Musical Influences

Reading some comments online about our mini-album Control (free to listen to on Spotify!) made me think about the musical influences for Coastal Fire Dept.. 

The first band the writer mentioned was the @pixiesofficial and that band is/was one of my biggest musical influences and I know the rest of the band have been influenced by them to some degree. 

I first came across them when Monkey Gone To Heaven was released. At the time I didn’t really buy singles, I just bought the album. So I bought Doolittle and the first four songs (Debaser, Tame, Wave of Mutilation and then I Bleed) were like a musical hammerblow to me (in a good way!). From that time onward I was hooked and bought the back catalogue as soon as I could! 

The Pixies are known for their “quiet loud” musical dynamics and a plethora of influences including sci-fi and biblical references. For me the original line-up was a perfect balance. 

They have influenced many bands/musicians with the most famous of which is probably Kurt Cobain who said this when talking about Smells Like Teen Spirit “I was trying to write the ultimate pop song. I was basically trying to rip off the Pixies. I have to admit it. When I heard the Pixies for the first time, I connected with that band so heavily that I should have been in that band...or at least a Pixies cover band. We used their sense of dynamics, being soft and quiet and then loud and hard.”. 

To me the Pixies are hugely influential and some things they do we try to emulate. On our first album there was a subconscious undercurrent of their influence in some of the songs however, on our next album (Connected)...there are probably stronger more direct influences in two or three songs. I actually tried to write a short song in the mould of a particular Nirvana song...but when we came to play it..it sounded like the Pixies...so we embraced that! 

Have the Pixies influenced you? What’s your favourite song(s) or album and why? 

Comment below and remember to follow us. 

Best wishes 
Ollie

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