The Fire Engines
| The Fire Engines | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Genres | Post-punk |
| Years active | 1979–1981, 2004–2006 |
| Labels | Pop:Aural |
| Associated acts | The Dirty Reds, Win |
| Members |
Davy Henderson Murray Slade Graham Main Russell Burn |
The Fire Engines were a post-punk band from Edinburgh, Scotland. The band was a part of the same literary art-punk scene as the Scars and Josef K.
The Fire Engines comprised David (Davy) Henderson (vocals/guitar), Murray Slade (guitar), Graham Main (bass), and Russell Burn (drums), the band name inspired by a 13th Floor Elevators song. Henderson, Main, and Burn had previously been members of The Dirty Reds, along with Russell Burn's brother Tam Dean Burn, while Slade had played in Station Six. The Fire Engines' debut release was the "Get Up And Use Me"/"Everything's Roses" single, released on manager Angus Groovy's Codex Communications label in 1980; The band had recorded their entire set twice in a Fife bungalow with producer Wilf Smarties, at a cost of £46, with these two tracks selected for release. "Get Up and Use Me" was given 'Single of the Week' in both NME and Sounds. The band's live shows rarely lasted longer than twenty minutes – Henderson said of the early live shows: "We played to our strengths which were minimal, but somehow, as a band, it worked. We never played chords and Russell didn’t use cymbals or hi-hats. It was very violent although no-one got hurt. Pure aggression, attitude and hate was what it was." The band were offered a deal by Postcard Records, but opted for Bob Last's Fast Product label. Further singles followed and a largely instrumental album, Lubricate Your Living Room (subtitled 'Background Music for Action People!'), in 1981, released on Fast subsidiary Pop:Aural. The band recorded two sessions for John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show, the first in February 1981 featuring a cover version of Heaven 17's "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thing", and a second in November that year. Their most successful single was "Candy Skin", released in 1981, but after the follow-up, "Big Gold Dream" failed to repeat its success, the band split up on 31 December 1981.
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