Selling out venues all across Europe despite virtually no mainstream music media attention, Canadian band City & Colour reveal a startlingly different shade to the musical talents of former hardcore veteran, Dallas Green. “It represents the real me breaking through…” he tells BRAD BARRETT.
I
n a long line of guitarists and singers who’ve moved on from the harder- edged sound of their respective bands, Dallas Green – known by his solo moniker as City & Colour – has had more success than most. On the tail end of a year where he has released his third solo album, left his band of 10 years and headlined two sold out London Roundhouse shows, Dallas has the right to feel proud, especially with the way he’s gone about business. “It’s been consistently growing since I put the first record out and I really like the fact that we did two sold out shows at the Roundhouse with little to no media attention,” he says, calling from New Orleans where he’s just finished a sound check. “The only magazines that are willing to maybe write about us are the metal mags that used to write about Alexisonfire, but they don’t really wanna write about City & Colour because it’s not really their musical niche.” Despite this, Dallas and his band can still tour Europe and sell out every show. “I’m more up for that than having the media jump on board and we
become a buzz band. The less the media writes about you, the less they can stop writing about you.” The benefits from this way of doing things are greater than you might think. Though it means less coverage in the mainstream or underground press, the knock on effects still affirm the songwriter’s belief in themself over time. “It gives me more faith in the song,” Dallas confirms. “It’s about someone hearing the song and telling their friends and then them all coming to the show and that makes me feel really good. People are interested in me for the right reasons, or the reasons I want them to be interested, not because it’s the hip cool thing to do.”
Still, Dallas does acknowledge the support the Canadian media has given both Alexisonfire and City & Colour as well as the often envied support of the Canadian government towards the country’s music scene. As for leaving behind his band of 10 years, Alexisonfire, Dallas admits that
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