We got the name Fire Alert from some fire evacuation instructions we stole from a bar, on the night my brother, James McInerney and I decided we should have a go playing some music together. The wise principles contained within ("DO NOT TAKE PERSONAL RISKS OR PUT LIVES IN DANGER!") formed the basis of the first song we wrote. It's not a very good name for a band, but I'd rather have a crap name with some significance to it than spend months trying to think of something that's sufficiently "cool" but which is totally meaningless.
(While we're on the subject of bands with hip names, I'm pleased to see Internet Forever getting recognition from the likes of the Observer and VICE. They deserve it, and I've been slightly obsessed with the twee but undoubtedly great 'Break Bones' for a while now.)
Anyway, we got drunk, made up songs til the small hours of the morning, and pissed off the people living in the flat below. Thanks to the wonders of the iPhone, we were able to record it, and sure enough, most of it was a mess. Yet among the fluffed notes, dodgy lyrics and hesitant improvisations, there were a few minutes that stood out as sounding surprisingly 'finished'. (Or at least, slightly more than half-finished.)
A week later we took some video, and what you see below is what happened when the two were put together. I'm playing the bass notes.
Actually, let it be hereafter known that there is a (slightly) more interesting story behind the name. We were out drinking in the Miller of Mansfield in London Bridge when I noticed a big South African wearing a replica of Ed's trademark lumberjack shirt. We got talking and it transpired that he was performing upstairs that night. We asked the name of his band. Saying nothing, he turned around and ripped a poster off the wall and slammed it down on our table. It was the fire alert instructions. His band was actually called something different, but we saw it as a sign that could not be ignored.
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