Ed Macfarlane
| Ed Macfarlane | |
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Ed Macfarlane performing with Friendly Fires
at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC on 26 May 2011 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Edward David Macfarlane |
| Also known as | Ed Mac |
| Born | 15 May 1984 |
| Origin | St Albans, England |
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Edward David "Ed" Macfarlane (born 15 May 1984) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, record producer and the lead vocalist of the English electronic music band Friendly Fires. He is often called by the nickname "Ed Mac" to avoid confusion with his bandmate and guitarist Edd Gibson. He has written, co-written, produced or co-produced all of the Friendly Fires' songs.
Macfarlane attended St Albans School in Hertfordshire, where he met his future bandmates Edd Gibson and Jack Savidge. They formed their first band, a post-hardcore band, called First Day Back, at age 13. Because St. Albans lacked big name artists coming into town to do shows, the three often went into London for shows ("St. Albans is close enough to London that no one ever wants to go near it.") Macfarlane looks upon the lack of gigs or scene in St. Albans as a benefit to living there, saying to American music blog PopWreckoning in an interview at Dot to Dot Festival in Nottingham in May 2009, "...I like the fact that in St. Albans, there are no distractions." The band took advantage of this peace and quiet, using Macfarlane's parents' garage in St. Albans to record their debut album Friendly Fires.
He attended Nottingham Trent University, earning a BA (Hons) in photography in 2006. He has said his time there influenced his development as a musician: "My course at NTU was great, there was a lot more theory than I originally thought there would be, but it’s helped me no end. We were always encouraged to describe why we’ve created something – which I apply to my music all the time. It’s really inspired me to question my music and think about the sound or feeling I’m trying to create."
Before releasing music with Friendly Fires, Macfarlane released electronic music under his own name, including the Modelwork EP with Precinct Recordings.
While Macfarlane sings lead vocals and plays bass guitar and synth during Friendly Fires' live performances, it is his style of dancing that has received much of the attention surrounding their gigs. His dancing style was described by a punter at one of the band's earliest American shows at the Glass House in Pomona, California, on 23 August 2009 like this: "Seriously. He's shaking it like I have NEVER seen it shaken before. Not just for one song, but for the entire night. He's putting every dirty dancer, everyone who's ever freaked like a freak on the floor, to utter and total shame. He's stuntin' like your daddy up there, from the very first second of the show, and all the while he's singing like his life depended on it."
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