The lovely guys and gal from the band CITIZEN answered a few of our questions yesterday and we've been dying to show you what they had to say... but before that, if you're not familiar with the band, then here's a little background info!
CITIZEN are a five-piece unsigned indie pop/rock band from California USA... check them out here - http://www.iamacitizen.net/ and here http://www.myspace.com/iamacitizen
Now for the interview...
How and
when did the band form?
'January 1 2008, probably around 10:00pm. At an Impromptu open mic night/New years eve celebration. Jammed out a couple of songs
we'd messed with after our worship team practices, the rest is history.'
Who are the bands musical
influences?
'We listen to a lot of music. Justin loves Hip Hop and gospel, Grant
loves alt and classic rock, Luke listens to Coldplay and U2, Sean Likes Prog
Rock and experimental music, and Jenna is a classical Pianist. Plus we play a
lot of contemporary Christian worship, so theres a heavy pop influence as
well.'
How did you
come up with the band name?
'Luke is from England and officially became a United
States Citizen in 2008, just before the band formed. we had an email thread of
literally hundreds of band names... ha, everything was on there. Citizen just
sort of stuck.'
What was the
best gig you have ever played?
'Our favorite show was when we packed out our local
venue (SLO BREW) with our friends and got to bring a different atmosphere than
the norm. Also Music festivals like Spirit West Coast are a blast, you meet a
lot of people.'
What was the
worst gig you have ever played?
'We played a church on short notice once without
monitors, 3 microphones, no sound engineer, on a couple hours of sleep and even
less hours practice... it was difficult to say the least, but we met some of
our most faithful, longstanding fans there and we loved getting to connect with
them.'
Which of
your own tracks is your favourite and why?
'The Title track off our latest EP,
The Heartbeat is the band favorite. Its the most energetic and fun to play. We
worked hard and messed with a lot of the arrangement to make it work.'
Is there a
running theme throughout your lyrics or a certain message you try to put across
through your music?
'Our EP the Heartbeat has a theme of what's happening to a
person on the inside, and wanting to stir up a hope for something better. Most
of the music scene is consumed by image and appearance and we wanted to bring
something deeper. We have a dream to impact the culture with something
positive, there is enough negativity out there without us adding to it.'
What’s an
average day in the recording studio consist of?
'Ha.. LOTS OF SITTING AROUND! We
all track separately to a scratch vocal/acoustic guitar track, so if one is
tracking, 4 are... making funny videos, sleeping, reading, grading math
homework(jenna), or sightseeing. we all like to stick around and listen and
encourage each other though, i think that comes through on our recording.'
What band would you most like to tour
with?
'The dream would be Coldplay, Switchfoot, NeedtoBreathe and Citizen! All
our favorite bands.'
Where do
you see yourself as a band in 5 years’ time?
'Touring, hopefully headlining, at
least 3 full lengths to our name (but ideally 5), playing other countries, prime
time radio play, performing on talkshows as guest artists, having a Gold or
platinum record, win a grammy or two, getting behind some big causes and
charities and being a blessing to the world, have a song in a major movie.'
Thanks guys!
Make sure you check them out!
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