CONTACTS:

BJ - Guitar GruntledR@aol.com 215-382-3557
Joe - Guitar SBCpm@aol.com
James - Vocals jborders@axs2000.net
Bree - Vocals punxie@hotmail.com
Matt - Drums Matthewgarfield@hotmail.com 215-327-8471

History

Fire Down Below first got together in early March of 1999, we played our first show with: No Rest For The Dead (from Japan), Bobbykork, Crazy Jim Buhdula & the Sweaty Midgets, Rectum Schnitzum and Magnus on March 27th 1999 at Lansdowne Friends School. The line up was Bj- drums, Helen- vocals, James- vocals, Mike- guitar,and Kyle- bass. We soon after recorded our fist demo tape with Soccer Mom (SUV), Insanity, Boy Scouts = Meat Market, and Catchphrase Catastrophe. It was recorded in BJs mom's attic and mixed at Cedric Rockgod's. We played a few shows always looking for a new drummer until we found Matt in late July of 1999.
When Matt joined the band,BJ moved up to guitar, his true lot in life. As soon as we had a few new songs we recorded our second demo (CD) with Mechanical Man, Waltz, 7th Stratum Under The Skin, and Plutonium Probe. On AUGUST 19th 1999 at Stalag 13 in West Philly, Fire Down Below played our fist show with Matt on drums and BJ on guitar with: D-RIVER(from Japan), the Dairy Queens (from San Francisco), Ivy Labs, and Bobbykork (this was after the last official show at Stalag 13). Shortly after we played with Comin' Correct at Lansdowne Friends School (Sep 5th 99),and Helen decided she didn't want to be in a band anymore.
Helen helped us find Bree (from South Jersey), and on October 8th 1999 we played our fist show with her at 777's American Legion Hall. We recorded our Live at the Killtime demo CD December 5th, 1999 at a show with Dark Day Dawning, Spy vs Spy, and FOD.
Phil, the drummer from BJ's old band Devon, joined Fire Down Below in April of 2000 as percussionist. His weapon of choice- a brutal attack of timbales and cowbells. His first show was at Girls Inc. in Delaware on May 5th, 2000 with Rambo, Kill the Man Who Questions.
For a time, Fire Down Below played as a 7 piece band. Then FDB aquired a second bassist- Myles (from Myles of Destruction) and continued onward as an 8-piece Hardcore Orchestra. We played our first show with Myles on June 6th at Robot House with: Damage, Rambo, Myles Of Destruction.
In July of 2000, we took some time off to work on our first full studio CD- All Goodnes Is In Jeopardy.We worked really hard on this and didn't play many shows through the end of the summer of 2000. It was during this period that Michael and Phil decided to move out of Robot House. Michael agreed to record his parts for the CD, then left the band. Phil recorded his parts as well, and then took a leave of absence from FDB, but never actually quit. Michael and Phil are now residing happily together in a quaint loft on Powelton Ave. Shortly after we finished recording for the CD, Myles decided that he no longer wanted to be a part of Fire Down Below. His last show with us was in Baltimore on August 26th, 2000. Matt still plays with Myles as the drummer for Myles of Destruction. So after completing our first full length CD, we lost 3 of our previous 8 members.
Fire Down Below searched for a replacement guitarist immediately after Micheal quit. With no luck at first, we talked to Joe, the guitarist from Smashed By Cars, and asked him to fill in for Michael while we looked for a permanent replacement. He agreed and our first show with Joe was in South Brunswick NJ on August 10th, 2000 (we still had Myles at this point). It didn't take long for us to fall in love with Joe and shortly thereafter, we asked Joe to be our permanent replacement for Micheal. He agreed and we were back up to a respectable 6 members.
We were also in the market for a new bassist after losing Myles. In late October 2000, we talked to Colin (of Mother Courage) and suckered him into trying out. Everything worked out spendidly, so Colin became the new second bassist for Fire Down Below on November 1st 2000.
On November 17th, Kyle played his last show with Fire Down Below at the Killtime. In light of the significance of the evening, Kyle doused his jacket in kerosene (pre-performance) and set himself ablaze at the end of the set. Kudos to you Kyle- we never saw it coming! Fire Down below was back down to 6 members in their ever changing line-up.
After the loss of Kyle, Colin was promoted to first string bassist. Everything went fine for a few months and shows were played regularly. Then Colin began missing practices... After about a one month disappearance from the face of the Earth, Colin resurfaced just long enough to respectfully resign from the ranks of FDB on February 18, 2001. No fancy way of doing it, just quit. After some investigation, it turns out that Colin had been thinking about quitting for some time because he was too scared of us, but due to that fact he was reluctant to tell us he wanted to quit. This loop of terror and anxiety belabored his departure for some time. He now rests in eternal fear in the Fire Down Below Graveyardand- a club that has recently become slightly less exculsive than Fire Down Below itself.
The Fire Down Below Graveyard

Dedicated to Ex-members of FDB
Picture Name Role Term
Helen Vocals 03/XX/1999 - 09/05/1999
Michael Guitar 03/XX/1999 - 08/04/2000
Phil Percussion 05/05/2000 - 08/04/2000
Myles Bass 06/06/2000 - 08/26/2000
Kyle Bass 03/XX/1999 - 11/18/2000
Colin Bass 11/1/2000 - 2/19/2001

**Dedicated to Ex-members of FDB**
Name	Role	Term
Helen	Vocals	03/XX/1999 - 09/05/1999
Michael	Guitar	03/XX/1999 - 08/04/2000
Phil	Percussion	05/05/2000 - 08/04/2000
Myles	Bass	06/06/2000 - 08/26/2000
Kyle	Bass	03/XX/1999 - 11/18/2000
Colin	Bass	11/1/2000 - 2/19/2001

Reviews

FIRE DOWN BELOW
ALL GOODNESS IS IN JEOPARDY

***** (five bombs out of five, that's good by the way)

Fire Down Below is mad, bad and dangerous to know. Combining elements of No Means No, Atari Teenage Riot, and a very special secret ingredient, ALL GOODNESS IS IN JEOPARDY seethes with psycosis and power. "ROTC" marches along at an ominous pace, then breaks into a crazy thrash, only to fall right back to the sound of approaching doom. Male and female vocals shiek at, around and through each other, drums come down like the pounding of an anvil. Guitars buzz and sneer while heavy bass holds the whole thing tighly together. While not approaching the wall of noise experience of a live Fire Down Below performance, ALL GOODNESS IS IN JEOPARDY is a strong representation of this talented and unique band.
-- Mark Ginsburg
ROCKPILE #64 Dec. 2000

"Goin' Underground: The Best Bands in Philly... Part One"

...West Philly's Fire Down Below started out last year as an 8-piece army of musical destruction and more recently have pared down to a tighter, more direct 6-piece sonic attack. With male and female vocalists trading shouts, screams and growls back and forth while two guitars, bass and drums slam down hard and shake the walls, FDB comes across as nothing less than a full on hard core orchestra.
Their debut CD was appropriately a live recording made at the University City warehouse space, the Killtime. Recorded and mixed by guitarist BJ, it combined the immediacy of a live performance with the well produced, clean sound of a studio release. A fast sellout in direct sales at shows, it can no longer be found. However, the band's self-released debut full-length, "All Goodness Is In Jeopardy," will be available in local stores very soon so keep an eye out...
-- Mark Ginsburg
University City Review September 20, 2000

"Fire Down Below makes a huge, terrifying, gut-wrenching noise, marching into the fray and tearing holes in the sky. This is the kind of music that will peel the skin from your face. Painful, and nice."
--TrashFest 2000