Frontiers Records to release TWO FIRES third album “Burning Bright”
Former THE STORM singer Kevin Chalfant returns at the helm of TWO FIRES with the band’s third studio album entitled “Burning Bright” to be released in Europe and Asia on Frontiers Records on September 24th.
TWO FIRES debut album in 2000 was hailed as one of the Melodic Rock highlights of that year, showcasing the return of 2 very well known faces in the Melodic Rock world: singer Kevin Chalfant and guitarist Josh Ramos, both from THE STORM, a band which also featured former Journey members Ross Valory, keyboardist Gregg Rolie and drummer Steve Smith. THE STORM are considered one of the best expressions of Melodic Rock in the 90’s, thanks to 2 outstanding releases, the Self-titled debut album (which sported the US Top 20 hit “I’ve Got a Lot to Learn About Love”) on Interscope and the follow-up “Eye of the Storm” on MFN.
The Two Fires concept came about when Frontiers Records President, Serafino Perugino asked Chalfant if he wanted to put up a new band which could fill the hole left in the fans’ hearts by Steve Perry’s demise from Journey, and he willingly accepted this new challenge in his career. That is why he teamed up with former bandmate in The Storm, Josh Ramos, on guitar and with the cooperation of worldwide known players such as Kenny Aronoff (Jon Bon Jovi, John Cougar) on drums, Willie Weeks on bass, Jim Peterik (Survivor, Pride of Lions) on keyboards created the Two Fires debut album. Produced by Kevin himself together with his old mate George Tutko (XYZ, Alias), “Two Fires” was pure, unadulterated, AOR bliss: a massive masterpiece that re-launched this musical style in the new millennium.
Two Fires also appeared on the cover of the ROCK IT Magazine in Germany and ROCK TIME in France, plus made two live appearances at THE GODS festival in 1999 and 2000, both written in stone as some of the most exciting moments in the history of the festival ever! Two Fires released later another album “Ignition”: another great example of pure melodic rock in the vein of Journey, Boston, Foreigner and classic Bryan Adams, before Ramos and Chalfant got busy pursuing other projects.
Still thanks to Perugino’s request to Kevin Chalfant, TWO FIRES are now back with a superb new release which is set to bring back the concept to the monster debut, with songs that are set to light the hearts and minds of Melodic Rock fans. “Burning Bright” sees a new set of musicians surrounding Chalfant. “I decided to use my live band as much as possible. But I did have several special guests, one being Rex Carroll of Whitecross a wonderful guitarist, another Denny Rockey, an independent Christian music artist” says the singer.
“I wrote more than 20 tracks for this album and I believe the result is a great collection of songs that fit together well” adds Kevin Chalfant. Included on the album is also the superb “Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid”, written by the singer together with Neal Schon (Journey) and Gregg Rolie (ex Journey, Santana and of course The Storm). “That’s a song I wrote with Neal and Gregg in 1993 after I performed live with Journey” tells Kevin “I believe the original design for this song was to be for Journey. I would have to say it is probably one of the stand outs on this cd. When I lived in Northern California then, it was easy to put writing sessions together at Gregg’s cabin. I still have a few more of them up my sleeve. I don’t have “favorite” song to speak of. All of the new songs have moments and a special meaning to me. I really love “Answer To My Prayer”, “Hold On To Your Dream” and “All For One”… I guess I love the whole album, really.”
A videoclip for “Is It Any Wonder” is in the works and will be previewed during August.
“Burning Bright” final tracklisting includes:
Is It Any Wonder; Lost In The Song; Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid; Epic In The Night; Shattered Without You; Burning Bright; Hold On To Your Dream; Still In Love; Answer To My Prayer; Relentless; All For One.
The songs “Is It Any Wonder” and “Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid” can exclusively be listened in full in streaming on the Frontiers Web radio. Tune in at: www.frontiers.it/webradio
Musicians:
Lead vocals: Kevin Chalfant
Lead, rhythm guitars and acoustic guitars: Michael “Ralph” Gardner
Drums & percussions: Timmy Higgins, Jim Widlowski, and Shawn Fichter.
Rhythm and acoustic guitars: Alby Odum
Solo on “Is It Any Wonder” Super Rex Carroll
Keyboards: Chuck Giacinto,
5 String Bass: Randy Hatzer
Backing Vocals: Mike Higgins, Michael “Ralph” Gardner, Denny Rockey, Kurt Benckendorf & Kevin Chalfant
Strings on “All For One” Tyrone Lancaster
Weblinks: www.myspace.com/kevinchalfant / www.cliquerecords.com / www.frontiers.it / www.myspace.com/frontiersrecords
SAMPLES:
http://www.frontiers.it/m/uploads/audios/two_fires_-_01_-_is_it_any_wonder.mp3
http://www.frontiers.it/m/uploads/audios/two_fires_-_02_-_lost_in_the_song.mp3
http://www.frontiers.it/m/uploads/audios/two_fires_-_03_-_some_things_are_better_left_unsaid.mp3
http://www.frontiers.it/m/uploads/audios/two_fires_-_06_-_burning_bright.mp3
Source: Frontiers Music
