Mercedes Brown, a Wet’suwet’en Tsimshian singer-songwriter whose sound reaches back to a time when rock music was built on grit and truth, releases her debut single “Playing With Fire” out now on all major platforms. The track arrives ahead of her debut album ‘Light The Fire,’ due June 19, 2026, on Ukee Sound Records, and it announces an artist of rare instinct and intention: a young writer who arrived at this song not through calculation, but through the kind of unguarded honesty that makes rock music matter.
“Playing With Fire” is the kind of debut that leaves no ambiguity about who Mercedes Brown is or what she is here to say. Built on a churning alt-rock foundation and driven by a vocal performance that is at once restrained and explosive, the song traces the edge between control and collapse with unsettling clarity. Brown wrote it as a poem first, free verse by design, a form with no rules, and that spirit carries into the song itself. The result is something that feels both structurally tight and emotionally boundless. When she sings “I walk down the line / Stare death right in the eye / They push me right down / I’m holding on by just a thread,” there is nothing performative about it. And in the chorus, the image crystallises with the precision of the best rock writing: “The flame is taking and it’s breaking all I have / The flame is taking and it’s breaking all I am.”
The song’s origin is as genuine as its execution. Brown was playing with matches and a lighter with her cousins when she made an offhand joke that it would make a “lit” song. The idea sat with her for months. When a school poetry assignment turned into an exercise in writing about wanting control over her own life and a way through depression, the two threads came together. “I wrote a poem at school and thought it needed to be more me,” she says. “Music has always been a way of self-expression to me.” What began in her bedroom as a rough recording became, with the guidance of her uncle and producer Brent Halfyard, a fully realised studio track that holds every bit of the raw energy it started with. The song is, in her words, about freedom, testing limits, and pushing boundaries while battling depression. It carries that weight without ever becoming heavy-handed, which is the mark of a songwriter who trusts the material.
Recorded at Ukee Sound in Ucluelet, BC, “Playing With Fire” is produced by Halfyard, who also plays bass and guitars on the track alongside guitarists Peter Esquivel and Jon Roper, with Timmy Proznick on drums. Mixing and mastering were handled by Chris Potter. The production is deliberate and assured, leaning into the analogue warmth and textural grit that Brown’s songwriting demands, and giving her vocals the space to move between vulnerability and defiance without losing either. It is a sound that references the alt-rock era Brown grew up loving without being beholden to it: music that means something, made by people who understand that distinction.
Mercedes Brown is Tsayu (beaver clan), from the Wet’suwet’en and Tsimshian Nation, and her identity as an Indigenous artist from Red Deer, Alberta, informs not just who she is but how she writes. Her father’s family is from Witset, and her family connection to Wet’suwet’en language and culture runs through her music as both a grounding and a source of creative energy. She counts the Smashing Pumpkins among her deepest influences, a band her father introduced her to and whose commitment to grit and thoughtful lyricism she carries forward in her own voice. The “Mercedes Brown Sound,” as she describes it, is a throwback to a time when music mattered more than image. On the evidence of “Playing With Fire,” that description lands with complete accuracy.
With ‘Light The Fire’, “Playing With Fire” is the opening declaration of an artist ready to be heard. Mercedes Brown performs as a solo artist, in duo configurations, and with her full band featuring Ezra Beaton on guitar and vocals, Brent Halfyard on bass and vocals, and Jim Ljungh on drums.
Name:
Mercedes Brown
Genre:
Alternative, Indie, Rock
Founded:
2022
# of Albums:
1
Latest Album:
Light The Fire
Latest Single:
Playing With Fire
Latest Video:
Favourite musician growing up:
Smashing Pumpkins
Favourite musician now:
Smashing Pumpkins
Guilty pleasure song:
Golden Brown by The Stranglers
Live show ritual:
Encourage and have a pep talk with my bandmates before shows.
Favourite local musician:
Dear Rouge
EP or LP?
I prefer a four-song EP.
Early bird or night owl?
I am definitely a night owl because I enjoy alone time. I really like the peace of no one being awake and the stillness.
Road or studio?
I like live shows on the road. I love the energy, meeting fans and the audience. It gives me a burst of adrenaline. I like to see the direct impact my music and voice have on people.
Any shows or albums coming up?
I have an EP called Light The Fire, released June 19, featuring 4 songs: Playing With Fire, No tomorrow, So What?, and Kwin nedïlhk’ayh.
I will be doing shows in British Columbia:
August 1st – Concerts in the Park, Terrace, BC
August 2nd – Sherwood Mountain Brewhouse, Terrace, BC
September 26 – 2 Rivers Remix, Macoa BC
Where can we follow you?
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Rapid Fire Local Questions:
What is your favourite local restaurant?
I really like Hash in Red Deer. They have amazing service and the staff are so kind. The food is always amazing.
What is your favourite street in your city and why?
I really like 50 Avenue in Lacombe. My family and I like supporting local businesses in and around Red Deer. The street is filled with amazing local businesses, and the buildings look so pretty.
What is your favourite park in your city and why?
I don’t generally go to any parks in my city. I live on an acreage, so I love hanging out outside in our yard on our trampoline or on our quads.
What is your favourite music venue in your city?
I like Rogers Place, Edmonton. I actually saw Bush there for my first big concert last Summer. I even got a high five from Gavin Rossdale, the lead singer. It has good sound and is a huge venue.
What is your favourite music store in your city?
I really enjoy The House of Music in Sylvan Lake. I used to take lessons there, the staff are really kind, and they often run really good sales.
