FirebirdFM achieves escape velocity, illuminating their trajectory with asymmetric rock nuance
Nora Madonna, creator of the rock band, FirebirdFM, provides a rejuvenating Wasteland Radio respite, far beyond the brick-and-mortar of systemic limitation.
It was bound to happen, sooner or later I reckon. The spirit of rock-n-roll would fly out of them paper-thin, 1976 Pontiac Firebird radio speakers and into the souls of growing global reception with inexplicable lightness of being and exuberant celebration of the energy that is FirebirdFM. Not even my words will replicate the thunderous movement the mystical radio station/self-powered frequency and feel-good rock band from Albuquerque summoned from the ancient gods at Juno Brewery, late last month.
Twern’t no ordinary rock-n-roll they orchestrated that night. Nope. They provided the sonic power to infiltrate human psyches to levitate masses. In unison. Well first of all, they sucker punched the crowd with their signature, high vibrational, feel-good rock-n-roll sound, tighter than a frog’s ass on a late fall night, and then they told us to close our eyes and of course we did, and then Shōsh began to lift the entire crowd into the over-smoke-machined air, which tasted a lot like arsenic for some odd reason, while the rest of the band tickled and prodded the mystical cosmic bull with mechanical energies that went bump and poke in the cold, winter night, snortin’ piss and fire in gallops. It was about to come unhinged. We, I reckon. We were about to come unhinged.
I’m a sucker for a dope intro, and in perhaps the best intro ever, Shōsh began with an alap, a traditional northern-India classical opening section of a performance, while Nora and Hannah jingle-jangled in the corner, Jenn being sneaky on the sticks, and Mark on bass, ever-so-gently filling the smoked air with debilitating sound scapes that beautifully bolstered Shōsh’s improvised levitating chant. The alap induced meditation as I traveled to another dimension of peace while she sang. The outside world blocked out, the physical body became light enough to move on its own energy; no tethers on my ballon. Powerful stuff. Only to be viciously body slammed to the concrete floor of reality on the first mechanical boom by Jenn, awakening the audience from dreams of world harmony and peace. Nicely done, indeed. I still have whiplash.
All of that on a ten-dollar door fee.
Once Jenn kicked the tires and lit the fires, big daddy, they leaned forward to jab with the intro to Good Things, and the crowd took a few beats to the dome before they recovered and realized they could still float to good ol’ rock and roll music while guitars and Nora’s vocals came alive, amplifying momentum to the ascension. Somewhere along the way, Shōsh became possessed by the power of rock and roll, known only to select few unorthodox maniacs of the entertainment spectrum, and proceeded to put her whole entire ass and foot into that Nord synthesizer to vaporize what little brain matter those of us in attendance had left in our skulls. Our spiritual body had departed the atmosphere to galaxies unknown. Arguably the most effective, and unquestionably the most beautifully bizarre keys/synth player in the music scene today, recruited and guided by the bands central nervous system, Nora Madonna, Shoshana has tapped into prominent rules of success, set forth by the greats that came before her, allowing her to settle into a career in music and delightfully received an honorable visit from former teacher and mentor, Jason Goodyear, at their show at Rufina Taproom last year.
“I give her the sketch and Shōsh fills it in.” Nora Madonna
Knowing FirebirdFM contains multiple writers, yet not knowing how to play keyboard, I asked Nora after the show how it all works, and with Nora’s own unorthodox approach to rock and roll, loosely influenced by the quirky spirits of Elvis Costello and Steve Nieve, she responded with “I give her the sketch and Shōsh fills it in.”1 From the beginnings of FirebirdFM, a bonafide cult survivor, worldly traveled, and a published musician, Shoshana has poured her whole-ass attitude into her keyboard playing style, and the rest of FirebirdFM, is just bat-shit crazy enough to wrangle her gravitational pull into one of the most brilliant songs and live performances ever of a song written about Good Things. Sometimes it’s all ya need. With friends, ya know; to heal; to explore. Preferably in a warm, cozy, smoke-filled, padded, white-walled room like Juno.
The magical and timely foreshadowing of FirebirdFM’s emergence is their ability to shine their own existence, while openly inviting the world to do so along with them. Their rock music, and all the humans combined to make the project, broadcasts as asymmetric warfare that expands itself into a brilliant production of bodily levitation and dance, transcending boundaries in the theater of reality. And what a treat for the soul to hear Jenn get up and sing her own song with Hannah in So Many Roads. They are expanding capabilities and zapping limitations from, not only their own existence and music, but nobly for those who are tuned in to the healing power of music, and those inexplicably restrained by unrequited love. FirebirdFM shows them all how to do it, both on stage and through the magic of intentional human connection that is Wasteland Radio.
FirebirdFM has stepped up to be the rock voice of the outcast; the underdogs of radio wasteland. They curated a community of acceptance back in June at Boese Bros downtown, for their first installment of SHINE. Everyone in attendance felt safe, free, and empowered to shine their own existence for a memorable and celebratory evening of community through music.
Look for FirebirdFM’s EP, Live at Frogville, recorded at Frogville Studios in Santa Fe in 2023, on streaming services, currently in a trickle release mode known only to the band’s leader (2 releases out of “x” out now), and catch them performing live anywhere good, wholesome rock and roll music is played by upstanding, tax-dodging citizens and survivors of the thin-air radio Wasteland. They’ll be the ones beaming in a sea of iridescent souls.
I hear they are playing a gig up in Fanta-Sé at The Mystic in March. I would pay an exotic door fee to experience the energy they bring to fine folks of The Mystic and the curating prowess of Kiley Larsen with Mama Mañana Records. The venue is a magical escape from the doldrums of winter, set in a warm, inviting listening space where both musician and philosopher are free to share the spirited energy in vibrational harmony.
Stringer
Nora Madonna, singer, songwriter, producer, writer, philosopher, show curator, mystical radio DJ, all-around badass & musical community shadow worker. She often and routinely communicates with a higher frequency to broadcast healing music, through very intentional human connection, and acceptance of existence. Music writing quote used with her permission.