Interview with Crossfire Eagles: ‘Sweet Talker is straight to the point and has a lot of attitude!’
Sheffield-based band Crossfire Eagles has released a stomper of an indie rock song, ‘Sweet Talker’, complete with an infectious rhythm and relentless riffs.
The band comprises: James Wilson (lead vocals/rhythm guitar), Tyler Savage (lead guitar/backing vocals), Will Simister (bass guitar) and Keaton Barker (drums).
‘Sweet Talker’ is the oldest of the songs on the band’s upcoming EP, as well as the shortest at just 2.19 minutes: ‘Keaton came up with the original blueprint for ‘Sweet Talker’ around a year ago,’ said Savage. ‘It is the song that had been in the works for the longest, you’d think it would have been quicker as it’s the shortest! We didn’t quite pinpoint the song from start to finish, none of us properly sat down to sort the arrangement out. We wanted an outside perspective as well because you want as much input as you can get. You fall in love with what you write and sometimes the quality can go down because you’re so close to it.’
Luckily, that is not the case with ‘Sweet Talker’. With lyrics such as ‘words just tumble from your lips, make everything seem fly…you are a sweet talker, sweet walker, so many things that I should’ve taught her’, the song is more tongue in cheek than any of their previous songs. ‘It’s about that night life vibe,’ Savage said. ‘The lyrics are upbeat and a bit cheeky, which isn’t something you normally associate with us but it’s nice to be a bit cheeky sometimes! It’s straight to the point and has a lot of attitude!’
The song is reminiscent of ‘Bohemian Like You’ (by The Dandy Warhols), according to Savage. ‘It’s in that sort of vein,’ he said. I agree. ‘It hits you in the face, it’s short but the tempo is so quick.’
Crossfire Eagles’ name is also courtesy of Savage, who got inspiration one night from listening to ‘Heat of the Night’ by Bryan Adams: ‘It starts off with ‘I was caught in the crossfire’, which I thought was cool,’ he said laughing. ‘Then I thought of Eagles but there are so many bands called that, so I ended up putting the two words together!’
The band plans to release a 6-track EP either before the end of the year if they don’t put out another single before then or in early 2021 if they do. ‘With the EP, we don’t want every song to sound the same or you get generalised into one category,’ Savage said. ‘You have to be diverse enough to appeal to a lot of people. ‘Sweet Talker’ is very different to ‘Step Out’, which isn’t as lyrically driven as ‘Episode’.
The 6 tracks will be ‘Episode’, ‘Step Out’ , ‘Sweet Talker’, a remastered version of ‘All You Know’ and two unreleased tracks, ‘Strawberry Fields’ and ‘Moonstruck’.
‘The song’s about wanting to be your idol’
Savage came up with the first version of ‘Strawberry Fields’ – an original song as opposed to a Beatles’ cover – and they then rejigged it in the studio. However, the pre-chorus remains intact, Savage said. ‘It has a number of different moods, with a free for all at the end, which you have to hear to believe. The song’s about wanting to be your idol, so the 10 year old boy in his bedroom looking up to a poster of Freddie Mercury on his wall.’
‘Moonstruck’ was the last track to be written on the EP. ‘I wanted to have one last upbeat rock song,’ Savage said. ‘It’s a mad song about rock ‘n’ roll, it’s in your face – arguably more so than ‘Sweet Talker’, as if The Rolling Stones just wrote it! There are big guitars, too. We have a thing for the ending of the song!’
Crossfire Eagles are essentially a melody-driven band with catchy hooks and choruses, straddling indie rock and classic rock, with influences such as Foo Fighters, Queen, Catfish and The Bottlemen and Courteeners. Savage, for his part, describes himself as ‘very much a classic rock and indie rock guy’, citing bands such as Queen, The Strokes, Ozzy Osbourne and Guns ‘N’ Roses as his favourites. ‘Practicing, it’s always one or the other, it’s always good to be as open as possible.’
If he could collaborate with anyone dead or alive, he is quick to say Prince. ‘He covered all the bases with music. People forget what a great guitar player he was, he almost overshadowed himself, if you know what I mean? Sometimes, his band would go on without a set list, he was very spontaneous. Prince just went on what he was feeling, that’s so hard to emulate. It takes a lot of natural ability.’
(Photo from left to right: James, Tyler, Will and Keaton.)