Blondfire is an American indie pop band from Los Angeles, California, United States. It started as a duo of brother and sister Bruce 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, United States to an American father and a Brazilian 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, Caetano Veloso, and Astrud Gilberto 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 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 and Getaway Cruiser.

History

Astaire

Erica and Bruce 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'', and '' Entertainment Weekly''. The Driscolls relocated to New York City and recorded "Weightless" with Ivy's Andy Chase. 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 Ivy,

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.

Change to Blondfire, ''My Someday''

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

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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, Bruce 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'' (2013) by Avicii * "Glorious", from the album ''

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'' (2015) by Arty * "Something About You", from the album ''Something About You'' (2016) by

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References

External links

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