Paul McCartney Reflects on the 3 ‘Experimental’ Albums He Made With ‘The Fireman’
Paul McCartney has been a part of many songs and albums that even his most hardcore fans may not be aware of. McCartney was briefly a part of a duo called “The Fireman,” where McCartney said he worked on his most “experimental” records.
Paul McCartney formed a duo with Youth known as The Fireman
In 1993, McCartney and Youth (Martin Glover) came together and formed The Fireman. Through their duo, Youth and McCartney created many experimental records and songs. Their first album, Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest, consisted of remixes of samples from McCartney’s Off the Ground album. The project moved through a range of genres, from rock to electronic.
Their next two albums, Rushes and Electric Arguments, featured more original tracks composed by the two musicians. Electric Arguments was the only album by The Fireman that featured any vocals. McCartney played all the instruments on each album while Youth co-produced each track.
Paul McCartney recalled how experimental The Fireman albums were
In an interview with Phoebe Bridgers for her Instagram live, Paul McCartney discussed his more experimental side, recalling the albums he made with The Fireman. He said each album was a new experience, and the third album required more improvisation as he didn’t write down the lyrics. He had to come up with them on the spot.
“Sometimes I’m in that experimental mode. I did records a few years ago, called ‘The Fireman,’ which was kind of like an underground record. We didn’t say I was involved. We just called it ‘The Fireman.’ And we did it with a friend of mine, called Youth, who’s a producer. And we just experimented. I think we did 3 Fireman records. And the first one was instrumental, kind of trance music. The second one was a little bit more experimental. But the third one, he says to me, ‘do you wanna do a vocal?’ I said, ‘Well, I’ve got no words.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, you know, yeah, go on.’ So I went out on the mic, and I’m then saying, ‘okay, disclaimer, this could be the worst thing you’ve ever heard, this could be me totally crapping out,’ you know. But you have to just get courageous and just go on the mic, ‘I’m sitting here / I’m talking to you / this is what I love to do.’”
McCartney compared the experience to ‘Sgt. Pepper’s’
Paul McCartney has experimented on other albums, including The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. For that album, McCartney suggested that each Beatles member take on a persona and they would pretend to be a different band. The experiment paid off, as it’s one of the band’s most successful albums. In an interview with Gigwise, the “Hey Jude” singer compared The Fireman experience to Sgt. Pepper’s, saying both gave him more freedom.
“That’s the whole point about The Fireman – it’s very free,” McCartney said. “And also it’s an approach I’m interested in. The Whole idea behind Sgt. Pepper’s… was to create a band, and we could pretend that we were that band and not the Beatles, so we made that record with that in mind.”
