Scranton band A Fire with Friends shows promise of a bright future. With the band’s 2010 record “Happily Haunted” voted Best Album of that year by Electric City/Diamond City magazine and a music video about to get national play on Fuse TV, things are looking good.
Band member Dan Rosler agrees. It’s the band’s eccentricities he thinks most people – including himself – find most exciting.
One thing that makes AFWF unique is that it’s not the typical rock-band lineup of three or four. The band features seven artists, including Rosler on guitar and vocals, Chelsea Collins on piano, Eric Foster on synthesizer and percussion, Brian Errigo on drums, John Husosky on bass, Chris Pelak on percussion and guitar and Scott Jordan on guitar.
The inherent unconventionality of AFWF has spilled over into the recording studio as well, most notably during the creation of their 2011 album, “Like Giants Sleeping in Basements.” For that album, the band worked with friend and engineer Shawn Davis, not in a slick, state-of-the-art facility stocked with all the usual creature comforts, but instead in a barn that had been remodeled into a recording studio. Other times the band worked with Davis, they tracked songs in a trailer where there was no heat or water.
“It was kind of wild,” Rosler said. “I remember recording vocals and a horse walked through the front door. It makes it interesting. But I wouldn’t mind a more normal recording process this time around.”
“Normal” isn’t always something in the cards for AFWF, though. Their music video for “Electric Chair Blues” was shot in a courtyard at The Ellen Powell Memorial Museum in Philadelphia. Although an exhilarating experience, Rosler admitted it wasn’t his favorite way to spend the afternoon.
“It was very awkward but very fun at the same time,” Rosler said. “It was awkward because none of us have any rock star attitudes and there is a camera in your face and I was like I don’t know if I can do this.”
Currently scheduled to air on Fuse OnDemand throughout the month of March, the national exposure “Electric Chair Blues” promises to bring isn’t the only thing AFWF fans are eagerly anticipating. The band is also working on a new album, with about a dozen songs under way.
“It’s cool that I have a number of songs that I’ve written and then we have songs that are kind of like a collective effort,” Rosler said. “So I guess right now we’re just trying to do the best we can and see which way the album will take shape.”
Despite being poised to embrace a brand new audience, Rosler’s home remains Pennsylvania. When asked to name his artistic influences, Rosler praised the local music community.
“There are a lot of really good bands in the area,” Rosler said. “They make you want to get better.”
A Fire with Friends will be playing at “Winter Weekend Bash” which will hosted by special guest Angelina Pivarnick from the MTV reality show, “Jersey Shore.” The event is for those ages 21 and over and will be held from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 24, at The Mines nightclub at 105 N. Main St. in Wilkes-Barre. Tickets are $15 in advance for Kings and Wilkes students only by texting Nick Z. at 570-498-1363, or $20 at the door.