A Sunday Fire is Chris, Jesse, Joey, and Sam.

Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.

Chris Ruiz - Vocals

Jesse Oates - Guitar

Joey Smith - Bass

Sam Ferroulliat - Drums

For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to A Sunday Fire? How long has the band been around?

Joey - I have been in bands since highschool, but when I met Sam it was love at first sight and we knew we had something good.

Sam - I played in a black metal band for 4 months if that counts.

Jesse - I mostly played in two bands out of Mississippi. An alt-rock band called The Quiet Calm and a metalcore band called Shutdown Tactic.

Chris - I sang for a band way back in the day called Mallary Road. I was out of music for some years before Sam recruited me to come try out for the band.

What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?

A Sunday Fire refers to growing up in the church and seeing hypocrisy and oppression. We were always told we were going to hell if we didn’t obey God’s word. Some of the atrocities we’ve seen in the name of religion looked like hell in our eyes. So, A Sunday Fire became a name that was aimed to reflect that.

Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?

Sam - Joey is the backbone of our music. Having Jesse be such a capable musician has really added to our songwriting arsenal.

Joey - The topics change as the world does. A lot of my ideas come to me like a movie in my head and I am just trying to write the score to that scene. I’m lucky to have a talented guitarist like Jesse to bounce ideas off of and who is also as passionate as we are. This world is in dark times and as long as we are in a band we will write music to help people escape into a new reality.

Chris - I try to write lyrics that are relatable to people. I’ve been through some shit in my life. I hope people hear the words I sing and can use my experiences to help get them through the things they are going through.

What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?

Jesse - Bring Me the Horizon comes to mind, but I mainly find myself listening to and being inspired by Hip-Hop and what’s going on in rap music.

Sam - I’ve been listening to a 50/50 split of Deftones and beatdown Hardcore.

Joey - CKY, BMTH, Royal Blood, Nova Twins, Death From Above 1979, and any hardcore band.

Chris - For this particular album I’ve really been drawing inspiration from Dillinger Escape Plan, Bring Me the Horizon, Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead, and The Drums. I love the way all of those bands create moods and soundscapes and it was something I wanted to focus in on. Creating moods.

Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?

Joey - I had cassette tapes that my mom had given me. Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, BB King, Albert King, and many more. Listening to them made me want to play guitar.

Sam - I was super into Avenged Sevenfold and that spiraled me into music somehow.

Jesse - Hands down the Foo Fighters, Chris Cornell, and The Doors.

Chris - 311 was the band that made me really want to do music. I got their album Transistor when I was very young and I would sing along to it pretending I was playing a show in my room nearly every day.

What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, ect …

There’s a lot that goes into getting ready for our shows. We are a high energy act that leaves it all on stage. A lot of stretching, breathing exercises, and also conversations about how to navigate the stage with all the chaos going on. It’s a very intense thing that sets the stage for us to go out there and give the people a hell of a show.

What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?

There have been so many highs in this band that it is hard to pick out one single moment. However, when we released An Open Letter we were at the top of the punk charts for album sales on Bandcamp ahead of bands like Mannequin Pussy and Algernon Cadwallader. That was a moment we kind of looked at each other and said, “Damn, we can do this.”

If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?

Jesse - I would have to say PUP, Mastodon, or Coheed and Cambria.

Sam - It would be sick to tour with Limp Bizkit or The Used.

Joey - BMTH, CKY, Nova Twins, Death From Above 1979, and we don’t have enough time to get into past bands.

Chris - We love mixed genre shows. Absolutely love playing them. It’s kind of our dream to do these massive mixed genre shows on tour every night. A dream 4 band lineup to me is : A Sunday Fire, Nine Inch Nails, Rae Sremmurd, and 311.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

After a long time of soul searching, we are finally becoming the band we want to be. We want to create a new world for you to go to when life gets hard. We want you to feel part of a community and like there is more out there than you ever thought possible. That’s what A Sunday Fire is all about.