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Interview by: Melissa Payette and Jenia Schukov
One year ago, The New Cities were an up & coming band from Montreal making a name for themselves in the Canadian music industry. Just 12 months later, everyone is talking about them and their album, ‘Lost in City Lights’, which was released in May 2009.
Since the record came out, the six members of this pop-electro group have jumped from one Canadian tour to the next, not to mention their one month stay in the UK this past winter. They have released three successful singles on the radio: Dead End Countdown, Leaders of the Misled & Hypertronic Superstar, and they were nominated for a Juno Award this year.
On May 8th, The New Cities headlined a show in Montreal alongside Faber Drive, Jesse Labelle and The Mission District. Lead singer David Brown took some time to sit with CONFRONT to answer some questions on what the band has been up to as well as where you can find them this summer. Dave happily answered our questions along with a few fan questions too:
JENIA: It’s been a year since your album “Lost in City Lights” was released, what has the year been like for you?
DAVID: It was the craziest year ever for this band. There were so many tours and so many shows. It was really fun. It’s just great because this year we’re doing Warped Tour and it’s just going to end off the cycle in a really good way.
JENIA: What was the best part for you?
DAVID: Touring the UK was probably the highlight of the year and opening for Katy Perry was something. I keep talking about her! I don’t know why, I’m obsessed.
JENIA: That was a great show.
DAVID: Yeah! Great show and she’s a great girl, a good looking girl, and I like her music a lot too. It was really great playing V-Fest in Montreal. It’s cool too because we met so many new bands and we’re all friends now and we feel like we’re part of the Canadian scene now. Being from Quebec and being the French dudes we always felt like we were the black sheep kind of and now we’re part of it. We went to the Junos and partied with everyone there too.
JENIA: Did you have a worst part or was it all positive?
DAVID: The worst part was probably when we were trying to get back from St-Johns after the Junos. All the flights were getting delayed and when we left St-Johns it was midnight and we got to Halifax at 2am and nobody knew what time we were going to fly back to Montreal. We ended up sleeping at the airport on the benches. You feel like a hero throughout the weekend because everything’s paid for and you’re like “Yeah this is so cool! I love rock and roll” and then after that you’re spending 10 hours straight at the airport sleeping on benches and stuff. It was like a hardcore drop.
MELISSA: You missed your bed.
DAVID: Yes at that moment I missed it a lot. *laughs*
JENIA: How was your experience in the UK?
DAVID: It was great! It was a lot of fun. The best was that you don’t have to drive more then 2 or 3 hours to get to the other cities.
JENIA: Did you have problems driving or did you get used to driving on the other side?
DAVID: The first time we went Julien drove because he’s been to Barbados a few times and it’s the same thing over there, the steering wheel is on the left side there too. He was driving because when we were ending our tour with Marianas Trench in Vancouver we flew to the UK and that same night we had a show. Our brains were completely off so we were lucky he already knew how to drive on that side. Actually the steering wheel is on the right side because here it’s on the left.
MELISSA: Yeah here it’s on the left.
DAVID: Sorry about that. The UK is amazing but the food is pretty bad. The English traditional breakfast is like the worst thing in the entire world, its deep fried toast. If you ask for toast make sure it’s not fried. It’s not good and it’s a different kind of bacon, its back bacon, and its big pieces like ham. You always have hot tomatoes that are all soggy and mushy.
JENIA: Oh yeah that doesn’t sound very good.
DAVID: Nope! It’s cheap though that’s the only good side and there’s a lot of kabob places. It’s only about kabob after 10pm. If you go there I hope you like kabob.
MELISSA: What would you say is the biggest difference between the fans here and in the UK?
DAVID: Their accent?
*Everyone laughs*
MELISSA: Very perceptive.
DAVID: It’s pretty much the same thing. Music lovers just act the same way, they just jump, dance and they love your band and want pictures and autographs and they’re excited to see you.
MELISSA: Does anyone talk about your accent?
DAVID: Yeah a little bit. They talk about it too when I’m touring Canada too. Only here it’s like “Oh wow your English is really good dude!” but that was probably said by a French person who can’t speak English that well. They’re like “Are you bilingual?!” and I’m like “Yes kind of but I have a big French accent!” but French people don’t notice that, except Nick and Julien.
MELISSA: You were talking about the Junos before. How was it when you guys found out?
DAVID: How was it?
MELISSA: Yeah, what was your reaction?
DAVID: It was great but just being a part of the thing is cool. I didn’t jump or anything, I was just happy about it.
MELISSA: Did you do a little dance?
DAVID: Maybe a little. I like to dance, you guys know that. *laughs* It was weird though because I was in my room and I’m sharing an apartment with Nick and he was in his room and we were on blackberry messenger. We were both in our beds and were like “Oh yeah! Junos!” and we were happy.
MELISSA: Aside from the whole flying thing, what was it like being at the Junos?
DAVID: It’s just like a big meet and greet but just with the bands. All the bands were staying at our hotel like Stereos, Hedley, Ten Second Epic, Classified and Faber Drive was there too.
MELISSA: Big party?
DAVID: Yeah, lots of parties! Like the first night we got in we went to the bar and the head guy of Sony and Red Ink music were there so the party was already on. The next morning I had an interview at 10a.m that was about 90’s music and I was not really good. Nick was with me and I was just like falling asleep and he kept talking and talking and I was like “You’re doing a great job man! Just keep going!”
MELISSA: What’s up next for you guys? Where can fans find you this summer?
DAVID: Vans Warped Tour in Montreal and Toronto, we’re playing a couple of summer festival shows across Quebec and in Canada. We’ll be on tour in June on that SodaPop tour that MuchMusic is presenting so that will be pretty big too. We’re playing with Emily Osment, Danny Fernandes, Jesse Labelle and some other girl from the States whose name I always forget.
JENIA: We have a couple of fan questions for you!
DAVID: Yup!
JENIA: The first one is which one of you spends the most time worrying about what they look like before a show. Is it you?
DAVID: I’d say Julien.
JENIA: Is it the hair?
DAVID: *laughs* Yeah. He’s never satisfied with his hair. He’s like “I don’t like it tonight” and I’m like “Dude it’s always the same.” And he’s like “No no not tonight!” I do care but every time I get on stage it lasts for only one minute! It doesn’t really matter that much. I should just shave my head.
MELISSA: Do it!
JENIA: No don’t do that.
DAVID: No I know, I’d look weird. *laughs*
JENIA: Christina from B.C wants to know if you had the chance to switch with any other band member during the show who would it be?
DAVID: Probably Julien just so I can play a bass little bit. I used to play bass in my former bands and I recorded a couple of tracks on the album too because Julien was not in the band at that time. For the first part of the recording he wasn’t there so I recorded all the bass tracks. I’d switch with him for one song, well maybe half a song.
JENIA: Daniela from Ontario wants to know how you’ve changed since the formation of the band now.
DAVID: What..what?
JENIA: What?
DAVID: What is the what?
*Everyone laughs*
JENIA: She wants to know how you’ve changed since the band first formed and now.
DAVID: How we’ve changed?
JENIA: How you’ve changed as a person.
DAVID: Oh like personally, like me.
JENIA: Exactly
DAVID: I’m a little bit taller.
JENIA: Are you?
DAVID: No I’m not. *laughs*Actually I’m probably shorter.
MELISSA: You measure yourself every night “Ohh just a little bit more!”
DAVID: *laughs* Yeah just a little bit more! No that doesn’t work, even if I’m dreaming about it. When I was younger I was really pissed off about being shorter but now I’m like yeah I’m short deal with it. Billy Joe and Bono from U2, they’re all short singers.
JENIA: Plus you have Nick as a sidekick.
DAVID: Yeah that’s…Nick is just freaking tall.
*Nick interrupts the interview to go over the guest list with David*
DAVID: *3 minutes later* I’m sorry! Don’t get mad
MELISSA: I really don’t think we can be friends anymore
DAVID: Oh shit. Interview’s over! *pretends to grab recorders and throw them over the balcony railing*
*Everyone laughs*
JENIA: I’m going to write all this down in the interview.
DAVID: *laughs* Right in the middle of the interview David started talking with Nick about the guest list.
MELISSA: This is who was on it…
DAVID: Write all the names down…
MELISSA: Here’s all the phone numbers.
*Everyone laughs*
DAVID: Okay so how we’ve changed…
JENIA: You.
DAVID: Personally.
JENIA: Yes.
NICK: Sorry girls!
MELISSA: It’s okay!
DAVID: I’ve learned a lot about the music business for sure. You learn it’s a business even if you do it because you like music and you’re passionate about it. You have to realize it’s not the same way for everybody and you’ve got to make some money. We’re passionate about music so the first thing for us is still the music and you have to realize how to deal with the rest and not get too depressed about it because it gets depressing. Sometimes it’s pretty hardcore.
JENIA: What is the most embarrassing song on your iPod?
DAVID: I don’t really have any on my iPod.
JENIA: No N’Sync, no Britney Spears?
DAVID: *laughs* Nope. No I’m too cool.
JENIA: Oh excuse me.
DAVID: No seriously, there’s one song that I can’t really talk about. I’ll say it without all the details. It’s a song that a friend of mine co-wrote with another guy from the States and it’s really cheesy. Like cheesy cheesy cheesy, like pure cheese. He sent it to me one day and I was like “Oh this is kind of cheesy” but sometimes I do listen to it because it’s kind of catchy. I can’t say who it’s coming from.
MELISSA: A friend of a friend. Myriam from Montreal wants to know what your craziest fan experience has been.
DAVID: Craziest in a bad way or a cool way?
MELISSA: You pick.
DAVID: In a cool way: it was Frank’s birthday last week when we had a show in Toronto and a girl named Alyssa Cheung, she’s been a fan for a long time, got a bobble head that was a custom made Frank. It was amazing. She was at the merch table waiting for him and she was like “I got such a kick ass gift for Frank!” and I was like “Cool cool!” Then later on I was at the bar, just chilling not drinking…
JENIA: Of course not.
DAVID: and Frank showed up and I was like “Dude this is the best thing I’ve seen, ever!” It was a mini Frank with a hat, same drum set and it was just crazy.
JENIA: It’s amazing; 2 years ago when we first asked you that question you didn’t have an answer. Look at you now!
DAVID: *laughs* I know!!
With so much success in such a short period of time, there is no doubt that The New Cities have lots of talent to share with the world. Check them out at any of the links below for more information, and don’t forget to buy your tickets for the Much Music SodaPop tour, happening right now!
www.twitter.com/juliennewcities
www.twitter.com/franknewcities
www.twitter.com/chrisnewcities
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