The Fireman (lost live Youth and Paul McCartney's band internet webcast; 1998)
A still from the webcast.
Status: Lost
In 1998, experimental music duo The Firemen, formed by Killing Joke bassist, Youth (real name Martin Glover), and The Beatles bassist and solo musician, Paul McCartney. The band has released six singles and three official full-length albums: 'Strawberry Oceans Ships Forest' in 1993, 'Rushes' in 1998, and 'Electric Arguments' in 2008. Although officially anonymous until 2008 with the release of the album Electric Arguments, the group members' names had been known to the public since soon after the release of their first album. While not officially disbanded, the band has not released anything since 2008, and the last project to bear anything Firemen-related was the 'Pure McCartney' compilation from 2016, which featured the song 'Sing The Changes.'
Rushes and the 1998 Webcast
In 1998, the Firemen released their second album, 'Rushes'. The title, when combined with the band's name, is a reference to the song "Penny Lane" by The Beatles: 'And then the fireman rushes in / from the pouring rain / very strange'.
As a way to promote the album, a web chat was transmitted in 1998, which featured a heavily disguised Paul McCartney playing guitar, bass, keyboards, and whistling to backing tracks from the album 'Rushes', which were mixed live during the webcast. In the entire 70-minute webcast, McCartney doesn't utter a single word, instead, beside the music, a young woman is heard reading and answering questions sent by fans.
Availabilty
Aside from a few stills, nothing is known or saved from the webcast. An audio-only YouTube video used to exist, but was removed. It is unknown and highly unlikely if McCartney, Youth, and/or MPL Communications are in possession of a copy of the entire webcast.
Gallery
Paul McCartney during the webcast playing guitar in disguise.
