Fireheart don’t have fans.

Nope.

They have family.

They’ve formed a Community.

A safe space not only for those that connect with their fresh yet uncompromising take on modern hard rock. But for themselves too. We caught up with the boys before their support set with Dan Byrne in Sheffield, and learnt that the tough stuff life has thrown at them has brought them closer, made them stronger and leads to Fireheart writing bloody good music.

If you’re not familiar with Fireheart, don’t worry. You will be within the next 1,000 words or so. But there’s a high chance you will have heard of some of the artists they’ve been touring and/or are on the bill with…

The boys have just finished touring with Cassidy Paris and are on festival line-ups including Call of the Wild and Firevolt. Oh, and they either sold out or got pretty damn close to capacity on their own headline tour earlier this year.

Still not sure? That’s ok. You’ll definitely have heard of one of their other bands. Ready?

Kev Baker – guitar - ex The Hot One Two

His Royal Highness King Bret Barnes I (well, he’s rock royalty at any rate) – bass – ex Kira Mac

Russ Grimmett – vocals with Fireheart AND Sons of Liberty

Neil Hackett – lead guitar – ex Iconic Eye and The Whiskey Syndicate

Chris Hopton – drums – ex Gypsy Pistoleros

So this means Fireheart are an established band then. Well, yes and no… ‘We’re only just over a year old!’ says Russ. ‘We started the band in December 2024 and announced it in February 2025. We wanted to build it with the fans involved from the beginning. We wanted them to be part of it – without even the music.’

Kev adds, ‘This isn’t just about the music, because it was never formed with music! We had 2,500 [social media] followers within a few weeks with no music and no band!’

The buzz started to build - over the socials and in the pit at other rock shows – and the flames began to take hold.

Russ tells us, ‘I had the concept of Fireheart on the backburner for a while, but I wanted to do it with the right people.’

‘We wanted to build a new and interesting concept from the beginning,’ says Kev, ‘so we started a group page and we invited a few followers. We thought we’d see it grow to maybe a thousand followers over a year or two. But it escalated very quickly! So there was a lot of support out there from the beginning.

He adds, ‘The band formed because there’d been break-ups within other bands. Myself, Bret, Chris and Russ were already in other bands and kind of doing this as a side-project. We didn’t anticipate the momentum of Fireheart to be impactful as it was at the start.’

The Fireheart boys have been through break-ups, break-downs, mental and physical illness, diagnosis, devastating losses, and more. Some of these are on-going. None of these are going to stop them.

‘We’ve all been in the same boat in this band, mentally,’ Russ tells us. ‘Some of us still are going through things.’

Called ‘The Pulse’, Fireheart’s community page is a space of safety, joy and compassion – and one which the band are extremely (and rightly) proud of. ‘Everyday there’s people chatting to each other and helping each other [in it],’ says Russ. ‘People are supporting each other, and they want to meet up before gigs, for example.’ ‘We’re trying to build the biggest family we can,’ he adds.

And so far so good.

‘We spend so much time talking and chatting to people,’ says Kev, ‘because it’s not about the band – it’s about them. I love to make people feel included and listened to. The moment you make it about yourself is where you run into trouble. If you can make someone feel good by giving them five minutes of your time and taking pictures with them, that’s what we want to do.’

Russ adds, ‘We wouldn’t have the band without the fans, and we want to make them feel special.’

It’s all love between Fireheart and their fans, but the band have still been subject to a spot of negativity. Russ says, ‘There’s a few haters out there, and a few people wondering ‘how have they done all this in such a short space of time?’. But what these people forget is we’ve been in bigger bands before and we’d already reached that level, and more, with them. We’re just picking up from where we left off, but [as individuals] we’re in a better place and a better position. But we all still have our ups and downs.’

Kev adds, ‘This hasn’t happened overnight. This is the result of four or five years of trying with other bands and forming connections with other people.'

Don’t wanna ‘live, laugh, love’ you over here, but chatting with the boys pre-show at the Corporation, Sheffield, Fireheart do kinda embody the idea that friends are the family you’d choose. The love they feel for their fans and for each other (and the support and empowerment that comes from being properly loved) is so genuine. ‘We seem to bring out the best in each other,’ says Kev, speaking about his bandmates. ‘We all look out for each other.’

A concept. A connection. A literal band of brothers. Fireheart are already an absolute mental-health-championing-musical-firebrand. And they’ve only just begun…