Book The Backfires for colleges, corporate events, fairs, festivals & private shows. Contact Degy Entertainment for booking info.
The Backfires are an indie rock band split between New York and the UK, often compared to The Strokes and Arctic Monkeys for their guitar-driven, hook-heavy sound. Their catalog runs from the 2020 debut single "Anything" through the 2021 EP Consider the Backfires to their debut full-length, This Is Not an Exit, released in January 2025, work that has caught the ear of BBC Music Introducing along the way.
The band started with a teenage epiphany. Frontman Alex Gomez saw Catfish and the Bottlemen play Washington, D.C.'s 9:30 Club as a teenager and decided on the spot that he wanted to do the same thing. He carried that decision to University College London in 2018, where he met guitarist Harry Ruprecht and drummer Max Wanduragala and started a band first called Qualia Noir before rebranding as The Backfires. Bassist Matt Walter, a childhood friend of Gomez's from the DC area, joined soon after, and the full lineup eventually relocated together to New York City to chase the band full time.
The Backfires have supported Silversun Pickups, Courteeners, Quarters, and The Mysterines on the road, and followed their debut album with a 29-date North American headline tour. They have worked both their home scenes, from a small show at Heaven Can Wait in New York City to an intimate night at The Macbeth in Hoxton, London, and stepped up to the festival stage at Governors Ball. That mix of club rooms and festival lineups makes them a strong fit for college events, festival and fair bookings, corporate dates, and private shows.
