Wild Fire is an American hard rock band founded in Biloxi, Mississippi, on November 5, 2015. it currently consists of Zack Sawyer (vocals and piano), Kevin Bronner (guitar), Garrett Warman (guitar), Landon Alexander (bass) and Cameron Alidor (drums). The band emerged from Cathercist founded by former Wild Fire guitarist Taylor Roberts. After Cathercist lost some band members they recruited new ones, which changed the band's musical direction. As a result, the band no longer felt comfortable performing under their original name and changed it to Wild Fire. Before this transformation, Cathercist had released two albums titled The Untimely Death of Zack Sawyer and As Hope Expires.
Wild Fire released their single, "Villain", on November 5, 2015, which was later included on their debut album released on May 23, 2017, titled Revolt. With this release, they also announced the end of Cathercist. Revolt contains 15 tracks, one of them a cover of Dr. Hook's "The Cover of Rolling Stone", the album's final track.
On March 29, 2018, Wild Fire announced in a Facebook post about an upcoming acoustic record and revealed that Taylor Roberts would be leaving the band. It has been reported that Alidor also left Wild Fire with Roberts, but the band has not confirmed this. On July 26, 2018, Wild Fire announced that Wade Sigue will be replacing Taylor Roberts as lead guitarist. Then on August 2, 2018, Sawyer announced their new musical project is called At the Lake House; each song from will be released independently, not collectively as an album.
On January 10, 2019, the band revealed through a Facebook livestream that their new drummer is Britt Hartley, and he will be replacing Cameron Alidor. Soon after this, it was reported that Hartley had already left the band. With no further comment, Zack Sawyer said “it wasn’t working out.”
History
Formation and early years
Wild Fire was founded on November 5, 2015, in Biloxi, Mississippi. It evolved from the band Cathercist, which had been active for five years according to an article in the Sun Herald. Former Wild Fire guitarist Taylor Roberts founded Cathercist in Gulfport, Mississippi, but the exact date of the band's beginning is unclear. On their official page on ReverbNation the band says Cathercist was founded in 2007, while other sources say the band was officially established in 2010. During an interview, Roberts said the band was founded in 2005–2006. They appeared at the 2008 Taste of Chaos concert where they opened for Avenged Sevenfold, Atreyu, and Bullet For My Valentine. This indicates the band was active prior to 2010 and before Sawyer joined as the lead vocalist. The band adapted their name from the word "catharsis", which they defined as purging or cleansing oneself through music or art.
Cathercist released their debut album titled The Untimely Death of Zack Sawyer in 2011. The name represents the change Sawyer went through in the process of making the album. It was recorded in Argo, Alabama, at Echelon Studios, and was produced, mixed and mastered by Joseph McQueen. The band released their second album As Hope Expires on May 24, 2013. They began recording it a week after the release of their first album. It consists of eight tracks, four of which appear on Revolt, Wild Fire's 2017 debut album. The instrumentals were recorded in Miami at Bieler Bros. Studios over the course of a week and the vocals were recorded in Wisconsin. Matt LaPlant produced, mixed and mastered the album. In 2014 Wild Fire was the national winner of the Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands at Welcome to Rockville.
Wild Fire includes members from Cathercist, Zack Sawyer and Taylor Roberts. The other known members of Cathercist were: Aaron Buck (rhythm guitar), Hollis Godsey (bass guitar) and his brother, Chris Godsey (drums), Daniel Ferguson (guitars), Mikhail Cintgran (bass guitar), and Matt Marciana (drums). Tyler Voss and Cameron Alidor replaced them in Wild Fire. Sawyer became a member of Cathercist when he first met Roberts in Mobile, Alabama, in 2009. He was originally a member of a band called 35 Point Week. After they broke up Sawyer auditioned for Cathercist, who had also lost their singer, and was hired the same night.
With a new lineup and the release of the new single, "Villain", in 2015, they announced Cathercist was over and that the band would continue making music under its new name Wild Fire with Zack Sawyer on vocals and piano, Taylor Roberts on guitar, Tyler Voss on bass, and Cameron Alidor on drums. After the announcement, Cathercist's official website was taken down, and their Facebook account was renamed "Wild Fire".