Chris "Swiss" Swinney Forms Fire Sale with Members of Face to Face, No Use for A Name, Protest The Hero & ShotClock (The Witzard Interview)

Fire Sale was formed during The Pandemic and their first songs were made entirely from their home studios during isolation. The band includes Matt Riddle, as well as members who have spent time playing with Ann Beretta, Fun Size, Making Enemies, Protest The Hero, Pulley, and ShotClock. "I like to take inspiration from stories from a historical point of view and use them as a theme," says guitarist and founder of Fire Sale, Christopher "Chris" (Swiss) Swinney, who previously played with The Ataris. "Then our singer, Pedro, takes it all and formulates a great lyric!" The Mercy Brown Vampire Incident, a well-known story here in The US: a whole family was killed by tuberculosis around The 19th Century, but one of the daughters, Mercy Brown, still had blood in her heart, which was enough for the medical examiner to eviscerate the body and label Mercy Brown as a "vampire" responsible for the disease that took out her entire family.

"I like to take inspiration from stories like that and use them as a theme," explains guitarist Chris Swinney. With its spooky theme, "Mercy Brown" is the perfect soundtrack for this Friday (August) The 13th. Today, also, marks the simultaneous kick-start of pre-orders for Fire Sale's first 7-inch, including their debut track, "Dark Hearts," via SBÄM Records. "We are very happy to be working with SBÄM Records and excited for what the future holds," says Swinney, who got to know label founder, Stefan Beham, through his podcast, That One Time On Tour. The video for "Dark Hearts," Fire Sale's first single, was received with critical acclaim and widespread excitement to hear what's next from the super-group. We recently got a press advance of "Mercy Brown" and after a few emails exchanged back-and-forth, were lucky enough to score an interview with Fire Sale founder and guitarist Chris "Swiss" Swinney. For that, scroll down below and check out Fire Sale's music embedded within our feature below.


I. How and when did Fire Sale initially form?

Chris "Swiss" Swinney: Fire Sale was born out of The Pandemic. With all the extra free time on my hands, I started writing and recording songs... which I hadn't done in many years... since I was in The Ataris. I let some Industry friends hear the songs and they liked them. I missed writing and releasing music so much that I decided to attempt to put a band together. I reached out to friends that I respected and admired and they all said "yes!" It, actually, came together fairly easy.

II. Who are the members of Fire Sale and what other musical projects may fans know you guys from previosuly?

Swiss: Chris Swinney - Guitar (The Ataris/That One Time On Tour [Podcast])
Matt Riddle - Bass (No Use for A Name/Face to Face/Pulley)
Tim MacMillar - Keyboard/Guitar (Protest The Hero)
Pedro Aida - Vocals (Ann Beretta/Funsize/River City High)
Paul Williams - Drums (Making Enemies)


III. What are some of the specific sources of inspiration and influence behind your latest single, "Mercy Brown?"

Swiss: When I write music... I, usually, name the demo after whatever I was recently watching on television. The night I wrote that song... I had just watched a documentary about The Mercy Brown Vampire Incident. The Mercy Brown Vampire Incident occurred in Rhode Island in 1892. Back then, there was a crazy panic about vampires in The Northeast. Mercy Brown was 19 years old when she died of tuberculosis... many of her family members had died of the same thing. They didn't understand this disease... and it was thought to be brought on by the influence of the undead. They exhumed the bodies of the family, for whatever reason, and Mercy had not decomposed AT ALL. She even still had blood in her heart. Thinking she must be a vampire... they burned her heart and liver... mixed the ashes with water, and made a tonic for her sick brother, Edwin, to drink. They thought it would protect him, but he died soon after.

So, when I sent the demo to Pedro, he Googled the name... and wrote the lyrics all about the story of Mercy Brown. The lyrics, literally, tell the entire story... from the order the family members passed away to The Tonic of The Undead. When he sent it back... I was so happy. It's such a dark, cool story, and he used that to enhance the music I wrote. A few of the other unreleased songs have been written the same way... and we plan to continue our weird way of "writing" "together."

IV. How did you guys get to know Stefan Beham and, ultimately, sign to his label, SBÄM Records?

Swiss: I had been a big fan of Stefan's art for a long time and we were "Friends" digitally. A couple years ago, I needed a new logo for my podcast (That One Time On Tour.) I hit up Stefan and introduced myself. He liked my show and I commissioned him to create my logo. Kept in touch with him and when Fire Sale was kicking off, we needed a logo, also, so I hit him up again. When I told him about the band, he said he wanted to hear it. I had, also, posted about the project a couple times on my socials and a few different labels had requested to check out our demos. We were in-talks with four other labels when Stefan made us an offer. The other labels wanted us to release a full-length right away, but as a new band, we wanted to start with a 7-inch single to kind of “introduce” the band... SBÄM was cool with whatever we felt comfortable with... and we decided to go with them. SBÄM is great! The whole team is awesome. We are very excited about our future working with them.

V. Do you have plans to eventually release a proper album or EP on SBÄM Records?

Swiss: We are currently writing and recording our debut full-length for SBÄM. No idea the timeline for releasing it, but I would say, realistically, Spring/Summer 2022. We have the album title and it will be announced very soon. We can't wait to share these songs with everyone!

VI. What can you tell us about the inspiration behind the plot of your first music video together, "Dark Hearts?"

Swiss: It was the first video that I had ever put together and it was stressful. Since we all live in different places and the raging Pandemic... we had to film our individual parts separately and, then, cut it into the narrative footage. It is all about the contrast of light and dark... which sounds deep, but it was out of necessity. We all, without telling each other... filmed our parts outside in The Sun... except Pedro, who filmed inside. So, the band is outside and the footage is bright and sunny, but Pedro (our singer) was in a dark room and the footage is dark and gloomy. The narrative footage, basically, follows three kids on an adventure through an old abandoned house where an insane clown tries to kill them... then, they perform a weird ritual that awakens the dead and they have to deal with both the clown and zombies. One of the zombies dances, also! haha. The feedback from the video has been amazing!


VII. "Mercy Brown'"s single release coincides with the 7-inch release of "Dark Hearts," correct? What can you tell us about this first vinyl release for Fire Sale?

Swiss: The 7-inch vinyl is going to be awesome! Stefan did all the artwork and it is amazing! There will be two different color variants... one, of course, is a Blood Splatter variant. Very fitting for our new single about vampires. The day "Mercy Brown" is released, Friday The 13th of August, is the same day that the pre-order goes live for the record. You will be able to order from the label and many other places... but we will have special bundles available on our website that, not only includes the record, but, also, limited edition shirts, stickers, hoodies, can coozies, buttons, and glow-in-the-dark vampire teeth! Just check out FireSaleIsABand.com for more info!

VIII. Have any of your fellow Fire Sale bandmates ever appeared on your podcast, That One Time On Tour?

Swiss: Matt & Tim have both been guests... and I plan to have Pedro & Paul on in the future. At some point, I am going to do a huge episode with all the members and our producer/mixer, Brian Chirlo. It is hard to coordinate everyone's schedules for a Zoom call... but it will happen. Maybe, closer to when the LP is released next year.

IX. Does Fire Sale have any immediate plans to tour or is all that still up-in-the-air due to The COVID-19 Pandemic?

Swiss: We would love to do some touring, but, yes... COVID is in control currently. We, also, all have jobs and families, so touring will be in short bursts when it makes sense for all of us. We have had some interest in Europe, Japan, Australia, and a few other places for next year... but right now, we are discussing our options and trying to hook up with the correct people that can make it happen. Playing live is very important to us, so it will happen eventually... we just need to make sure we do it safely... and the situation makes sense for us.

X. What was it like performing with Jaret Reddick (Bowling for Soup) on Just Like Them's recent cover of Descendents' "Clean Sheets?"

Swiss: It was a great experience. Jaret & I are friends... we have been on each other's podcasts... I love that dude. The guys in Just Like Them are amazing musicians and are really true to the classic songs they cover. When they hit me up, I was so excited because "Clean Sheets" is my all-time favorite Descendents song! Then, they told me that Jaret was singing and it was an added bonus! I hope that they ask me to do another one soon.