Modus Fire are a prog-punk band with a punchy horn section from Sydney, Australia, where they've been gigging since 2022. Sydney is Modus Fire's main stomping ground, but in 2025 the band began touring, with trips to Melbourne and Canberra, and more Australian cities on the horizon. Their 2025 singles "Toxicity" and "Evil Geniuses" are paving the way to their debut LP "The Weary & The Wise", releasing next July. Modus Fire are raging through 2025, playing with bands like Area 7, Bodyjar, Press Club, and the Sunny Coast Rude Boys in Sydney and beyond.

The band is the brainchild of Sydney musician and songwriter Tom Fisher (Bagster, SUB-TRIBE, The Optionals). This is the music that plays in his head: a fiery new sound forged from years of experience in punk, ska, rock, reggae and bass culture acts. The sound has been described as "cinematic" and "majestic", and compared to bands like Coheed & Cambria, Thank You Scientist, Rise Against, Silverchair, Rocket From the Crypt… The band sounds like itself, but prompts comparisons from many disparate genres. This shows a diverse influence, and an even more diverse emotional responses from listeners, from 2-tone ska through to heavy metal. It's musically complex yet melodically accessible, intertwines horn lines with guitar parts for an epic movie-score style of punk and rock with occasional forays into gentle and even jazzy interludes.

Modus fire had just begun in early 2020, but by their second rehearsal, COVID had struck. The lockdown forced them to pivot into recording the debut EP "Hell on Earth" at home, and releasing it online. The original lineup’s lives changed and only Tom, Nick Stanton (Chris Duke & The Royals) on bass, and Paul Murchison (Hot Potato Band, Birdman, Godswounds) on trumpet remained. It wasn't until 2022 they were actually able to play their first show at Crowbar Sydney, where they introduced Daniel Raymond on drums, and Oscar Lewis on Trombone. They continued gigging regularly through 2022 and 2023, introducing a second trumpet player, Amy Fox (Willoughby Brass Band), and releasing 4 singles: "Immortal, but Animal", "Nemesis", "Wreck This Whole Place" and "Falling Reason".

Nick left the band in late 22, with Miller Marshall (Glitch Kingdom, Aerials) stepping in temporarily on bass for the 2023 shows. When Miller left at the end of 23, Tom knuckled down on a lifelong dream: to write and record a full-length album. 

During this process, 22-year-old Alex Tallon joined on bass, jamming with Tom and Daniel to pull together a set for the band's late-2024 return to the stage, with Julian McKay (ANJO Youth Big Band) picking up the trombone after Oscar left town to pursue his dream of playing in a professional orchestra, with the Australian Navy. Right before they began gigging again, Daniel moved on from Modus Fire, and punk-scene stalwart Matt Perriman (Mole Men, Blood Thinners) took over on drums for a 4-month run, including making the band’s first interstate trip to play the "Ska Fighter 2" festival in Melbourne with Area 7.

Modus Fire are hitting the streets in 2025 with their newest players Alisdair Belling (We Lost the Sea) on drums and a dynamic horn section lineup. The current roster features Paul Murchison and Amy Fox on trumpets, with Julian McKay and Nich Polovineo (Lime Cordiale, Nighttime) on trombones. Modus Fire will play with a bare minimum of 1 trumpet and 1 trombone, but more and more often, the band is performing with 3 or 4 piece horn sections and expanding their writing to suit.

In April 2025, Modus Fire made their second interstate trip to Canberra for "Dansonfest" with Bodyjar and Press Club, and are playing strong Sydney shows supporting bands like Ebolagoldfish, Desert Runner and The Sunny Coast Rude Boys. All these gigs are peppered with single releases from the upcoming debut 11-track LP, "The Weary & The Wise", due for release in July 2025. Their post-album plans are to play more shows in more places, to share stages with as many bands from as many genres as they can, and be part of healing Australia's music scene in a post-covid landscape. They also have views to international touring, and are seeking official representation.