Gatherer

Eat Words V. 1

2009-10-06T20:46:00.000-07:00

His feet caress the pavement,
Grey, wet and cold
The rain on his face doesn't bother him,
The problem lies within his shoes
They are getting old; Full of holes.

Main concerns
A weary woe
Can't seem to shake all these vivid dreams
Out on a ledge, he wants to break limbs
Talk about his future, talk about friends
Laugh at his past
Fight to a verbal death
About the do's and don'ts and when it ends

Sitting in noisy environments
With headphones on
Between songs other sounds leak
Some almost sound the same - when the tune in his ears
matches the warm rumble in his feet

Underneath the stairs
In a childhood home
Gathered up into a wicked heap
The tales are too timid to tell
So it's back to wretched ways
Lips are trembling, never satisfied
Curious self, wading in the bitches blossom

TCS ONE

2009-09-20T07:28:00.000-07:00

It probably begins with G.

2009-08-24T18:37:00.000-07:00

Shit has been pretty hectic for us the last month. Not that we've blogged about it much or anything, but I guess that's part of the reason. We've basically been three fools jamming 6 times a week, working on new album stuff and generally tightening up the loose screws.

I can't wait to have this new material all good to go. It's definitely a progression, which is almost cliche to say now. But, I'm super proud to be part of a band that can say that and genuinely mean it. 99% of our small but tight as shit fan base can agree with that, I'm sure.

Here's the catch - on October 22nd, 2009, we will no longer be This City Sunrise. The extreme journey and the amount of energy we have invested into what seems to be knocking down an always building brick wall has to end. Perhaps we dug ourselves a hole, perhaps our open minded nature to who we play with and how frequently further deepened that hole, perhaps not?

What is for sure, is after 4 years, the number of bands with names similar to ours playing hyper compressed, finger on the pro button music is a total detriment to who we are, what we believe in and how we approach music. This City Sunrise no longer represents us.

So at the beginning of our tour with Fear Before, we'll have a new name, a slew of new songs, new merchandise, and a new album underway.

Fucking stoked.

- Samuel. K

Fear Before tour.

2009-08-02T18:29:00.000-07:00

Holy. Shit.

AFX Bizz.

2009-07-30T19:26:00.000-07:00

The other night, our free tickets to Harry Potter 6 were declined for the second time!
Pays to check the small print...

In the end we used our time on something far bigger / badder / better - we lit the fire, consumed beer with good people, and constructed the king racetrack with Sams new (old) AFX set THAT HE FOUND IN A RUBBISH BIN!

New additions eh.

Fullas

2009-07-24T01:02:00.000-07:00

One the road again. To Sydney. Again.

Shit's been hectic (dope, devine, mean as) whilst we've been back in Melbourne the last week. We played with our new friends in La Dispute, went to another of their shows, finished up a new track and got wasted with our other new friends in Young Heretics.

New friends. Probably one of the best parts of being in a 'band' is meeting other 'bands' and coming to terms with all their lingo, ideals, quirks etc.

New songs. We have around 12 basic things going on that we're slowly churning through to form full songs or nothing. Plus we have 4 songs already road tested for the album as well. So excited about getting this shit recorded, toured etc. Making plans is fun, and we have some pretty drastic plans.

Hit you'se back soon.

Broke the fuck down.

2009-07-10T22:17:00.000-07:00

Ok, so, whilst I do hold a strange affliction with our new car - I mean, shit, it's OUR fuckin' car, yo' - it has really let us down at this very moment. Radiator death. That's the new name of our name by the way.

We are about 2 hours from Adelaide, and have to be there in 4. That's ok, I suppose. Parked the car at a mechanic, who happens to be right next door to a bar. Pokies too. So whilst we gamble our lacking band funds (other band name we almost decided on was 'Strapped For Cash' to coincide with our new Pop-Punk direction) we wait to see if Mr. Mechanic man (ie: God or Taxman, depending on result) can fix our car. (brackets for effect).

Shapes are good. XXXX beer is a bit shit, but cold. Pony bar was outrageously uncomfortable for most the night.

I've honestly never been to a venue with so much impact from its smell alone. It's like hanging a dish cloth out without draining it clean, and then wiping it on your face after a marathon, then on your mate's nuts, the tiny gaps between his girlfriend's toes, soak it in flat beer for a month and then microwave it on medium for 1 minute. Smell it. That's Pony. Not even exaggerating.

Regardless, it's a sweet place with a lot of character. It's kind of like Valve back home. You can feel the love.

Here's a picture of the bar we are currently at:

I look like a fucking idiot, hooked up with my laptop.

If you read this before 7.30pm (it's 3.30pm now), then please, wish us luck for arriving on time. Please car, we love you.

x

Reh

2009-07-08T19:41:00.000-07:00

Mean bummer - shows got cancelled. Which means we had to come home for like, 5 days or something. But tonight we're back into the swing of things with a show at Pony in Melbourne, then we're off to Adelaide. Stoked.

Not much happened here at home. Kept writing new tunes, lit fires, played video games, worked.

Here's some snaps off my phone from the travels thus far. Coolio. Ice Cube.

1700 back.

2009-06-27T23:14:00.000-07:00

We are now on the way back to Melbourne, from Brisbane, for two whole days. Huge. In that time we are set to move house, work, play Fallout 3, eat a proper meal, practice, work on new material and sleep for at least 12 hours. That's what we will accomplish between the three of us anyway.

The last three shows were definitely a mixed bag. Turns out Brisbane breeds some pretty decent bands. Quiet Steps and To The North in particular. To anyone that follows our twitter, when I posted 'Criminally under rated bands', I was at Club 299 watching Quiet Steps play the best noisy post punk whatever jams I've seen live in fucking ages to a whopping 10 or so people in a huge club.

We played an all ages show in Ipswitch, which was interesting. To The North played to about 13 school kids trying to beat each other up. After we played a little dude asked for my pick. He was at the merch desk with Drew (of Hospital) and me, and I asked how old he was. Twelve! Gave him the pick and a cd, as did Drew. And one for his GIRLFRIEND. If only i was pulling mad bitches when I was 12.

Likes our music, and he's 12, yo'.

Before all this we played an abysmal show in the Gold Coast. The only payers were the parents of the 16 year olds before us, an old friend from Wellington (so good to see you Hana!) and 4 others. The 16 year olds were hilarious. Drummer had a blonde afro, Rammstein shirt and played a sax solo whilst still drumming over Metallica guitar riffs. Into that, hard.

Currently 7/8ths through this bag of lollies. Back to it.

Sam

1700 Km's in...

2009-06-26T22:32:00.000-07:00

Technology is pretty awesome. It's amazing that I can actually sit next to Reuben in our newly purchased 1993 Ford Falcon wagon and type a blog at 10.47 pm. Mean.

It also means that every time I open my MacBook there is a picture of a scantly clad Sigourney Weaver (sorry Hannah...) from when she wasn't a milf, but an actual sci fi sex symbol. This is inspired by the fact that I went to an Alien/Aliens back to back feature at a theatre in Melbourne the other night and straight lost my shit about the whole thing. It was awesome. Cybogs and shit, yo'. And Jonesey, the cat.

Anyway, What we are begining is much more frequent blog updates, because, y know, we're actually on tour now. 20 shows on the East Coast of Australia, and as soon as it's finished we're pretty much straight into another one, then another etc. Or so the plan, promoter and people say.

Touring in Australia is pretty sweet thus far, We've gone from 4 people in a hall that had 80 people in it when the metalcore band before us played, to 200 drunk emos in a club in some suburb we caught a train to. Mean.

I would kill a strawberry and cream chuppa chup right now. Maybe the suburbs of 'Bowning', 'Yea' or 'Bong Bong' have some. Legit suburbs, by the way.

Sam

Home and back Home again.

2009-06-08T23:33:00.000-07:00

So me and the bros went home to the Beautiful Wellington for a couple of weeks. Enjoyed ourselves thoroughly with all our family and friends, playing sweet treat shows and meeting fucking GC's. Both fortunately and unfortunately we are back in fat Melbs with a very strong will to tour our fucking honk arses off and write new shit for you while you pleasure your loves..., for your pleasure. Formula instead of the fuck.

Good to be back but fuck Wellington we miss you.

Be good

(.Y.)

Air lock. Mean.

2009-05-25T01:11:00.000-07:00

Reeeeehhhhhhh!!!

2009-05-24T21:30:00.000-07:00

Twit.

2009-05-14T21:08:00.001-07:00

Er. Reaching into the far depths of the interverse is us on twitter.

twitter.com/thiscitysunrise

Go watch Star Trek.

Holy Fucking Shit.

2009-05-10T19:06:00.001-07:00

We're opening for Trail of Dead in Wellington.

Rad.

Our album starts here.

2009-05-04T03:57:00.001-07:00

Good things.

2009-04-30T20:17:00.000-07:00

Beer and Tony and Grizzly Bear.

2009-04-28T02:12:00.001-07:00

Jameson, on time.

2009-04-27T19:02:00.001-07:00

Last night, Reuben and I got drunk and talked about how exciting
things are becoming. This feeling of excitement is coming at just the
right time.

Spidermans.

2009-04-26T23:39:00.001-07:00

Throwing Glasses At Bands

2009-04-26T16:36:00.001-07:00

It's a bit fucking weird. I wouldn't consider our music particularly pretentious or offensive, we're just three guys playing our hearts out.

Drunkenly seeking attention, great stuff.

Lions, Monkeys, Zebras and shit.

2009-04-05T21:22:00.000-07:00

We are going to the zoo this weekend.

Not only that, but we are taking our gear and are playing music to them.
No shit. www.liveatthezoo.com

Maybe, possibly, someone we know will be there. We will take photos. We will chase the llamas.
Yusss!

Getting Techno

2009-03-15T22:07:00.002-07:00

It's interesting when you make rad plans for cool things and then when it comes time to do said things you can't because you bought the cheapest camera available and it's a piece of shit.

Fuck you Samsung. Firewire. It's not that hardout. Why make it so difficult?

For Example

2009-03-11T15:41:00.000-07:00

Ok so the EP has been out for around a week now, and it seems to be doing ok. We didn't really break any ground by releasing it the way we did, we just figured we've written some songs and we want people to hear them. We are small, unsigned, fresh.

We're also struggling for any kind of attention. Please help us!

If you have a blog, host our EP's, Demos, Videos, anything. Give us the link and we'll support you.

Clean.

2009-03-04T05:11:00.000-08:00

We feel like we are mid way through a massive breath of fresh air. Like coming out from a dive into water that went too deep. Except we didn't 'dive', we simply were born immersed and someone was filling the pool with water as we climbed for the top.

This City Sunrise Sings In Unison is by no means a well rounded representation of our band. There is so much more we are going to do. There is so much more music we are going to write. However we feel In Unison is the first step of this band that we've tread with any real confidence. We know a lot more about each other, about what we can do, about our friends and our families and about the kind of people that dig this shit.

This City Sunrise Sings In Unison, and that is the only way it can be.

Pretty Much...

2009-01-05T18:06:00.000-08:00

A face, philosophical figure; held in beauty forever
Through stained glass, transparent fever
I couldn't care to be immortalized
Text book chapter, pop culture, t-shirt recognized
People with that are gifted
Given to us from something, somewhere above
I think we missed it
I want to be part way there, nearly public
Meaningful to those whose hearts they bare
Open ended secret love affair, maybe it was meant to be
Treated like a whore, we're only relatively sure
Filthy unwholesome pedigree

Not exactly the result we had hoped for
A ghastly gust or gale is choking me
I am jealous eyes, brewing in tea
Could swear someone was groping me
My once solid foundations are shaking violently

Not exactly the result we had hoped for
We want to be part way there

If we get down on our hands and knees and pray to this quake,
Who are we then? Who are we then?
Lead soldiers on a march, all of the colours chipped off of our medals
Congratulated and commemorated in a heavy hail of concrete confetti

Not exactly the result we had hoped for

I wanna be part way there
Nearly public, nearly public
I am jealous eyes, brewing in tea
My once solid foundations are shaking violently

A face, philosophical figure; held in beauty forever
Couldn't care to be immortalized
Couldn't care!
I couldn't care to be immortalized
I couldn't care to be immortalized
I couldn't care to be immortal.

Weird Concrete Building.

2009-01-02T04:37:00.000-08:00

Shit.

It's so hard to elaborate on where we are at as a band right now. There's this huge, vague, empty feeling in the middle of an equally massive, exciting and beautiful dream.

We moved to Australia on October 16th, and it's been a struggle to get some stability in order to get all our plans into focus. Even just for a moment, it's almost impossible to pull your head together in someone else's house and to get things done well. Someone else's house, someone else's living space. Their vibe surrounds it, even when they aren't home. I feel intrusive, and my creative conscience is cramped.

It took me two and a half months to acquire work. I started looking the day we got here. It was a weird unlucky patch for me. But now all three of us are working we'll be able to afford a van, gear, merch, cd's etc. Stuff for you to have. Stuff that makes us happy to give you.

We have our first practice booked for Monday. We've accepted we wont find a place to live and practice for quite some time. Like I said, vagueness in the midst of our dream.

We're getting there. Our new EP is almost done. I can't wait to have it out. It's way heavier than our old stuff, but it's got infinitely more melodies, harmonies and all that musical stuff than before too. Merch is almost ready. Web pages and photos and VIDEOS are happening. We can be a proper, music playing band again. Touring and feeling like a band. It's the best feeling ever and we're now in a position to feel it a whole lot more than we ever have.

Rad.

Samuel. K

PS: Christmas and New Years were both fuckin' awesome. I hope yours was too.

Studio V. 3

2008-11-04T17:16:00.000-08:00

With flashlight secrecy we study cracks, curiously.

We're done tracking. Mixing, mastering & all that to come.

Cool.

We celebrated with a BBQ. It was rad.

Studio V. 2

2008-10-31T21:03:00.000-07:00

Still here.

Our voices were being lame and not hitting the right notes or tones last night so we started drinking to soften things up, but really all it did was cost us money and give us light headaches in the morning. We were getting served at the bar by some girl in a Halloween costume who we appropriately named 'Tits'. We didn't say it to her face, of course.

All the guitars are done and it sounds big. Big Al's big guitars.
We're eating a lot of fruit.

Studio V. 1

2008-10-29T16:36:00.000-07:00

We've been in Sydney a couple of days now. We haven't really seen any of Sydney except for having to mission around the place, late at night, trying to find Davinia's house. The last leg involved dodging cockroaches on the footpath, they come out at night apparently. Feeding on the filth and all that. Fuckin' weird. Cockroaches can get fucked. Ew.

We've had a few hiccups early on, but nothing to put us out of order. We bought a brand new video camera to film all our new ventures. Used it for a few days, then left it on a train to the studio. Hah.

However, in studio, good stuff is happening. Finishing off some bass things this morning, and then onto guitars, vocals and mixing. Everything should effectively be done in the next week. We'll probably have something new for you to hear real soon.

Cool. Here's some photos.

Dave is a fuckin' King.

Human nature.

2008-10-18T18:04:00.000-07:00

We made it to Melbourne. Alive and well.

All our stuff is in a big pile on Kimbra's floor. She's so very nice to let us stay here whilst we get our shit together. Jobs, homes, food, etc.

There's not a lot to share about Melbourne just yet. We caught an early flight here and drunk a lot of beer. It's free on the plane. We got stung with a hefty excess weight charge (as in, we could buy 2 XBox 360's instead) so we took it upon ourselves to drink what we could. Money's worth, right?

As expected we've been getting out and about, catching up with friends and procuring hangover's. It's all slowing down now though, money is tight and we can't exactly be the rockstar alcoholics we dream to be just yet.

Otherwise, that's about it. Life hunting.

x

It sucks that you're leaving...

2008-10-02T18:23:00.000-07:00

It's funny (like literally, actual "haha" funny) how anyone in this country can say to us "aww, don't go", "pleeeeease don't go?" and "damn, that sucks that you're leaving".

This is the very reason we're leaving. Bar a small few whom we know really do appreciate our band, the rest all seem about as genuine as The Veronicas, Katy Perry etc. I'm fairly certain I've spoken to every single person that's ever seen us play. It's not like we had any support from anyone or anything significant. It's not like New Zealand was going to present us with any real opportunity.

The coolest thing that happened for us in NZ, was the HORSE the band tour, and we lost $700 by agreeing to it. It was only 3 shows! If we didn't miss our flight because we got every red light in Wellington and an uncoperative airport bitch, then we'd have only lost $400.

We can tour and make some money, sure. Once a year maybe. We could make $200. We could play 6, maybe 7 shows on that tour. Get time off our full time jobs to support ourselves. Or we could go overseas and work hard as fuck and get ourselves into a position of touring 6, maybe 7 months a year and be constantly surrounded by opportunity.

And before any indie hip d.i.y trend setting fuck tries to tell us we're wrong, we are This City Sunrise. We aren't one of the plethora of in bands that exist in New Zealand right now. We don't have a huge sub culture of sheep to leech off.

We want to play music for a living. A shit living, but it's living. Life. It's the only thing we know how to do.

It sucks that we're leaving.
Hah! I couldn't be more excited.

Busy ass.

2008-09-22T19:02:00.000-07:00

So we've got a fair bit going on. Mainly just trying to relax our minds enough to focus on what's important with moving away.

To be honest, I have no fuckin' idea where I'm at. I look around my room and it totally does my head in. Gotta pack this, sell that, give this to someone, get this on a plane. Blah blah. Weight, money, spending, no clue, no income, no money, no spending.

Or something. I dunno. Seriously. I'm sure we can do it. Should probably stop writing blogs and start, y' know. Packing.

x

ps: Final shows all over the place. Check our MySpace for details.

Small Collection

2008-08-23T01:34:00.000-07:00

There is a small collection of Werther's Original wrappers building up around my desk. I've been eating them a lot.

There's also a small collection of shows building up for when we get to Australia.

Pity about the small collection of money we have, selling our small collections of gear to afford things like food, water, expensive beer and new socks.

Listen to the new These Arms Are Snakes song.

x

Being Shut Down.

2008-08-14T19:02:00.000-07:00

It's a good feeling playing shows with bands such as Strangers. They're a heavy band, but they haven't given in to the whole Metalcore movement. Which is great. Because seriously, bar very few bands, we loathe the prospect of sitting through breakdown after fuckin' breakdown.

It's good because when we're chillin' before the show we're listening to Coliseum, Breach, My Disco, Young Widows and more. Occasionally there's a humorous hair metal song thrown in that I don't find funny but people get excited. That's cool.

Furthermore, the musicians have sweet gear, put on a professional show and call shit as they see it. No bullshit, genuine as people playing music that matters to them.

We love music in general and play with bands of all sounds and sizes, but sometimes I feel it's most redeeming to see a heavy band shine with whatever it is they're doing. Akaname, Robotosaurus, Strangers, AVALANCHE etc.

Cool.

Buzzy Bee Dumpster

2008-08-10T00:49:00.000-07:00

Majestic flight,
Feet above the ground.
I am safe upbringing,
Keeping children sound.

Drag me along with training wheels & wooden wings
I pretend I can soar
Amongst plants and things,
Comforting he who wishes he could only be
Something more.

But when creation gets close
Individual & otherwise gross
The junior that has me on string runs away
Scared of the sting.

Friends, amongst others.

2008-08-05T19:28:00.000-07:00

We live in a circle. We're surrounded by positive out-look, 'life is more than 9 to 5' people. Our friends. The best people we know.

When it gets late, ourselves and our friends go home and write serriously about serious stuff using serious words like 'wish', 'voice' and 'transparent'. Some of us also do it wearing headphones on the bus, whilst in conversation at lunch or during ciggie breaks at work.

We're a funny group of friends. Look after your friends.

My feet upset the water on the pavement,
Grey and wet and cold.
The rain on my face doesn't bother me,
The problem lies within my shoes.
They are getting old, full of holes.

There are rips in my jeans,
This T-Shirt just barely clean.
It's a wonder anyone sees anything in me.

Though I aren't commercially impressive,
I do have desire.
I want to drown, drown, drown
In beautiful sound.
Not water, girls mother's despair,
Drown in sound, peaceful and unaware.

We Care A Lot

2008-08-04T18:06:00.001-07:00

We're probably (most definitely, rather) one of those bands that people say "they shouldn't take themselves so seriously, maaaaannnnn".

Maybe we aren't taking ourselves seriously enough.

We're moving to Melbourne in October.
Rad.
x

2008-07-30T15:59:00.000-07:00

I can't stop eating. Seriously, is it Winter? I like Winter. I like rain, thunder, fog, jackets and watching pretty girls make me hot drinks at cafes. I think I have developed Trent Reznor's 'void'; Physically, emotionally and financially. It needs to be filled, so I fill it with food.

I'm stunned at the food I'm eating. Whole loves of bread a day, Pizza's 2 inches thick, corn chips, ice cream, toast, more toast, more ice cream and a bottle of wine. Every day.

Melbourne soon. Should probably book the tickets.

My favourite time of day

Is the last half hour before sleep.

Smoking on the deck, the rain falls on everything

But me and the Devil's cigarette.

As if to tell me

"Enjoy your time alone"

The water will protect me like a lullaby,

Seldom so pretty.

This is This City Sunrise, and this is how we think.

2008-07-28T19:49:00.000-07:00

I've been admiring the talents of a few artists lately that have been exploring the world of music and blogs. I mean, sure, we've got MySpace and all that, but there's something a whole lot more personal about Blogging, in our own Blog, here. So here it is. This is us, the way we think. Well, maybe it will turn into the way 'I' think, seeing as I tend to have the firmest grip on the reigns of This City Internet. But whatever.

I recommend everyone read both the Blacklisted and Little Pictures blogs. Both have awesome shit to say or at least stuff that proves really motivational for independent musicians.

Ok. Cool. I got it started.

I recently got taught how to make an omelette and now I'm getting experimental. Gotta tend to that before this house burns down.

x Sam