Burning ambition

Arguably one of the North’s brightest hopes, Portadown trio In Case Of Fire are in an enviable position at the moment. Armed with the incendiary album Align The Planets and about to slay all comers during the festival season with stints at Oxegen, Download, Glastonbury, Reading, Leeds and numerous others, the band are definitely in the ascendant. But then again, it’s not like they haven’t worked for it. You see, ever since they formed in ’05 out of the ashes of former band Element, brothers Colin (drums) and Steven Robinson (vocals/guitar) and bassist Mark Williamson have been playing their fingers to the bone because after all, as the late, great Bon Scott says - it’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock ‘n’ roll.

“The band is buzzing at the moment,” enthuses Colin, who’s currently taking a well-earned break enjoying the sun in Portstewart. “We’re looking forward to shows like Download but we’re more excited about Glastonbury which is huge for us. We like playing places with really eclectic line-ups. We did the majority of the big festivals last year too, but that was our first proper full run at a festival season and we were cutting our teeth, so this year we’re really ready for it because the album’s now out and we’re doing bigger stages.”
At the time of our interview, In Case Of Fire had just finished supporting the Manic Street Preachers and their Belfast date saw them perform once again at the near mythic Ulster Hall. The last time the lads treaded those hallowed boards was when they supported Muse back in their Element days and naturally enough we ask the drummer how he feels playing gigs back home again after being away for so long.
“We get asked if we have a large fanbase in Belfast a lot,” he confesses. “However, in the band we realise that we perhaps don’t have as big a fanbase back home as we should. We were better known in Belfast as Element, but when we started In Case Of Fire we made a conscious decision not to play there as much. All we did with Element was get stuck in a rut of constantly playing Belfast and Derry, so that was always our aim – reach a bit further afield, and in doing so I guess we sacrificed success at home. Hopefully that’ll change now the album is out.”
For Colin and the rest of the band, releasing the new album has been something they’ve dreamed of for years. Before signing to Search And Destroy Records, In Case Of Fire originally recorded their debut with expert knob-twiddler Rocky O’Reilly from Oppenheimer, but once they inked their deal, they decided to re-record and re-work some of their old tunes with Foo Fighters and Distillers producer Gil Norton.
“Well, as some people may know, we recorded it twice,” says the tubthumper. “Last summer we finished mixing it and we’ve been sitting on it for a year. It was quite frustrating because we had it in the bag, we’re all proud of it and just wanted people to hear it. We’re happy it’s finally out there now.”
Other frustrations this year included an aborted trip to South By South West thanks to Colin falling foul of the dreaded chicken pox.
“Yeah, we were due to head out this year, but I had to visit the doctors and he told me I had the chicken pox. He banned me from flying the night before we were due to leave. Thankfully though, there are plans to go over later this year so it’s not all bad. I think if we get out to the States we’ll do pretty well out there.”
It seems that slowly but surely the world is starting to fall under the spell of In Case Of Fire with the rock press in particular fighting for their attention. While Colin is admittedly “chuffed” with the good reviews, he’s keen to point out that he doesn’t want his band pigeonholed as metallers.
“Before a lot of people heard the album they had us tagged as a Kerrang-type band, but we don’t see ourselves like that at all. I think our album’s for proper music fans rather than for those who just buy a record according to what way their hair is cut. Just because it’s got some heavy guitar on it, it doesn’t make it a metal album. In Case Of Fire aren’t an act that can be pigeonholed and I don’t think we sound like any one band or any scene.”

Align The Planets gets an airing at Auntie Annie’s, Belfast (June 19); Academy 2, Dublin (July 21); and Glasgowbury (25).