Coming out of an extremely active fall season in which they released a new album and reintroduced themselves to Charleston, The Fire Apes have made a lineup change.

According to lead singer and guitarist John Seymour, keyboardist Matt Bivins (formerly of Jump) amicably left the band to pursue acting school in New York. "He's really burned out and has decided to go to acting school — something he has always wanted to do," says the frontman. "Matt was and is so incredibly supportive."

Fortunately for the band, they've already worked in a replacement: Hugh Knight. "I didn't initially think that he would be all that interested, but I was happily surprised," says Seymour. "Hugh learned all the songs in a week! Matt was wonderful and we all got along so well, so I was very reticent to replace him anytime soon. But when Hugh became so incredibly interested and fit in so well musically and personally, we quickly found out that he was the Ray Manzarek we were looking for."

Look for the new Apes at Cumberland's on Sat. Jan. 21 and check www.thefireapes.com for more.

Charleston City Paper: January 18, 2006