It's out of the chip pan... and into the firefighters

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue teamed up with much-loved Sheffield band the Everly Pregnant Brothers to record a new video to the group’s ‘Chip Pan’ song, which was filmed at Sheffield Central fire station and stars red watch firefighters.

The single is number 25 in the iTunes Chart and is up against the likes of Clean Bandit and Rag N Bone Man in the race to be Christmas number one.

In the official charts - used by the BBC - it was 15th after its first 24 hours on sale but by midweek had slipped back to 73rd.

The last Sheffield act to top the Christmas charts was Human League in 1981, with Don’t You Want Me.

Alex Mills, SYFR communications manager, said: “It’s been a bit of a difficult year locally, nationally and globally, and it would be a nice to have something to celebrate at Christmas, but we need the whole city behind us.”

Chip Pan, which is a parody version of Kings of Leon’s Sex On Fire, is about a man who sets his house alight after a night out drinking.

The video has proved hugely popular and caught the attention of the makers of Channel 4’s The Last Leg, who backed it for Christmas number one and invited firefighters and the band to appear on Friday’s show.

Proceeds from the single, which has been shared online by South Yorkshire celebrities including former cricketer Michael Vaughan, singer Lucy Spraggan and golfer Danny Willett, are being split between Age UK Sheffield and the homelessness charity Shelter.

The collaboration has its roots in a story in The Star about a chip pan fire, which Pete McKee, from the Everly Pregnant Brothers, tweeted about.

“We got in touch with him off the back of that to invite the band down to record a version of Chip Pan for our campaign,” said Alex.

“Making the video was a lot of fun but there’s a serious message behind it. Our crews attend really serious fires every year involving chip pans, with some resulting in fatalities. We advise people to use oven-baked chips, rather than chip pans, and to buy a take away rather than cooking when drunk. Around half the fires we attend start in the kitchen, and this video was a different way of sharing the message of the campaign.”

Getting the song to number one would mean a huge amount to the firefighters of Sheffield and emergency crews across the UK who will be working on Christmas Day, added Alex.

“Red watch, who appear in the video, will be on duty on Christmas Day, as will tens of thousands of emergency workers who won’t be with their families at this special time,” he said. “Getting this single to number one would help remind people about the amazing job the 999 services do keeping people safe.”

* Chip Pan is available to download on iTunes, Google Play Music, or Amazon, and can be streamed on Spotify and Deezer.

Raising awareness

The lyricist who teamed up with Sheffield firefighters for the charity single Chip Pan says it would be a ‘Christmas miracle’ should it top the festive charts.

Shaun Doane, songwriter and vocalist with Sheffield band the Everly Pregnant Brothers, said he had been blown away by the video’s success, and the band and firefighters had performed on Channel 4’s The Last Leg.

“This is the wildest thing we’ve ever done, regardless of what chart position we manage to get,” said the 47-year-old father-of-one, who lives in Wadsley and works as a funeral director.

“It would be a Christmas miracle to get to number one. It would let people know it’s not just manufactured Simon Cowell X Factor stuff that can get to number one or do well in the charts.”

As well as helping two great charities and raising awareness of the perils of chip pans and drunken cookery, Shaun said he hoped the single would remind people of the great work done by our emergency services.

“Hopefully it reminds people that the emergency services are working at Christmas to keep us all safe,” he said.