Band name: The Parish Church Fire Members: Franky Jameson, Chris Gilman, Jack Farnworth and Pete Toner When and where did you form?

Although we have just reformed under our new name, we originally formed in October 2011 as Sam Smith & Company. We split up last year but reformed as The Parish Church Fire back in May. We have always been Manchester-based but three of us are from Bolton and two of us still live there. Pete, our drummer, is from Newton Aycliffe.

What is your sound and who are your influences?

Somewhere between dark alternative rock and punk. Influences are broad, like most bands, but at the moment we are listening to a lot of Afghan Whigs, Gutter Twins, Pearl Jam, Deftones, Queens of the Stone Age and Slipknot. But right now I (Jack) am listening to Springsteen's River album so yeah, things change, it's extreme. As the band’s songwriter I try and incorporate my own influences and cater for the band’s personality and influences too. A lot of our newer songs were written for the tastes of Pete, our drummer, as he's a heavy stick hitter and that's what I'm going for at the moment.

What is the biggest gig you have played to date?

With our old name we sold out the Manchester Roadhouse to the tune of 300 tickets, which was some achievement at the time. We launched our From Heathens to Devils EP on the same night and the whole thing was just fantastic. We tend to put our own gigs on in Manchester so they are what we make them. Bolton has a couple of good promoters so when we gig here, we use them.

If you are not already, is it your ambition to become professional?

We certainly act professional when dealing with people but since splitting up and getting back together, we couldn't care less about anything other than sticking together, having a good time and making great music that we are proud of. We've chased 'the dream' as it were and one way or another, it burned us out and made us miserable. We are focused on the music fully now, it's the best way.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Still together 'burning down the road' so to speak, haha. We have to be! You don't know what you've got until it's gone and having learned that lesson the hard way, we are gonna be together one way or another. As above, it's not about chasing the dream anymore, it's about making the most what we have, which is why we are crowd funding our next single via Kickstarter.

Is there anything unusual or interesting about the band?

This may not impress the people of Bolton but we found our way onto Alex Ferguson's farewell playlist on his final day at Old Trafford, which was amazing. Nobody from the club even told us, a friend of mine saw it in The Guardian on the Friday morning and told me and I was absolutely stunned, I still am. I'm a United season ticket holder and it meant the world to me. And there is mystery surrounding our name. Any archivists should search the Bolton Evening News circa 1991 to decode it's meaning. It would have been front page news.

Upcoming gigs?

Keep your eyes peeled for our crowd funded single launch in Manchester August 15/16