Firehose (stylized as fIREHOSE) was an American alternative rock band consisting of Mike Watt (bass, vocals), Ed Crawford (guitar, vocals), and George Hurley (drums). They were initially active from 1986 to 1994, and reunited briefly in 2012. Firehose was formed in the spring of 1986 shortly after the accidental death of D. Boon brought an end to Watt and Hurley's previous band, Minutemen.
The band played their first gig in June 1986 and by the end of the year released their debut album, Ragin', Full On via the independent label, SST. That same year, they also supported Sonic Youth on their "Flaming Telepaths Tour". The band quickly gained a loyal fanbase especially among the underground skateboarding crowd thanks in part to the inclusion of some of their early material in several key skateboarding videos from the late 1980s. "Brave Captain" from Ragin', Full On, as well as "Sometimes", "Hear Me", and "Windmilling" from their sophomore release, If'n were all featured in the Santa Cruz Skateboards video series, "Streets on Fire".
Over the course of seven and a half years, the band developed their own musical identity apart from Minutemen while still maintaining the same dynamic synthesis of punk, funk, and free jazz. They toured non-stop and consistently played to packed audiences. All in all, Firehose played 980 gigs, released five full-length albums and two EPs before disbanding in 1994. They played their final gig on February 12, 1994 at the Warner Grand Theatre in San Pedro, California.
Links to Peel
Peel seemed to first play fIREHOSE in 1987, where on his 04 February 1987 show, claimed that the band's latest LP (Ragin', Full-On) was one of the best LP's he's heard out of America in the past few months. He would continue play material from the group throughout the late 80's, including a session for his show in 1988, although in the early 90's, Peel's interest in the band seem to wane.
In 2000, Brave Captain, a solo project of Martin Carr, who used to be in the Boo Radleys, did a session for Peel's show. He named the project after a fIREHOSE song.
