hemsworth of Glastonbury Radio (http://www.glastonburyradio.net), broadcast on 24 April 09.  http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/5/9/1064058/DL_...
Posted by on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 05:13:00 GMT

Fire feature in Goldmine mag, 30 Jan 09 issue

There's an excellent page-and-a-half Fire article by PeterLindblad, who recently interviewed Dave Lambert, in the 30th January 2009 issue of Goldmine magazine(www.goldminemag.com).Peter has also recen...
Posted by on Fri, 30 Jan 2009 14:31:00 GMT

Cover of "Father's Name is Dad" by Les Cotton (Rocles)

Another great cover version of "Father's Name is Dad", by Les Cotton (http://www.myspace.com/rocles) - this has a gentler sound, with terrific phasing effect to finish, in the style of The Pet Shop ...
Posted by on Fri, 16 Jan 2009 02:10:00 GMT

FIRE - 4 page spread in Shindig Magazine, Jan-Feb 09 issue!!

There's an excellent four page spread about Fire in the Jan/Feb copy of Shindig! magazine - available at several UK outlets including W H Smiths, and also for UK and overseas buyers from the Shindig! ...
Posted by on Mon, 12 Jan 2009 07:04:00 GMT

The Concrete Gods version of FNID - link

The following link takes you to The Concrete Gods' high-energy version of "Father's Name is Dad"....http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/5/9/1064058/FNID_T CG.wmaThanks guys!The Concrete Gods: http://www....
Posted by on Thu, 08 Jan 2009 06:37:00 GMT

Many thanks to all who voted for Fire in Marmalade Skies 2008 HOPS Poll!

A MASSIVE thank you from Fire - Dave Lambert, Bob Voice, and Dick Dufall, to everyone who voted for them in the Marmalade Skies (www.marmalade-skies.co.uk) annual poll for the favourite British psyche...
Posted by on Sat, 13 Dec 2008 06:01:00 GMT

Dave Lambert of Fire interview - Trilogy Rock Radio in Spain

Listen at the following link to Maurici Ribera's interesting interview with Dave Lambert for Trilogy Rock Radio (www.trilogyrock.com).  Maurici  called from Spain to speak to Dave on 10th De...
Posted by on Sat, 13 Dec 2008 05:44:00 GMT

Fires Dave Lambert interview on WNYU FM (broadcast 8 Dec 08)

..tr> The following link should take you to an interview broadcast by WNYU on 8th December 2008.  WNYU's Baron Saturday in...
Posted by on Sat, 13 Dec 2008 05:39:00 GMT

The Driscolls - cover of Fathers Name is Dad (1988)

This link should take you to a cover of Father's Name is Dad by The Driscolls, released in 1988.  Recently spotted on Ebay, the flexidisc unfortunately did not credit Dave Lambert as writer.http...
Posted by on Tue, 25 Nov 2008 02:28:00 GMT

Gary Jackson interview with Dave Lambert (Nov. 08)

Cut and paste the following link to hear Gary Jackson's (garyjacksonradio.com) interview with Dave Lambert, first broadcast at www.expressfm.com on 10th November 2008:http://www.fileden.com/files/200...
Posted by on Sat, 15 Nov 2008 04:06:00 GMT