Blackfire were an

Australian Indigenous Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples o ...

band. They were formed in late 1992 and disbanded in 1999. The original members were Bradley Brown, Selwyn Burns,

Kutcha Edwards Kutcha Edwards is an indigenous Australian singer and songwriter. He was born in Balranald, New South Wales, in 1965. A survivor of the Stolen Generations, he was removed from his parents at the age of 18 months. He is a Mutti Mutti man. He was ...

Grant Hansen Grant Hansen is an Australian Indigenous musician and broadcaster who has worked as a host of the Marngrook footy show, broadcast on National Indigenous TV network as well as Channel 31, Foxtel, ABC and SBS . He has worked as a radio announcer / ...

and Kelli McGuinness. They released two albums, ''A Time to Dream'' (1994) and the

Paul Hester Paul Newell Hester (8 January 1959 – 26 March 2005) was an Australian musician and television personality. He was the drummer for the band Split Enz for a short time in 1984, and co-founding member and drummer of the rock group Crowded House ...

produced ''Night Vision'' (1998).

History

Blackfire were formed in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

in late 1992 by Bradley Brown (ex-Watbalimba, Interaction) on bass guitar, drums and vocals; Selwyn Burns (ex-

Coloured Stone Coloured Stone is an Aboriginal Australian band whose members originate from the Koonibba Mission, west of Ceduna, South Australia. The band performs using guitar, bass, drums, and Aboriginal instruments – didjeridu, bundawuthada (gong st ...

Mixed Relations Mixed Relations were an Australian band formed by Bart Willoughby. They played a mixture of reggae, pop, rock and jazz. Mixed Relations toured Aboriginal communities, Australian cities, Pacific Islands, New Zealand, United States, Europe, Canad ...

, No Fixed Address) on lead guitar and vocals;

on lead vocals,

(ex-Interaction, Mercury Blues) on rhythm guitar and vocals, and Kelli McGuinness (ex-Dr Koori, Interaction, Watbalimba) on drums, bass guitar, guitar and vocals. Their first album, ''A Time to Dream'', was released in 1994 by

Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association The Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) is an organisation founded in 1980 to expose Aboriginal music and culture to the rest of Australia. It started with 8KIN-FM, the first Aboriginal radio station in the country. Based in A ...

(CAAMA). Leroy Cummins (ex- Christine Anu Band) joined the group on guitar in 1997 to expand the line-up, as did Corey Noll later on. Blackfire toured extensively throughout Australia before travelling to Asia (Japan, China and Taiwan), alongside

Archie Roach Archibald William Roach (8 January 1956 – 30 July 2022) was an Australian singer, songwriter and Aboriginal Australian, Aboriginal activist. Often referred to as "Uncle Archie", Roach was a Gunditjmara and Western Bundjalung people, Bundjalu ...

and the Naroo Dancers. They recorded their second album, ''Night Vision'' (1998), with

producing at his studio, the Lodge, in Melbourne. Hansen compared their two albums, "some different sounds and different range of music. I'd say that it's much more universal than the first album. The first one was about being Kooris living in the city. It was a full-on rock album. This one's much more about hope for the future. The style of songs is a bit different – they’'re not as quick paced and rocked up, it's more mellow."

People

Kelli McGuinness is the son of activist

Bruce McGuinness Bruce Brian McGuinness (17 June 1939 – 5 September 2003) was an Australian Aboriginal activist. He was active in and led the Victorian Aborigines Advancement League, and is known for founding and running ''The Koorier'', which was the first Ab ...

, who made two films associated with the band: ''Black Fire'' in 1972, and ''A Time to Dream'' in 1974.

References

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External links

Caritas
(pdf) reconciliation. Stories of the heart / Sounds of the rock (study guide) {{DEFAULTSORT:Blackfire Indigenous Australian musical groups Musical groups established in 1992 Musical groups disestablished in 1999 Musical groups from Melbourne