This view of TFOF from The Gilded Palace Of Sin - Brighton's torch-bearers for our music - sort of sums up our last few months activity and the kind of thing you can expect from gigs and festival appearances over the summer months. Look out soon for news of our autumn tour.
Two Fingers of Firewater are a band we've wanted to work with since hearing their debut album earlier this year. Drawing on the three great eras of country (Carter/Cash, Byrds/Band and Jeff/Jay) they push all the right buttons. Sure, they wish they'd been born in Georgia not Guildford, but we won't hold that against them. Pedal steel, mandolin, banjo, accordion all feature and they've some barn-storming tunes (plus some choice covers).
Their album has a ragged quality that I really warmed to: they've left some of the warts in, and it's all the better for it. Opening your debut album with a cover might not always be advisable, but their rout of Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down (Carter Family: check, Uncle Tupelo: check) is more a statement of intent. Morphing into their own instrumental, Bandit, it suggests they're aware of their influences but willing to take them somewhere original too. Of their own songs, we get Buritto's-influenced 'tears in your whiskey' tunes (I'm Not Sad) and almost prog-leaning country-rock (The End).
Two Fingers of Firewater was formed in 2005 by founding band members Jon Clake (acoustic/electric guitars and vocals), Tom Harding (bass) and Alex Chappelow (pedal steel/guitar/mandolin). The original line-up changed significantly in mid-2007 with the addition of Stephen Price (keyboards) and James Sacha (drums).They've recently made hundreds of new friends across the UK on their ‘revue-style’ tour with US slide guitar legend Al Perkins, San Franciscan singer Brigitte Demeyer and Chris Donahue and Brady Blade, the bass and drums combo behind Emmylou Harris’ Spyboy project.
Late September will see the band touring the UK with Bloodshot Records artist the Deadstring Brothers. There are plans to visit the US for a series of dates early next year.
"A wonderful British band" Bob Harris, BBC Radio 2
Americana Music Times Review ***** (December 2008)
If you were to put Jay Farrar, They Might Be Giants, and The Jayhawks into a giant blender and push the "puree" button, you may create a giant bloody mess. But, if you concentrated really hard and thought positive thoughts, you might end up with Two Fingers of Firewater. I can't get this CD out of my player. Songs like the pseudo-gospel jam session "Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down" and the wistfully fun "Southbank Girl," pave the way for "The Night Ends" (my favorite song) with its references to "smoking someone else's cheap cigarettes," and "B Mando" with its neo-prog intro, which lead us to the gorgeously lush "The End" and the album's coda, a tribute to the "whatever" attitude, "The World Can Turn."
This is definitely one of the best records I've heard this year. (SC)
MAVERICK magazine review (October 2008)
Guildford based country roots rockers join that select group of British country-rock acts that sound both original and authentic, without trying to sing in an American accent.
Joining the hallowed ranks of British countrv-rock acts such as the Redlands Palomino Company, Southpaw and Buchanan, Two Fingers Of Firewater have with their self-titled debut made inroads in redefining the genre. Slightly more rock than country, this young five-piece play a variety of instruments and anyone who witnessed their live show at the inaugural Maverick festival will surely agree with me and say that they were one of the highlights of the festival.
Of the eleven tracks, all are penned by assorted band members, only a smidgen of the opening track is their take on the traditional 'Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down' combined with their self penned 'Bandit'. 'Endless Highway' comes from the writing school of Gram Parsons and shows just how good British country rock can be.
From The Half Moon, Putney, London November 2008
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Live at Guilfest, July 2008
Some days the band really raise the roof when they play. This was the Riverside Festival on 22nd June 2008.
For all management enquiries contact: Peter Christopherson, Crossroads Music via [email protected] or on 07771 636031
