The Fire Theft - Biography
Formed as an offshoot to the post-hardcore, groundbreaking emo band Sunny Day Real Estate, Seattle-based The Fire Theft is an indie-rock trio comprised of Jeremy Enigk (vocals/guitar), Nate Mendel (bass) and William Goldsmith (drums). Subtly expanding on Sunny Day’s final studio album The Rising Tide (2000, Time Bomb Recordings), the trio recorded one full-length album (self-titled) and a subsequent EP (Hands on You) under the rubric before launching into a series of side projects with regular, albeit vague plans at a reunion. While supporting their lone album, the band toured the United States twice and Europe once before splintering off into other outfits.
The Fire Theft officially formed in 2001 with the heft of the members from SDRE—sans singer/guitarist Dan Hoerner—and, after varying degrees of turmoil, strife, soul-searching and preoccupation, set to recording. With Sunny Day Real Estate now in a permanent state of disrepair (this time for good), and Mendel engaged as a full-time bass player for The Foo Fighters, they recorded a proper debut in the interstices and during down time, leaking new material via their website and generating buzz. The material was often reflective of their times together in Sunny Day Real Estate, open therapy, with mixed frills and certain flourishes joined in. Taking their name from Greek mythology, the still-fragile-sounding and predominantly featured Enigk—the so-called godfather of emo—brought a glinting spark of edge to the project, and they band expanded with lush, Led Zeppelin-esque orchestrations. When The Fire Theft dropped in 2003 (Rykodisc), it was received with mixed attention in the media and with fans, but the bulk of it being positive for the new direction in sound. The album cracked the Billboard 200 at #198, raced up the Heatseekers chart to #11 and reached #12 on the Top Independent Albums chart. Only one single was released from the album, the sweeping indie-rock track, “Chain.”
They embarked on a tour that fall with LaGuardia, and later toured Europe. Since that time the members of the band have kept The Fire Theft on hiatus, with occasional hints that they could return as a recording band (no touring) in the near future. A DVD of the band performing live in Seattle was purported to be in the hopper, but nothing yet has materialized. Enigk has stated that if The Fire Theft does release another album, it could happen on his own label, Lewis Hollow Recordings.