The creation of music is a process of power and mystery. Not that rock bands are mysterious anymore by now, anyone can imagine four lads in a basement, throwing ideas back and forth at one another, sharing guitar licks and steadying arrangements. Theres little mystery in that. The mystery lies in a deeper part of the process, the part we cannot see. Here is the point at which notes, chords, lyrics, sounds and even mistakes gel, and a song comes forward out of the chaos. At this point, music still seems a form of alchemy.
The process can be so inexplicable that even those involved may not know where the music comes from. Cities in Dust know the elements, the ingredients, that go into their music but the outcome cannot be broken back down into those elements and traced back to the source. In other words, when the four members of Cities in Dust write a song, it comes out sounding like Cities in Dust but exactly how and why is beyond their ken.
Vocalist Zach Frank met guitarist Simon Toye and the other band members separately, and eventually coaxed them all to form a band. When they first met in bassist Craig Nordemanns basement, it was a first-time meeting for Nordemann, Toye and drummer Matt Winters. Four near-strangers in a basement with instruments, ideas and opinionsnaturally, it could have gone badly. Simply put, it did not.
Cities in Dust found some common ground in dance punk and dance rock, sharing an appreciation for the likes of Le Tigre and The Rapture; yet each individual fed their own flavours into this already murky cocktail of influence. The music grew quicker, choppier, and more kinetic. Drummer Matt Winters and bassist Craig Nordemann establish a solid and thunderous bottom end that acts as ballast for Simon Toyes wiry guitar that crisscrosses above; meanwhile, Zach Franks tightly wound vocal springs like an elastic band, threatening to snap should it stretch any further.
The energy of the music and the performance began to draw interest from Hamilton audiences almost immediately. Key Management impresario Dan Brooks took notice the first time he saw them, and soon had the band aboard. Brooks involvement only intensified the hype that swells around the band.
Shortly afterward, Cities in Dust struck up a friendship with uber-indie label Paper Bag Records, playing shows with Paper Bag artists such as Controller.Controller, Uncut and Magneta Lane, all of whom have become Cities in Dust fans and supporters. As he had coaxed the band members together, Frank charmed label employees such as Leila Hebden before any of them had seen the band play. Once they had, however after co-owner Trevor Larocque secretly slipped into a Hamilton performance it wasnt long before the label agreed to support the recording of a debut Cities in Dust album.
That album, Night Creatures, captures every electron volt of energy generated at a Cities in Dust show, and focuses that energy into a Tyson-like belt across the jaw. The album was recorded with Jon Drew of Uncut at Signal to Noise in downtown Toronto, and from the bass-heavy bounce of Chop Chop to the melodic Some of My Best Friends are Cheaters, this is the sound of Cities in Dust.
Hype isnt really what Cities in Dust have received, though; buzz is closer to appropriate. Hype connotes an overstatement, while buzz merely the chatter of the crowd. For Cities in Dust, that crowd grows steadily, with every gig that passes. After June 6th, the release date for Night Creatures, that crowd will explode. Take to the streets. Riot. And leave our citiesah, you know where this is going, but lets go there anyway... In Dust.
James Tennant
"these songs aren't about love, they're about lust."
citiesindust@gmail.com
Help spread the CiD by posting our banner on your MySpace. We'll love you forever.
<.. scrollbars="never" style="overflow:hidden; width:420px; height:60px; border:1px solid black; font-size:10px;">
I edited my profile with Thomas Myspace Editor V3.6!
