After The Fire is a British new wave band. During their peak era, the lineup consisted of members keyboardist Peter Banks, bassist/vocalist Andy Piercy, guitarist John Russell and drummer Pete King. The group began as a progressive rock band in the vein of early Genesis and Yes, as heard in their 1978 debut album Signs Of Change. But they soon switched to new wave as part of the late-70s new wave movement.

Their sophomore album Laser Love peaked at #57 in the UK. It features their first single “One Rule For You” which reached #40 in the UK, and the title track which reached #62 a few months later. The band’s third album 80-f managed to reach #69 in the UK despite having no charting singles.

Two singles were released several months prior to After The Fire’s fourth album Batteries Not Included, which came out in early 1982 along with a third single. This album also had chart success, reaching #82 in the UK, without any charting singles.

The band began recording demos for a fifth album, tentatively to be titled Free Heat. But after touring Europe with Electric Light Orchestra in February of ‘82, then with Queen in May, and then with Van Halen in the US from July to November, the band was still not profitable and its members were divided on musical direction – whether to be more rock or more pop – so they opted to break up in December – performing their last gig at Dominion Theater in their hometown of London.

The last single released by the band was an English-lyrics cover of Falco’s “Der Kommissar” which was included on the compilation Der Kommissar along with reworked versions of “Dancing In The Shadows”, “One Rule For You” and “Starflight”. The song went on to become a surprise hit in early 1983 in the US (#5), New Zealand (#13), Sweden (#20), the UK (#47), and Germany (#60). CBS Records asked the band re-form, but Banks and King instead formed the group Zipcodes and John Russell formed Press Any Key with his brother. By the end of 1983, the craze was over.

Singer Andy Piercy continued briefly under the new name ‘ATF’ with session musicians, again reworking “Dancing In The Shadows” and releasing the new single “8 Ball In The Top Pocket”. However, after these achieved little-to-no success, he moved on to produce artists like Nine Below Zero, Gary Numan, and T’Pau.

The band reunited for a couple special events over the next two decades, but in 2004, Banks and Russell officially re-formed the band for their official fan club, allowing fans to join them on stage to sing their favorite tracks. This led to an official reunion performance at The Greenbelt Arts festival that year, twenty-five years after the band had last played there. The band continued to perform several times annually up until at least 2013.