Fighting With Wire

Fantastic Rock, Pop and Punk Sounds From The Emerald Isle.

Despite what cheery, kid-friendly pop-punk bands might have you believe, it's possible to make energetic, upbeat, melodic rock that doesn't sound so sugary you feel like you should visit the dentist after listening. Norther Irish boys Fighting With Wire - featuring members of Jetplane Landing and Clearshot - have the melody and the hooks, but there's a backbone of solid rock holding it all together to brilliant effect, treading the same loud path as Reuben, and boasting power-pop riffs that The Wildhearts would be proud to call their own. As debuts go, this is an absolute corker. - Kerrang! Magazine (UK)

Sounding like Foo Fighters circa 1995, albeit with added shouty bits, Northern Irish trio Fighting With Wire are perhaps better known as the 'other' (and now more active) band of Jetplane Landing guitarist Cahir O'Doherty. While this will not see them step out of JL's shadow, 'Man Vs Monster' is a solid album with strong, sing-along hooks and enough substance and weight to please most. The driving, battering-ram charge of 'My Amoury' is a stand-out here, and O'Doherty's impassioned yelping of, "Does this fit!?" makes the perfect accompaniment to the ear-piercing chord stabs of his rhythm work. On the occasions that FWW dare to sound dangerous, they are devastatingly so.

8/10

For fans of: Jetplane Landing, Foo Fighters, Nirvana, Fugazi - Rock Sound Magazine

Fighting With Wire’s timing could scarcely be better. Having spent the last few years building up a reputation as one of the country’s most compelling live acts, they’ve waited until now to unleash their debut full-length via Jetplane Landing’s Smalltown America. With the clamour for a FWW opus to sate
their rabid fanbase reaching fever pitch, ‘Man Vs Monster’ is a huge-sounding, balls-to-the-wall guitar record at a time when we’ve never needed one more. The mainstream is drowning in slick, over-produced, feyly pretentious emo, few of the new wave revivalists have been able to replicate first-album success and with the rush of snouts plunging into the reformation trough, even pop is threatening a comeback.

Against this artistically suffocating backdrop, it’s no wonder that ‘Man Vs Monster’ is such a breath of fresh air. This collection strips rock back to its bare bones, turns the amps up to 11 and reclaims the mighty six-string as more than a mere backing instrument. ‘Cut The Transmission’ illustrates this from the off, opening the album in a storm of squalling guitars, thumping bass and pummelling drums, with Cahir O’Doherty’s strangled yelp adding to the sense of urgency. This furious start then gives way to a peach of a refrain, as O’Doherty drawls, “Keep her out of my head,” over a chorus of harmonious “woah-ohs”. The sound is perfect; each individual instrument is given room to breathe, allowing telling little variations in the playing to come to light in subsequent listens.

And what playing it is. Having taken Extreme’s advice and got the funk out on Jetplane’s excellent ‘Backlash Cop’, Cahir is in full rock mode, his flamethrower leads and chunky riffing equally reminiscent of J. Robbins’ work in Burning Airlines and Bob Mould’s on the first two Sugar releases. The rhythm section is just as vital: Craig’s drumming is intricate yet powerful, Jamie’s bass melodic and forceful, the two syncing perfectly to propel the music forward while providing a valuable vocal foil for Cahir’s committed delivery. The songs themselves are pretty damn fine; ‘All For Nothing’ and ‘Everyone Needs A Nemesis’ recall the effervescent pop rock of prime Jimmy Eat World or the Foo Fighters, live favourite ‘Strength In Numbers’ is given a beefy reworking whereas ‘Long Distance’ and ‘The Quiet’ showcase the band’s darker, heavier side. ‘Sugar’, meanwhile, is an absolute cracker, mixing musically inventive, lyrically paranoid verses with an achingly driven chorus, it’s the best song that Braid never wrote.

‘Man Vs Monster’ is, in short, a stunning record. Hell, any band that has the balls to leave the cracking ‘Machine Parts’ single warming the bench knows they’re on to a good thing, and so it proves. In a year which has positively churned out hungry Irish talent, Fighting With Wire are unquestionably sitting at the top table, and they’ve just delivered a late contender for album of the year. Lee Gorman

9/10

DOWNLOAD: ‘Strength In Numbers’, ‘Sugar’, ‘Everyone Needs A Nemesis’
FOR FANS OF: Jimmy Eat World, Burning Airlines, Foo Fighters.

© Alternative Ulster 2008 - AU Magazine

Cahir O’Doherty is a busy boy. Chiefly responsible for the widdly bits in Jetplane Landing songs, the sometime Seafood bassist and Fighting With Wire frontman will perhaps one day become entirely pastry-based, his fingers are in that many pies.

But enough of poor edible metaphors – as his other band took one giant leap into concept album territory with last year’s Backlash Cop, O’Doherty was busy putting the finishing touches to FWW’s debut album, joined by his former Clearshot cohort Craig McKean on drums and bassist Jamie King. Finally due to arrive only now after four years of on-off touring, seemingly endless new bassists and little to no recorded output, Man Vs Monster is an accessible rock monster kept in line with strict precision, switching slickly between various styles, from sharp-edged punk rock to something decidedly more radio-friendly.

Almost expectedly there are comparisons to be drawn with Jetplane Landing, from Doherty’s familiar middle eight adventures in fretboard technique, pulling at the melodies like an excitable dog on a leash for ‘My Armoury’ or Lowe-endorsed single ‘Everyone Needs A Nemesis’. This is no tribute act to a bigger brother though, with their list of sleeve-worn influences being long enough to keep things from stagnating whether it’s through the woah-led, Clyro-reminiscent chorus of standout explosive opener ‘Cut The Transmission’, the brief wilting moments in the verses of ‘Long Distance’ that sound not unlike Superunknown-era Soundgarden or the yelping yourcodenameis:milo-isms that pop up sporadically.

But whether you’ll enjoy every moment of this album will depend on your view on Americanised rock. Sitting side-by-side with the album’s most serrated moments are the Grohl-esque touches - we're not talking balls-out The Colour and the Shape stuff here either, more like 'Learn To Fly' with the big choruses that suggest we might all be spending eternity trapped under winter skies in a faded grey suit on barren ground. Oh, and we’ll be joined shortly by Jimmy Eat World for tea.

Yep, to get to Man Vs Monster’s most passionate and enthused moments, you’re going to have to sit through its few foibles, the few moments where it opts to sit back in second gear rather than go all-out to impress you, though it’s surely worth it even if it does sometimes try and make you its MOR-rock bitch. Surprisingly accomplished for a debut, aesthetically pleasing, never troubled in the confidence stakes and with all quiet on the Jetplane front and Atlantic knocking on the door, on the evidence of this perhaps the time is finally right for Fighting With Wire to take centre-stage.

9/10 - Drowned in Sound