As Cities Burn
Posted by Rob Ortenzi on 29-Nov-07 @ 01:20 PM|
HQ: Baton Rouge, LA NOW PLAYING: Come Now Sleep (SOLID STATE) WHY YOU SHOULD KNOW 'EM: Lots of bands do the quiet-loud, dirty-clean thing, but As Cities Burn aren't afraid to show off their bipolar disorder from the get-go by piling scratchy, stormy guitars on top of super catchy, clean melodies. YOU LIKE? YOU'LL LIKE? Underoath / Emery / mewithoutYou STORY: Amy Sciaretto PHOTO: Taylor Gahm As Cities Burn's new album Come Now Sleep was never supposed to be made. In 2005, the band released Son, I Loved You At Your Darkest, played upwards of 240 shows and were carving a name for themselves in the noise-loving, post-hardcore scene when shit hit the fan-and the ring slipped on one of their fingers. "Our singer TJ [Bonnette] wanted to live the married life, and when we tour, we tour 10 months out of the year," admits bassist Colin Kimble, who is married himself. "[Bonnette] quit and we didn't want to go on without him since he founded the band and was our friend." So the remaining members of As Cities Burn made immediate plans to form a new band, but during the group's farewell tour, throngs of fans lined up at the merch table with tears in their eyes, begging the band not to break up. So the Louisiana quartet reconsidered-but still ended up losing a member. "If this band means so much to people," explains Kimble, "why should we end it because one of our dudes is leaving?" Bonnette, who planned to continue, eventually and amicably dropped out due to the whole husband thing. His brother, guitarist Cody, replaced him and took over vocals on Come Now Sleep, a transitional record for sure, but one made with relative ease since Cody had always written lyrics and vocal melodies. "TJ lived four hours away, so he'd miss practice and we'd rehearse with Cody humming and singing along while we wrote," Kimble remembers. "We were already going more melodic in our songwriting, and we weren't sure that screaming would fit into our sound, so it worked out [perfectly.]" On Come Now Sleep, ACB traded their signature hair-on-fire screaming for crisper, more tuneful singing. As to what inspired the band's sonic shift, it was a desire for more melody and their square-peg-in-a-round-hole touring past. ("We were too heavy for the Emery crowd, but not brutal enough for the Evergreen Terrrace crowd," Kimble asserts.) But on songs like "This Is It, This Is It" and "Empire," things are intentionally raw due to ACB's geographical origin and the way they recorded the album. "Where we live, there's lots of people playing at dirty jazz clubs or sitting on porches, playing while sweating," Kimble says. "Our new guitarist [Christopher Lott] loves the trashiness of playing outside, where it's all about being on the corner and playing good ol' guitars." And though Kimble is the first to admit the band isn't trying to be a modern-day Lynyrd Skynyrd, he is proud of the dirty South-and the dirty, old equipment they used to record. "The guitars sound the way guitars are supposed to sound; not under-produced to where they hurt your ears, but not polished, either," explains Kimble. "We just wanted the new album to be intelligent but raw rock." ALT |
