Blondfire is an American

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

band from

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, California, United States. It started as a duo of brother and sister

Bruce The English language name Bruce arrived in Scotland with the Normans, from the place name Brix, Manche in Normandy, France, meaning "the willowlands". Initially promulgated via the descendants of king Robert the Bruce (1274−1329), it has been a ...

and Erica Driscoll, under the name Astaire, and since 2015 has been a solo act with Erica Driscoll.

Early life

Erica Driscoll was born and raised in

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...

, United States to an American father and a

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian mother. She spent many summers in northern Brazil, and is a citizen of both countries. Erica and her brother and founding member

Bruce Driscoll Bruce Driscoll (born June 13, 1983) is an American record producer, songwriter, guitarist, film composer, and vocalist. He first gained notability as one half of the pop band Blondfire; co-writing, producing and self-releasing songs with his sis ...

cite

Antonio Carlos Jobim Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

Caetano Veloso Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso (; born 7 August 1942) is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicalismo, which encomp ...

, and

Astrud Gilberto Astrud Gilberto (; born Astrud Evangelina Weinert, March 29, 1940) is a Brazilian samba and bossa nova singer. She gained international attention in the 1960s following her recording of the song "The Girl from Ipanema". Biography Astrud Gilbert ...

as musicians that they listened to often while growing up. In high school, Erica and her older sister

Monica Monica may refer to: People *Monica (actress) (born 1987), Indian film actress *Monica (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Monica (singer) (born 1980), American R&B singer, songwriter, producer, ...

formed the band Nectar, along with Arland Nicewander, Ryan Butts, and Jason Drost. The band eschewed classes to tour nationally. In addition to that, their song In The Shadows was chosen to be used in WGRD Radioactiv 4 compilation series, which also includes

Mustard Plug Mustard Plug is an American ska punk band from Grand Rapids, Michigan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, consisting of Dave Kirchgessner (vocals), Brandon Jenison (trumpet), Jim Hofer (trombone), Nate Cohn (drums), Colin Clive (guitar/vocals), Mark Petz ...

and

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

recording artists

Papa Vegas Papa Vegas is a rock band from the 1990s. They released two studio albums and were signed to RCA Records. Papa Vegas was founded in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where vocalist Joel Ferguson and guitarist Pete Dunning first began playing together. Pa ...

and Getaway Cruiser.

History

Astaire

Erica and

formed Astaire and toured locally behind songs recorded in the basement of their parents' home. During this time, the siblings were featured in many music and fashion publications, such as ''z!nk'', ''America'', ''YRB'', ''

College Music Journal CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

'', and ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

''. The Driscolls relocated to New York City and recorded "Weightless" with

Ivy ''Hedera'', commonly called ivy (plural ivies), is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern Africa and ...

Andy Chase Andy Chase is record producer and label owner. He formed the band Ivy with Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne and Dominique Durand, now his wife. Chase owns Unfiltered Records and co-owned Stratosphere Sound studio with Schlesinger and James ...

. They released their first EP, ''Don't Whisper Lies'', on their own record label, Wax Divine. The EP's single, "L-L-Love" became an

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

Free Single of the Week and the band embarked on a national tour with

Robbers on High Street Robbers on High Street were an American rock band from Brooklyn, New York, which formed in 2002. The band released three studio albums across their ten years together. History Robbers on High Street began performing publicly during the summer of ...

, and

Stars A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...

Change to Blondfire, ''My Someday''

In the middle of the tour, the Driscolls were contacted by the representatives of the estate of

Fred Astaire Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, choreographer, actor, and singer. He is often called the greatest dancer in Hollywood film history. Astaire's career in stage, film, and tele ...

, asking the band to stop using the name immediately. Facing expensive legal fees, the siblings changed the band's name to Blondfire. They announced the name change with the release of a new

-exclusive acoustic live EP. It featured "L-L-Love" and three new songs, "Paper Doll", "Running Back", and "Fade to Pale". In October 2006, Blondfire signed a record deal with EMI Records UK. Their debut album, ''My Someday'', was released in 2008. Among the people thanked in the album liner notes was Fred Astaire. In a May 2008 interview,

stated that the band had parted ways with the label.

''Young Heart''

In November 2011, Blondfire released the single and accompanying video for "Where The Kids Are" to much critical acclaim. In August 2012, Blondfire signed with

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

and

Primary Wave Music Primary Wave is a private music publishing and talent management company. Primary Wave was founded in January 2006 by music executive Lawrence Mestel. Since its origin as a music publishing company, Primary Wave has expanded into talent manageme ...

. In February 2013, Blondfire released a new music video for their song "Where the Kids Are". The track featured heavily in the 2012

Honda Civic The is a series of automobiles manufactured by Honda since 1972. Since 2000, the Civic has been categorized as a compact car, while previously it occupied the subcompact class. , the Civic is positioned between the Honda Fit/City and Honda Acc ...

television spots. On 11 February 2014, Blondfire's second album, ''Young Heart'', was released. It produced two singles, "Where the Kids Are" and "Waves".

Split, ''True Confessions''

In 2015,

left the band as a full-time member to focus on his band

Freedom Fry Freedom Fry is a Los Angeles, California based indie band, composed of Parisian-born Marie Seyrat and American Bruce Driscoll. Career 2011-2014 The duo first met in April 2011 when Seyrat was the stylist on a video for Driscoll's other band Blo ...

. He continues to collaborate with Erica as a songwriter and on other creative projects.

Live show

Blondfire's live lineup consists of Erica singing and playing guitar backed by a group of hand-picked musicians.

Discography

Albums

* '' My Someday'' (2008, Tender Tender Rush) * ''Young Heart'' (2014, Tender Tender Rush) * ''True Confessions EP'' (2016, WAX LTD)

Singles

* "Don't Whisper Lies" (2004, Tender Tender Rush) * "Pretty Young Thing" (2008, Tender Tender Rush) * "Where The Kids Are" (2011, Tender Tender Rush) * "Waves" (2013, Tender Tender Rush) * "Young Heart" (2014, Tender Tender Rush) * "Pleasure" (2015, Tender Tender Rush) * "True Confessions" (2016, WAX LTD) * "Here And Now" (2017, WAX LTD) * "Black Hole Sun" (2017, WAX LTD) * "Climb" (2020, Bliss Productions) * "Marigold" (2020, Bliss Productions) * "Fearless" (2020, UPM-US) * "Starboy" (2020, Bliss Productions)

Other appearances

* "Liar Liar", from the album ''

True True most commonly refers to truth, the state of being in congruence with fact or reality. True may also refer to: Places * True, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in the United States * True, Wisconsin, a town in the United States * Tr ...

'' (2013) by

Avicii Tim Bergling (; 8 September 1989 – 20 April 2018), known professionally as Avicii (, ), was a Swedish DJ, remixer and music producer. At the age of 16, Bergling began posting his remixes on electronic music forums, which led to his first rec ...

* "Glorious", from the album '' Glorious'' (2015) by

Arty Arty may refer to: People * Arty (Queen), 8th century BC wife of Pharaoh Shebitku * Arty (musician) (born 1989), Russian record producer and DJ born Artem Stolyarov * Arty Ash, stage name of British actor Arthur Richard Dodge (1895–1954) * A nic ...

* "Something About You", from the album ''Something About You'' (2016) by Paris Blohm

References

External links

* {{Authority control Indie pop groups from Los Angeles Musical groups established in 2004 Brazilian American American people of Brazilian descent