An Evening with Greek Fire @ The Firebird, St. Louis, MO

Words and pictures by Duane Clawson

So my intention was to make my last show review of 2013 something special.  The band Greek Fire made this a reality with a sold out show at the Firebird in St. Louis.  One of the best ways to describe Greek Fire comes from their own bio page:  “Greek Fire is comprised of 4 young men from the planet Earth, each sharing an extreme passion for their respective instruments.”  Greek Fire’s nucleus was formed by two members of the band Story of the Year.  Philip “Moon” Sneed (vocals) and Ryan Phillips (guitar) wanted to expound on the music they were making in Story of the Year, hence the formation of Greek Fire.  Greek Fire has a considerably harder edge than Story, with a major emphasis put on producing a much larger sound.  Front man Moon, who plays rhythm guitar in Story, pulls off the role of band leader like Copperfield performs magic tricks.  Flawless.  Maybe it was the packed hometown venue or maybe it was the anticipation of the bands release of their upcoming EP, Lost, but this band really seemed to be enjoying their time together.  Smiles were the order of the night as fans, friends, and family members took in this all Greek Fire night of music.

Never catching a set from Story of the Year or Greek Fire, I was not truly prepared for the energy this band was going to produce, or the active on and off stage antics of Moon & Co.  This show was full of moments, some that tugged at heart strings, and some that were just pure rock and roll. One of these moments came in the form of the introduction of the song, “If This is the End (The Sound of Belief)".  This song has special meaning to the band regarding drummer Johnny Venus and his recent bout and eventual recovery from leukemia.  Other moments included covers of Gotye, Michael Jackson, and Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy”.  Johnny Venus and Moon played a few songs from the small stage located at the rear of the Firebird, giving those not so close to the stage a thrill.  Moon took time to mingle with the masses twice, once to sing from directly in front of the stage, and once to sing from atop the venue’s high-back bench seating.  Not to be left out, bassist Mark Roth played for a brief moment while hanging upside down from the rafters above the stage.  I am happy to report a majority of the new EP was met with gracious amounts of audience participation in the form of singing, dancing, and applause.  The Lost EP will make its debut in 2014, with the follow up Found EP to be released later in the year.  I’d like to thank Greek Fire’s management for allowing MTC to cover this show, the Firebird for their continued support of local music, and Mr. Sneed for looking at his text messages.  Pictures of the show are below:

Contributed by Duane Clawson