LIVE ‘N LOUD MEETS THE NEW CITIES
On January 24th, Vanessa Leclair met with Dave (lead vocalist) and Julien (bassist and vocalist) from the band The New Cities. They were interviewed just before they hit the stage for an outdoor show, in the freezing cold of Montreal, opening the night for Hedley.
The band has been touring across Canada almost non-stop since early 2006, playing as headliners or as openers for major acts such as Mobile, illScarlett, Malajube, Sum 41, Simple Plan and many others.
Here’s a lot more you should know about these great performers.
Photos by Marie-Michèle Bonneau
The Start of The New Cities
Live ‘N Loud Magazine (LNL): How did The New Cities started?
Dave: It started 3 years ago, we were a ska band, called The Gamblers. At some point we were just getting older and we wanted to try some different stuff and just started this new band. Half of the band right now was part of The Gamblers and we wanted a more serious band and now we got Julien on board.
Julien: I came on board about a year ago and I’m the bass player. I’ve been doing my own stuff, composing my own songs but I was looking for a serious project. I went on tour with those guys to replace the bass player for a little while. I did like 2 shows and I knew there was a chemistry going on already and I really like it.
Dave: There you are! Lucky bastard!
LNL: Most of you all moved from Trois-Rivieres to live in Montreal. What made you take that decision?
Dave: Well, the music scene in Trois-Rivieres is kind of dead now. Lots of venues just closed. Nothing was really happening anymore there, so moving to Montreal was just the next step for us. The Montreal scene is kinda… not crazy… but there is something going on here.
Julien: If you want to make music in Quebec, you have to be in Montreal, if you want exposure, if you want the recognition…
Dave: All the labels are based in Montreal.
LNL: Is it difficult to deal with the fact that a few still lives in Trois-Rivières?
Dave: It’s not that far! If it took like 4 hours to get in Montreal, it would be really different, it’s only an hour and a half, it’s not a big deal!
Julien: We can walk there!
LNL: You wish!
*Everybody laughs*
LNL: Since 2005, how did The New Cities evolved as a group?
Dave: We’re going to release an album now, so we’ve been working songs for a while. So we just stepped everything up to the next level. With Greig Nori [their manager and main producer] on board, it just makes everything… better?
Julien: Yeah, we wanted to switch from ska style to something more up-to-date like electro/rock & pop and a ‘lil punk. Growing up we were listening to NOFX, Blink 182.
Dave: Bands like The Faint, Death From Above, Daft Punk, Justice helped us define our style.
The New Cities and Their Fans
LNL: Your fans seem to be really important to you: you try to include them in a lot of things. What is your relation with them?
Dave: It’s important, because the fans are the people that love you…
LNL: …and they come out at a -30 C show on a Saturday night!
Dave: Yeah! We’re giving them free shirts tonight!
Julien: That is true love! It’s just great to have interaction with people that love our music. We’re kind of lucky to be in this new internet era; where you can just communicate with your fans in a very easy way on a day-to-day basis. It’s a fun thing to do, to update our website, talk to the fans and do some contests.
Dave: It makes them feel they are part of it.
Julien: They are the most important part in the whole thing.
Dave: Without them we’re nothing.
Julien: We’re a band with thousands of people in it!
Dave: Yeah, exactly!
The New Cities On Tour
LNL: The New Cities opened a lot of shows for many well-known bands. How did these opportunities came up to you?
Dave: They came to us, because we met Guillaume Lemieux from Feldman 2 years ago. He’s the man behind all those tours and cool shows. He helped us out a lot.
Julien: Canada is a very large country, but still very small in terms of bands and stuff. So once you know one band, it’s easy to get connected with all those other bands. So when you get one good connection and that you’re good live, well it’s not really hard to get on tours because all bands are looking for opening bands.
LNL: Everybody talks to everybody.
Julien: That’s exactly it.
LNL: If you could put up a dream tour, with whom would you like to tour with?
Dave: The dream tour is coming up: No Doubt, Paramore, The Sounds, Bedouin Soundclash and The New Cities on top of that! That would be the best dream tour we could dream off… We’re not going to be part of it… but I’m dreaming of it!
LNL: Maybe one day!
Dave: We’ll be there in the crowd!
Julien: First row!
The Upcoming Debut Album
LNL: You recorded your album in Sony’s studio in Toronto, but you weren’t even signed yet, is that what helped you to get the actual contract?
Dave: I think it was on the way when we started recording, so I think it helped probably at some point because when you’re in there you’re just recording the songs and they can hear it really fast.
LNL: Or go the other way around… ?
Julien: YOU GUYS SUCK! Just get out of our studio right now!
Dave: We’re writing good stuff… so… hahaha
Julien: We had a lot of people interested in us so we looked around to see what they had to offer. I think we have a really good relationship with Sony, so everything sort of fell into place.
LNL: How did you ended up working with Greg Nori? And how was it?
Dave: We ended up working with him because one of our friends from Trois-Rivieres had a band and used to work with Greg. During our first tour, our friend J-P called Greg and said “Hey man, I got some friends from Trois-Rivieres who have a kick ass band so just come and see if you would like to maybe work with them”. So he showed up and was really really digging what we were doing. The next thing we knew is “Ok, tomorrow we’re gonna have a big dinner and talk about stuff”. Working with him was amazing. He’s not writing the songs for you, you just write your stuff and he’s just helping you to make it better.
LNL: He’s working with you and not for you.
Dave: Exactly!
Julien: He takes what is good in you and brings it out.
LNL: Most of the album was recorded in Toronto… right?
Dave: Yeah, mostly.
Julien: Keyboards were done in Montreal.
LNL: How did you manage to travel Montreal/Toronto so often?
Dave: At some point it doesn’t seem long anymore. We just start talking about random stuff, yelling, screaming, singing…
Julien: Getting crazy a little crazy, especially because of Frank [drummer of the band]!
Dave: Yeah, cause Frank is the crazy guy!
LNL: A few songs are available on MySpace. Is that what we can look forward to be your first single?
Dave: Yeah! One of them.
Julien: “Dead End, Countdown”
Philippe: February 23rd.
LNL: Will there be a video coming along with the first single?
Dave: Yeah, we’ll be working with Jonathan Desbiens. He’s from Trois-Rivieres, but now lives in Montreal, so it’s the perfect team! It’s going to be a great video, lots of lights and cool clubs.
Julien: Hot girls…
Dave: …and Julien will be naked the whole video. Hahaha!
LNL: When will we able to request the video on Musique Plus/Much Music?
Dave: Probably in March.
LNL: Your debut album is coming out in May 2009. What can we expect?
Dave: Cool stuff, good songs.
*Everybody is laughing*
Dave: I think it’s going to be really different songs than the first album (The New Cities EP). We have 12 songs on it. Some of them are more into the rock side, some of them are really electro. One of them is elecronic drums, I think there is not even real bass on it.
Julien: No I don’t play bass on it. I just stay around in the studio, buy coffee for the guys and do their laundry.
Dave: Make us food.
LNL: Can we already ask what the album title will be?
Julien: No you can’t!
Dave: Not allowed!
Julien: Get her out of here! She knows too much!
Dave: We have a title in mind but it’s not…
Julien: I don’t know anything about that title.
Dave: Yeah, I was talking about it with Greg and he said it’s good, but it depends what kind of vibe you want to send out there.
Julien: We’ll see.
Dave: We’ll call it “The New Cities Rules”
Julien: That’s cool!
Dave: No! “The Best Damn Thing!” or “Best of The New Cities”
Julien: Greatest Hits!
Dave: First album!
Julien: The best on in 3 years!
LNL: New CD in May, first single in February, what can we wish for The New Cities in the near future?
Dave: Lots of touring
Julien: Touring, touring, touring… inside jokes.
Dave: Inside jokes?
Julien: We’ll just put the CD out and dance!
LNL: Thank you a lot guys for your time and I wish you all the best!
Julien: Thank you very much!
Dave: Thanks Vanessa!
If you are in Quebec, The New Cities will be playing in Trois-Rivieres on February 12th and 13th and they will be playing in Montreal on February 20th. Check out their MySpace profile for all the details and to hear some songs!
You can also follow the band on Twitter by clicking here to get their latest updates.
Category: Interviews