We Start Fires were a female-fronted punk-pop rock 'n' roll band formed in

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

in 2002. They consist of Becky Stefani (

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

and

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

), Melissa Marx (

synths A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis an ...

and

), Nikki Vaughan (

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

and

), and Becky's younger brother Ashley Wade (

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

). Their first limited edition single, "Strut", received radio airplay from

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Steve Lamacq Stephen Paul Lamacq (born 16 October 1964), sometimes known by his nickname Lammo (given to him by John Peel), is an English disc jockey, currently working with BBC Radio 6 Music. Lamacq was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire ( ...

Marc Riley Marc Riley (born 10 July 1961) is an English radio DJ, alternative rock critic, musician, and former music businessman. He currently presents on BBC Radio 6 Music. Formerly a member of The Fall, he co-owned a record label, In-Tape, and also w ...

and

John Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

mentioned them in his book ''Margrave Of The Marshes''. They performed at

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

, for which they were filmed as the subjects of a documentary film later shown on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

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Discography

Albums

*''Caught Redhanded'' (Head Girl Records) – 2004 *''We Start Fires'' (Hot Noise Records) – 1 October 2007

Singles/EP’s

*"How to Be a Lady" (EP, Head Girl Records) – 2002 *"Strut" (Marquis Cha Cha Records) – August 2005 *"Hot Metal" (Marquis Cha Cha Records) – January 2006 *"Magazine" (Hot Noise Records) – 28 May 2007 *"Play You" (Hot Noise Records) – 20 August 2007 *"Let's Get Our Hands Dirty" (Hot Noise Records) – 22 October 2007

Compilation contributions

*"Hot Metal" - ''What We All Want'' (Dance To The Radio Records) – 27 February 2006

References

2002 establishments in England English electronic rock musical groups English pop punk groups Musical groups established in 2002 Musical groups from County Durham {{UK-rock-band-stub