Wild Fire is an American rock band founded in Biloxi, Mississippi. The lead singer, Zack Sawyer, and the lead guitarist, Taylor Roberts, have known each other well before Wild Fire was established in 2015. Roberts founded a band called Cathercist (driven from the word catharsis) which performed locally for sometime before their singer left the band.
In 2009, Roberts met singer and keyboardist Zack Sawyer in Mobile, Alabama. Sawyer performed in a band called 35 Point Week, which broke up, and since Cathercist also lost their singer, they let him audition for the band; and he was hired exactly that night. While sources vary on the date Cathercist was found in, 2010 is recognized as the official establishment of the band by most unofficial sources, however, Roberts said that the band was actually founded in 2005–2006, and the band has had activities such as an appearance in the 2008 Taste of Chaos concert where Cathercist opened for Avenged Sevenfold, Atreyu, and Bullet for My Valentine before 2010 and before Sawyer joined the band. in 2011, they released their debut album The Untimely Death of Zack Sawyer, and their second studio album As Hope Expires on May 24, 2013. After their releases and some lineup changes, the band stayed low until 2015, where they decided to show up again with a killer single called “Villain”, which is their most popular song up to date, with a new lineup. they also announced that they’re no longer performing as Cathercist and that they officially go by “Wild Fire” now. when Sawyer was interviewed about this change, he had this to say:
“ Taylor Roberts and myself were working on our record with our band Cathercist for a couple of years and then we lost some members. We were still continuing to work on it, but by the time the record was written, with the new people involved, it was just a different sound. It was something new, something we wanted to push forward with and something we really loved. It’s not like we thought our fans didn’t like it — we just didn’t feel comfortable continuing under the same name. There were a lot of twists and turns to get where we looked up and said ‘we need to change the name. It’s time’.”
according to former lead guitarist Roberts, he was the last one to be approached to discuss the name change. when we asked him why they decided to discontinue as Cathercist, he said:
“The band thought it was time for a change. It was the end of a chapter and we were refining a new sound. It was also almost an entirely new band. We went from a 5 piece down to a 4 and had lost 3 members.”
On May 23, 2017, the band released their first debut album as Wild Fire, titled Revolt. The album consists of 15 tracks, four of which have been featured on As Hope Expires before. The album is very energetic and orchestral driven. according to Roberts, comparing to Wild Fire, Cathercist was more influenced by hard rock, and Wild Fire differs from Cathercist “in terms of music and style.”
With Wild Fire’s upcoming acoustic record, Taylor Roberts announced that he will not only be leaving the band, but his hometown as well. on March 29, 2018, the band officially broke the news to their fans through a Facebook post.
The band have not revealed much about the new album, and all Roberts could tell us was this: “[The album] features songs [from “Revolt”] redone acoustically and some covers. It was recorded at Zack’s house in the last week of February.”
Taylor is aiming to do better things and he stated that he will not be taking a break from music. he told us that he has been writing his own solo music and he’s planning to release a record of his own. On June 6, 2018, Roberts announced his own project called Riding with Killers. with Roberts leaving the band, Sawyer and bassist Tyler Voss both confirmed that they will “no longer” be genre specific, and they will try to release a song each month onward.
During a live stream on Facebook, Sawyer and Voss stated that Roberts did not like the idea of an acoustic record, but they “took votes” and did it anyway; but it’s unlikely that this is the reason which made Roberts leave the band. He confirmed that there were no tensions between the band members and that leaving the band was on his mind for sometime. he said “I’m ready to move on and get out of my comfort zone. I suppose i felt somewhat complacent and i’m ready to change the game. I’m also excited, because of this event in my life and this chapter ending, i’ve been writing more than I ever have.”
It seems like the guys were having fun during the making of their upcoming album as well! they all equally seem really fun to hang out with
After Roberts left, Sawyer took it on himself to keep the band active and he told his fans that “Wild Fire is far from over.” It seems like the guys are all on good terms and each of them have their own endeavors. nevertheless, we wish them all success in whatever they’re planning. Let’s see what Wild Fire will do next!
You can connect with Wild Fire on their official website: www.wildfireofficial.com
