DEADFIRE - COTW 2024 (Spotlight Blog)

I have once again heard the Call Of The Wild! That’s right, I, CGCM Rock Radio‘s Rich “The Meister” Dillon is on site in Lincoln UK for the fourth installment of this great festival.

While there have been so many awesome bands here on the first official day of the event, a couple really stood out to me! One of those bands was called DeadFire. With COTW 2024 creeping up on me as it did with my hectic schedule I failed in doing my due diligence. Normally I like to check out some music from as many of the bands on the list as I can find. Especially if I’ve never heard of the band before. This year I didn’t get a chance to do that. And so I walked into the Trailblazer tent here at COTW 2024 as a completely clean slate where DeadFire was concerned. This is a band that you need to get your ears around. I knew zero going in and was literally entranced almost immediately.

I missed the first part being busy photographing on the other stages. But immediately upon wandering into the tent, I knew something was happening here. The singer was standing up on the speaker cabs on the right side of the stage, holding on to the tent rafters for support as he leaned forward over the rail. The music greeting me along with this scene was loaded with meaty riffs and high-energy punch. “Wow” was my initial reaction! Snapping some photos of the stage action as he got down, the song ended. I didn’t catch what he said but it was something about “You wanted dancing girls and DeadFire deliver!” as a trio of scantily clad ladies joined the stage. This was the scene for “Ace Of Spades“, a cover of the Motorhead classic. The gruffness of the singer’s voice worked out quite well and it was a rocking affair all around. Great job!

The singer was quite the showman. Very emotive in his facial expressions whether venomously spitting out lyrics or just rocking out during non-vocal sections. He kept jumping from the stage onto the steps or seats on the back of the barrier. Jumping! Most bands will step down from the stage and then up onto the barrier steps. This guy was leaping over from stage to barrier. And he was no beanpole either. You could see he was right in the moment all the way. And he was working up quite the sweat, beads of which easily seen on his shaven head and neck. At one point, he even had the crowd chanting “Spongebob SquarePants“! I’m sure there must be a DeadFire inside joke here.

I can’t speak specifically to songs as I’d never heard any DeadFire output previously. But I’m pretty sure the song was called “Hey” as that’s what he had the crowd chanting during its chorus. But then again I didn’t see any song with that title on their YouTube….so maybe not. Partway through the song he simply allowed the “Elvis” mic to fall from his hands clunking to the stage floor with a “pop” through the P.A. He then came out in the crowd, chanting Hey along with us and standing stage front a few moments to watch his band alongside us all. Very cool.

Back on stage, the next song was fired up. At some point, he lightly tossed an airhorn out into the crowd for folks to “honk” at will. Before long he gravitated from the stage to the barrier seats again. That wasn’t good enough for him and shortly he was literally standing on the actual rail using the tent rafter as support. Still singing I might add! I could see him checking the ground in front of him. Which was also in front of me on the crowd side of the barrier. And then he was there, jumped off the rail. Now wandering the crowd with a corded mic even singing the final song of the set.

What a shitload of fun. A great frontman putting on a great show. The DeadFire music was heavy, loaded with riffs and grooves and thumping beats. Another band that needs to hit regular rotation in the CGCM Rock Radio airwaves. Do yourself a favour and check out DeadFire, if the recording is half as good as the live set, you’ll thank me! I’ve linked their most recent video below the photo gallery.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE / INSTAGRAM / FACEBOOK

Call Of The Wild: OFFICIAL WEBSITE / FACEBOOK

CGCM‘s Coverage of the previous Call Of The Wild‘s can be found here: CALL OF THE WILD FESTIVAL

Cheers,