Self Against City

Self Against City
Origin	Sacramento, California, USA
Genres	Rock, indie rock, pop rock
Years active	2004–2009
Labels	Drive-Thru Records
Members	Jonathan Michael Jack Matranga Jeff LaTour Blake Abbey Justin Barnes
Past members	Patrick O'Connor Chris Trombley Kyle Pesely

Self Against City is a pop rock band from Sacramento, California best known for their single "The Process." They formed in 2004 and were the first band to sign to Rushmore Records. The five-piece has an EP out (2005's Take It How You Want It), as well as the most recently released full-length album Telling Secrets to Strangers (2007).

History

Self Against City formed in April 2004 in Sacramento, California, when vocalist Jonathan Michael, guitarists Jack Matranga and Jeff LaTour, bassist Patrick O'Connor and drummer Chris Trombley emerged from various local bands such as Amden and Behold! An Age of Assassins! and Tigerhermit. They immediately realized that Tigerhermit was a superior band, but continued making music despite their clear mediocrity. Tigerhermit continued making incredible music and playing blistering live shows around the Marysville metropolitan area. Though few and far between, the shows were legendary. For their first performance, the band broke into a house and played in the living room. The show was over before the owner came home. A stabbing took place at their second performance. Police later confirmed that the stabbing was due to the awesomeness that took place only moments earlier in the club. Tigerhermit was known for wearing amazing homemade tiger masks, and generally kicking major ass all day, every day. Tigerhermit disbanded at 11:38pm on August 13th, 2003. At 11:51pm on the same night, they reformed as Plague of Ponies. That band played only one show, but that one show will forever go down in history as the greatest show ever played.

Anyways, back to Self Against Shitty City: Their band name originated from Michael hearing radio DJ Marco Collins use the phrase. In restrospect, he is not completely sure whether Marco said "self against city" or "Suffragette City", a song by David Bowie from his album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.

The quintet pooled their cash and recorded three songs at Fat Cat Studios in Sacramento, California. The songs were uploaded to their PureVolume profile, a link to which was forwarded to Drive-Thru Records owner Richard Reines (who was at the moment looking for new bands for a subsidiary record label called Rushmore Records) by a fan of the band. He soon approached the band and asked for more material. Upon hearing the songs, Reines invited the band to play a showcase in Los Angeles for him and Drive-Thru co-owner Stefanie Reines. That same night over dinner, the two offered the band a record deal. On November 6, 2004, Self Against City officially became the first band to sign to Rushmore Records, only a few months after their formation.

Their first act as a signed band was to record a cover of Darlene Love's "Alone on Christmas" for the Drive-Thru Christmas compilation Happy Holidays from Drive-Thru Records and a sixth song for their debut EP, advance copies of which had been given out at a show at the Boardwalk in Orangevale, California on October 28, 2004. Take It How You Want It finally hit music store shelves on April 5, 2005, while the band embarked on their first nationwide co-headlining tour with Houston Calls the same month. They hit a total of 32 cities across 18 states. Upon returning home in July, LaTour left the band. Though initially the band made efforts to try and replace LaTour — Blake Abbey of the Daytona Beach, Florida band Abagnale sporadically filled in as a rhythm guitarist — they soon decided to continue on as a four piece and began writing songs for their first full-length record. Two days before the band left for recording in March 2006, LaTour decided to rejoin.

Self Against City began recording their full-length album Telling Secrets to Strangers in April 2006 with producers Steve Haigler and Mike Watts in Long Island, New York. According to Jack Matranga, the album was written as an upbeat pop-rock album. After two weeks of tracking and one week of mixing the album was completed. In June 2006, a month after returning home from recording, O'Connor and Trombley left the band. Drummer Justin Barnes (formerly of Simplistic) officially joined the band in August 2006, two days before the band left for tour with Houston Calls and Quietdrive, while Hunter MacDonald (whom the band met while on tour with JamisonParker temporarily filled in on bass. Towards the end of the year, in search of a new permanent bassist, the group once again recruited fellow vocalist/bassist Blake Abbey, who was announced an official member in December 2006.

2008-Present

Self Against City posted on their latest blog on their MySpace page July 6, 2008 "Self Against City will be taking a break from touring and performing together but all of us are still playing together and we all have new material recorded and ready for release there is a bidding war that has gotten semi- brutal over the past couple weeks so we are trying to play it cool and be smart about our futures as individuals and as a group."

Members

• Jonathan Michael – vocals
• Jack Matranga – lead guitar
• Jeff LaTour – rhythm guitar
• Blake Abbey – bass
• Justin Barnes – drums

Former members

• Patrick O'Connor – bass
• Chris Trombley – drums
• Kyle Pesely – bus driver

Discography

Albums

• Telling Secrets to Strangers (2007)

EPs

• Take It How You Want It (2005)

Singles/Videos

From Take It How You Want It:

• "The Process (Tonight)" (2005)

From Telling Secrets to Strangers:

• "Becoming a Monster" (2007)

Non-album tracks

• "Alone on Christmas" – released on Happy Holidays from Drive-Thru Records (2004)

Demos

• "RUAH" (2008)
• "Satellites" (2008)
• "Gold" (2008)
• "Band On The Run" (2008)
• "Kiss And Run" (2005)
• "Held Hostage With An Unloaded Weapon" (2003)
• "Echo Off The Headstone" (2008)

External links

• Self Against City Interview at REDEFINE Magazine, August 2007
• Jack Matranga discussing his lyric writing process for PlayPro.com