FUSE TV - Fireworks Return, Get Darker With New Single "Glowing Crosses"

Fireworks' last full-length release, 2011's Gospel, found the Detroit quintet at a common crossroads for punk bands. With a grueling tour schedule grinding down upon their lives and straining their personal relationships, the group banded together to write what was one of the most celebrated pop-punk releases of that year. 

After the Gospel album cycle wrapped up, Fireworks made a choice that so few bands have the guts to make: They took a break. It wasn't a hiatus or a breakup, but they just sat slightly dormant for a while, catching up on their lives at home and going off on their own paths for a while. The fear of a band stopping its own momentum – especially bands that start off in the DIY punk world like Fireworks did – often leads these bands to forge on until they're burnt to a crisp. It shortens the life expectancy of a group.

Fireworks "basked" in the time off, according to guitarist Chris Mojan, and went into the studio "refreshed and rejuvenated" to create their third LP, Oh, Common Life. Out March 25 via Triple Crown Records, the album finds vocalist Dave Mackinder delivering lyricism with a darker imagery than we heard on Gospel. Fireworks sheds its pop-punk classification for the most part, indulging in more complex musicianship than we've heard from this act in the past and offering up a slate of catchy, poppy rock songs. The first single from Oh, Common Life, "Glowing Crosses," is streaming below. 

Mojan explained the meaning behind "Glowing Crosses" in a statement, saying the song references the Detroit riots from the summer of 1967. "[My parents] were only teenagers at the time, yet can still perfectly describe the desolation and eerie silence those riots brought. The only light came from the glowing cross hanging on the side of the hospital, lighting up the front lawns of all the houses in the neighborhood. Although it didn't really mean anything, knowing that people thought it did was kind of powerful on it's own."