"The first song we ever wrote together."
To understand 1997, we must go back to February 1989. Shortly after Tyler Jones joined Alias/Insane, he and Andy Quinn sat down to write a track with the working title “Tears Are Not Rain.”
That song eventually became 'Fire', the standout power ballad from their 1992 album 'The Knives in Our Backs' (released via TyGM). It’s a track defined by what Quinn called 'liquid drive'—a relentless, surging energy that masks a desperate heart.
Footage from the Alias/Insane 'Fire' music video (1992).
In an archival interview, Andy Quinn reflected on the track:
‘This song is about feeling trapped in a bad situation ... It’s about the kind of liquid pain you experience only when you realise that there is no way out: you are doomed. It’s about panicking, I guess. But also about finally being honest with yourself.’
How did the man who wrote about "no way out" in 1989 end up in the East River in 1997? The truth is buried in the city.
Are you ready to go back to a 1997 that never was, but could have been?
🔎 WISHLIST NOW: Don't let the fire go out.
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See you in the heat of '97.