Doomed Confessionary: Joshua Steffen (Fire Ritual)
Fire Ritual is a stoner/doom metal solo project based out of Greenwich Township, New Jersey. All music is written, produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered by Joshua Steffen (Halo In Reverse).
Influenced by Black Sabbath, Sleep, Electric Wizard etc., Fire Ritual released debut album »Apocalypse« on March 26th, 2024. Available now on all major streaming platforms!
Can you say a few words about your band?
I am one man doing all of the work, the writing, playing, production, mixing, and mastering. I’m in southern NJ and am actually actively looking for musicians to take this project out on the road for live performances. Unfortunately it has been much harder to find people interested in doing that than I anticipated. So I’m still actively looking.
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
The biggest challenge is getting listeners. Unfortunately the music scene (pretty much all of them) is just saturated with artists and musicians trying to get heard. People are overwhelmed with new bands and music every single day. So it’s extremely difficult for people to find the time to weed through everything just to find something they like. People just don’t have the time so a lot of really good and talented artists get completely lost in the avalanche of stuff floating around out there.
What can you be most proud of so far?
The first album. I’m really proud of it. I’ve writing and recording for decades now with different genres of music that I like. This is easily the best thing I’ve done. I’m usually never satisfied with my productions or mixes but with this album I really I think I nailed it on everything. The writing, the production, including guitar tone, bass tone, the drum sound, the mixing and mastering.
What was your biggest regret?
I try not to have any regrets, only lessons learned.
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
I haven’t been to a concert in years. I just simply can’t afford to go anymore. I generally save money and spend it on new studio gear.
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
I don’t really follow music scenes. I don’t like to be influenced by anything going on outside of the studio that could effect my writing.
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
It’s usually either Sleep, Ozzy era Sabbath or older Candlemass the era with Messiah Marcolin on vocals.
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
Learn your scales.
What are your guilty pleasures?
I love synthwave, and I’m a huge synthesizer nerd. I currently have 12 synthesizers in the studio because I also make synthwave music.
Can you say something more about the music scene in Greenwich Township / New Jersey?
I live in a very small town so there isn’t really any type of music scene here. Philadelphia is about 15 minutes away but I don’t really travel into the city much anymore and haven’t in years. I have bad anxiety issues so I don’t like to be around large groups of people. So I really don’t know anything about what’s going on in the Philadelphia music scene right now. For years rap was huge in Philadelphia, considering I absolutely cannot stand rap so Philadelphia really didn’t have anything to offer me musically.
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
No concerts or tours planned until I can put together the band to start playing live shows.
What are your plans for the future as a band?
A second album has been completed and will probably be released in January of next year. I’m currently also working on a third album.
How can people best support your band?
Buy the album from Bandcamp. Streaming on Spotify helps but doesn’t support artists financially at all. Spotify pays an artist a fraction of a penny for each song streamed, which is essentially nothing. Unless you have a Taylor Swift sized following then you’re really not making anything. Maybe $100 if you’re lucky which doesn’t pay for the electricity used to run the studio and record the next album.
Do you have any message for your listeners?
Support artists and bands directly by buying their album directly from them rather than streaming it from a streaming service. Bandcamp is the best way to do that.
Links:
Facebook | Bandcamp | YouTube | Spotify | Apple Music | Amazon Music
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well