THECITYISOURS have signed with Arising Empire, releasing the below music video for their new single “Violent” in celebration of the deal. The song marks the band’s first to be released with their new vocalist Oli Duncanson, who replaces Sam Stolliday. Vocalist/guitarist Mikey Page commented of this new track:
“I think people have been a little cautious of bands like ours. We’ve always been a band that has bridged the gaps between genres… ‘Violent‘ is a line in the sand. It is the embodiment of our ethos of taking every element of our band to the next level and making a definitive mark with the dawn of a new era. As one of the heaviest tracks we’ve ever written, it starts hot and shows no sign of slowing down. Relentless angst from start to finish.”
“‘Violent” is arguably our most honest account as a band to date. Betrayal was never something we’d really experienced before as a band, so dealing with events of this nature was a difficult but incredibly insightful process to experience. The progression from sadness to anger is always a difficult period to rationalize when contemplating the reasons for a relationship collapsing.
In many cases, it’s clear that there are reasons or regrettable actions to contextualize a series of events. However, it does not mean that they hurt any less. This track lays it all out on the table, with a hope to providing some kind of solace for the pain, before picking ourselves back up and coming back, stronger than ever before.”
Page also commented of Duncanson‘s addition:
“Oli has been a part of our team for a long time. He is a very well-respected entity in his own right amongst the music scene, having toured as a photographer with bands such as Wage War, Oceans Ate Alaska, Our Hollow, Our Home, amongst countless others.
He was massively involved in bringing our creative vision to life on our first record and has toured with us a number of times, so the personal bonds were already very strong. We knew he had a voice in the locker. We’d seen snippets of his capabilities over the years, so when he registered an interest in becoming a part of CITY, we knew we had to explore it as an option.
We got him into the studio to demo a couple of tracks and clicked instantly. The vibe in the room was electric as soon as he opened his mouth. The power and raw emotion of his voice translated perfectly to the overall feel of what CITY was, but also opened up an exciting possibility to develop our sound in areas we had never explored before. We immediately knew we were dealing with something very special.
The departure of Sam from the band left some very big shoes to fill, but we are confident that you won’t be disappointed with what’s to come from the new era of THECITYISOURS.”
Duncanson himself added:
“The band and I have been good friends for years having worked for them or bands around them, be it on tour or creating their music videos for the last album, so in that sense I was fortunate to know the inner workings of the band before joining. I’ve always wanted to be part of a band but it’s always been something I was apprehensive to do as nothing previously ever seemed to feel right.
I remember being shown some demos of some new songs prior to Sam‘s departure and absolutely loving the direction and progression of the band’s sound so as soon as Mikey told me about the opening in the band, I knew I had to take a chance!”