a conversation with… THECITYISOURS
Taylor sat down with Mikey from TheCityIsOurs to chat about the themes their latest album Coma explores, how they found their feet after introducing a new frontman and the personal journey he was on whilst writing their newest tunes.
So, of course no one wants to talk about Covid anymore but it happened so we have to touch on it a bit - How does it feel to finally be back touring and releasing music?
It was such a mad time, but for us it actually bought us time. We had some changes going on with the line-up and the new album so we actually got to work through the whole situation. But to be back out, playing shows, it was just strange. We are very much a tactical band so we like to be out, playing shows and being out there with people. It is why we do it. Having that taken away was rough. It was really daunting though, to come back out to the world with a new line-up and new record and everything was initially overwhelming but after a few dates, it was like ‘Okay we are back!’.
How are you finding your feet with your new vocalist Oli, was it difficult or did it feel quite natural?
So Oli had been part of our team for a number of years as a photographer and videographer, he’s helped make our music videos and been on tour with us so he was already part of the time in that respect. It came about as a bit of a joke, when I told him, I said ‘Oh do you fancy a job?’ And that was it. He messaged back and said, ‘Are you serious about that?’ And it spiralled from there, we were very lucky we had someone who was our friend and had an understanding of us and the industry anyway so in that respect we had it easy. It meant though, if we could change something we could change everything so it was nice to be creative and relaunch ourselves.
Hope is a prominent theme throughout Coma, was this always going to be the case or did the pandemic lead you guys to amplify it?
I think it was a happy accident. Before everything happened, I had some challenging periods in my personal life and was writing songs to help deal with that. This band has always been like a coping mechanism in that respect. The first album was about death and how we dealt with losing people close to us. With Coma, I was writing for myself. I was writing, saying to myself ‘I need to get this off my chest, I need to understand how I’m feeling’ and the record has evolved into this story. Starting with, I don’t know what this is about to get to the end and accepting this is the situation. It gave us that hope that as a band, we were going to be alright as individuals and a unit then also being able to give it to people and let them interpret and use it as they need too. We’ve had people reach out and say, ‘Your music really helped me’, we even had one person reach out to us to say that after the death of her dad.
As a music listener yourself, there must be songs that helped you through difficult times. Was that like a full circle moment for you?
Absolutely. I think the thing to remember is even the biggest bands in the world are just fans of music. Like Metallica and Iron Maiden, they are just music fans who said to themselves ‘I’m gonna have a crack at that’. It will never get old, my favourite part of what we do Is going out, at shows, connecting with people. We love going over to the merch desk after shows and chatting with people, sharing stories and being present, just experiencing everything with them. Everytime you hear someone say something you did, something that started off as a little idea at home with a guitar, has helped them to never get old. The most rewarding thing is to know you’ve helped someone in my opinion.
Who were you listening to whilst making Coma?
A lot of what we did is a break up album. It’s funny because so many bands like Rage War, metalcore bands, are always going to be this is the sound we do. But Justin Timberlake, Adele, Prince, being so clear and concise about how they were feeling were things I was listening to a lot through lockdown. That’s what’s been so fun, amalgamating all these things into a body of work that is honest and cohesive but still feels like us.
Which track is your favourite from the album and which do you think is the biggest crowd pleaser?
‘Death Of Me' is an important one to me because it was my lowest point but the song is so uplifting and it kind of pulled me through that dark period. ‘Save Me With Your Love’ is always going to be a difficult one for me, it’s the last song on the record and the acceptance song which is hard to stomach sometimes because it’s letting go of everything I’ve been feeling. Live, my favourite is ‘Violent’. It is so aggressive but hopeful at the same time. It was the first one we released so it was like a beacon, a life after death, saying we are here and we are still going.