SINGAPORE — It has been a while — four-and-a-half years, to be precise — since we heard from The Fire Fight.

The Singaporean rock outfit — which became one of the biggest bands of the 2000s with its breakout performance at 2007’s Baybeats festival and gigs, such as the opening act for the likes of Switchfoot, Anberlin, Copeland and Brit band Keane — disbanded a year after releasing its critically-acclaimed debut album Henri. Its members, singer Joshua Tan, guitarist Jon Leong, bassist Joshua “Barker” Tan and drummer Iain Tham, have since gone all over the world to pursue their respective careers.

But, come this year’s Baybeats festival, the boys are ready to reunite in Singapore, and, more importantly, on stage. “Most of us were overseas studying at one point or another. Josh was in Australia, Iain was training to become a pilot, Jon spent some time in Buffalo, and I only got back from London in November last year,” said Barker, who works in digital strategy. “We’ve always wanted to continue making music; it just wasn’t very often that we were all in the same country at the same time — this is the first time that we’re in Singapore together for any significant amount of time.”

The Fire Fight is scheduled to perform on June 28 at Baybeats 2015, which will see 28 Singaporean and seven regional acts, including the likes of Caracal, R!ot In Magenta and stillsunrise, perform over three days at various venues at The Esplanade. Barker says it feels “a little bit familiar, a little bit strange” to be performing with his friends again, after such a long hiatus.

“It feels nostalgic, mostly, particularly because we are also going to be sharing the stage with other bands that came before us,” Barker said, adding that the band will be performing some of its older songs, as well as a brand new track. “We are also excited to check out the new bands that have made it through the auditions as well. We’ve got plans to share the stage with Benjamin Kheng of Sam Willows fame, so we’re definitely looking forward to that.”

In a way, it is the band’s way of reconnecting with the music festival that arguably gave it its start in the industry. “I think while the crowds may have changed, the overall mission (and hence the relevance) of Baybeats is still the same — to introduce Singaporeans to new bands, and to give undiscovered or under discovered talent a big platform to showcase to Singaporeans at large,” Barker said. “The development of a local music industry is also paramount for Singapore bands, marketing and business development.

“It’s a lot harder to make it as a musician here right now because we’re so small, but with access to the right tools and frameworks we can help other, newer bands succeed.”

Although The Fire Fight is in the process of writing new songs, Barker says it doesn’t “have anything to announce right now” as far as future gigs are concerned.

“One of the things we’ve realised after being inactive for so long is that we’re all in different places musically now, as compared with five years ago,” Tan said. “That isn’t a bad thing, we’ve just had to spend some time together to figure out where to go next. We’ve all certainly grown as individuals — now we just need to translate that to how we work as a band.”

Baybeats 2015 will be held at The Esplanade from June 26 to 28. More information can be found at http://www.baybeats.com/2015/.