CrossFire is a
folk rock and
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
duo that got its start in
Paris in 2015. The duo was created after the meeting of singer-songwriter ''Allison Mareek'' and singer-songwriter and guitarist ''Stephen Giry''.
For the recording of the band's first LP, ''Drifting Ashore'', additional musicians joined the band: Drummer Jeff Ludovicus, bassist Thomas d'Arbigny, violinist Nils de Caster, clarinetist Benoit Martin, and cellist Julien Grattard. Raphael Maillet (violin) has been joining the band on several occasions since 2018
The band released two studio albums to date, one 4 track EP and one LP : ''CrossFire – EP'' (2016) and ''Drifting Ashore'' (2018).
After the recording of the eponymous EP, the duo decided to fly out to America to confront their compositions to their musical origin starting with Toronto playing venues like the ''Tranzac Club'' and New York City with several concerts at the famous ''Rockwood Music Hall'' among others.
Strengthened by this experience, the duo then came back to Paris and self-released this first EP in March 2016. Concerts followed, in France and abroad during which the songs for their first LP started to take form.
Following the launch and success of a
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
campaign in May 2017, CrossFire entered the Music Ô Pré studios in Normandy, France in September 2017 to record their first LP which was then released in April 2018.
''Drifting Ashore'' is a 12-track LP released on CD's, digital and 180gr vinyl that has received critical acclaim from
Rolling Stone France,
Guitar Part
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strings ...
, The Guitar Channel, Music In Belgium, RockPortaal (NL) and more.
Allison Mareek is also the voice of the closing credits song to French channel TF1's movie
L'Emprise in January 2015. A cover of
Simon and Garfunkel's famous track "
The Sound of Silence".
History
Allison and Stephen were both born in
France. Allison lived in the close Parisian suburbs until 2005 when she moved to Eilat,
Israel following her whole family. There, she learned Hebrew to finish her high school studies before choosing to move back to Paris in 2009 to pursue her music career.
After living the early years of his life in the city of
Albi, Stephen relocated to Paris in 2005 before leaving on a UK tour in 2006 with the band
Black Cat Bones as guitarist. He continued his sideman career by accompanying American blues singer ''Keith B. Brown'' on tour and records from 2011 to 2014.
In 2014, while at a famous Parisian jam session at ''Caveau des Oubliettes'' the two musicians met by chance and Allison decided to make Stephen the lead guitarist for her then to be self-named project and first concert that year.
Feeling stronger in their musical relationship, the duo decided to create CrossFire in 2015, writing the first four songs that would make their first EP, released in 2016.
Discography
References
External links
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French folk rock groups