D.D.R. have just released a single called “Fire at Will” which takes the rather mundane phrase “fire at will” and turns it into the basis of a very funny and increasingly disastrous day for a man called Will. It’s out 30th September 2026 and is a very different beast to the more straightforward rock tracks that have been the norm from the Divorced Dad Rock project to date. The song is built around the idea of a man called Will who is just about unable to avoid the consequences of his name. The whole thing starts as a fairly simple premise, but the story escalates rapidly from there with a visit to the police, a meeting with some robbers, a run-in with a couple of baseball players and then a visit to a military firing range all providing further opportunities for the title to become a literal disaster. It’s a very solid hard rock song with driving guitars and a big drum beat and a huge melodic chorus that really works as the focal point of the whole thing. It’s very much in the spirit of the ’80s melodic hard rock and fully embraces the kind of big hooks and sheer energy that a ridiculous story like this is perfectly suited to. “When your name becomes the punchline to every disaster, even an ordinary day can become a full-blown rock ‘n’ roll catastrophe” is the basic premise of “Fire at Will” and the song is committed to that premise with a very enjoyable mixture of melody, momentum and escalating absurdity.
The real fun of ‘Fire at Will’ is in the way it evolves from a rather clever bit of wordplay into a full blown narrative adventure. Instead of just repeating the same joke over and over again it puts Will into a series of different situations in which the phrase ‘fire at will’ keeps coming up in all sorts of different ways to cause trouble. The encounters with the police and the robbers are one type of tension, the baseball players and the military firing range are another. It’s a whole series of episodes in the unfortunate day of Will, which is the very essence of the narrative that Paul has built up over the years as a novelist. The music is there to drive that narrative along with the relentless guitar and the driving drums. The chorus is the perfect anchor to all of the various situations that occur, and there’s a massive bridge with a huge drum barrage and a guitar solo to really drive the point home that the story is out of control. The accompanying music video is a perfect extension of the track in that it doesn’t just re-enact the story, it goes one step further with a whole series of illustrated scenes, background gags and visual punchlines. It even allows Will to break the fourth wall and confront the very man who has created his predicament. It’s a very appropriate extension of the track as it adds another layer of humour for the viewer to discover. ‘Fire at Will’ knows that a great rock song can have the riff, the chorus and the punchline all in the same breath. It’s a story that builds in a way that is totally consistent with the music. D.D.R. have done it perfectly in that the humour is an integral part of the music rather than something tacked on.
“Fire at Will” also opens up a new phase for D.D.R. after the previous project *Blinded By The Blonde: Chapter One* which was all about relationships, betrayal, grief and recovery. Stephen Paul has now expanded the scope of the project to show that personal songwriting and comedy can exist in the same musical world. The track is performed by Joe Bills on lead vocals, Chris Hutton and various other Musiversal vocalists on backing vocals. Breno Machado plays the guitars, Bruno Migliari the bass, Felipe Ribeiro the keyboards and Christiano Galvao the drums. Andy Borda did the audio engineering, Nuno Fernandez the mixing and Federico Hencker the stereo mastering. Paul was in charge of the production and creative direction and the whole thing is a true example of a collaborative effort with musicians from all over the place coming together to create a very cohesive melodic hard rock sound. The song is of course defined by its utter and complete lack of any sense of seriousness. In a genre so often associated with heartbreak, rebellion and all manner of grand pronouncements, “Fire at Will” is a song that allows for a very different kind of release; the release of simply enjoying a great chorus, enjoying a very silly story and laughing at a character who really should have stayed in bed. And in the midst of all that mayhem there is still the small detail of Will’s cat at home. “Sometimes rock ‘n’ roll doesn’t need to save the world. Sometimes it just needs a killer chorus, a ridiculous story and a character who really should have stayed in bed.” “Fire at Will” is a very funny, guitar driven song which is a reminder that rock can be so much fun because it is so unapologetically silly.
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