City and Colour

City and Colour
Dallas Green performing live in Berlin, Germany on April 1, 2008.
Background information
Origin	St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
Genres	Acoustic music, folk music, Alternative country
Years active	2004–present
Labels	Dine Alone, Vagrant Arts & Crafts México
Associated acts	Alexisonfire, Attack in Black, Raising the Fawn, The Miniatures
Website	www.cityandcolour.ca
Members
Dallas Green

City and Colour is the recording alias for Juno Award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter Dallas Green, who was also the guitarist and vocalist of the post-hardcore band Alexisonfire. He plays melodic acoustic and folk music and is often accompanied by a rotating number of Canadian indie rock musicians, such as Daniel Romano and Spencer Burton of Attack in Black. The name City and Colour comes from his own name: Dallas, a city, and Green, a colour. His reasoning for the name was that he felt queasy "putting the album out under the name Dallas Green".^[1] Green said that he had been writing material since he was around the age of 14.^[1] Regarding the songs released on his first album, Sometimes, Green said that he had been writing material for it as early as when he was 18 years old, and finished writing songs for it in 2005.^[1]

History

Sometimes (2005–2007)

Green performing at Edge102.1 Radio Studios in July 2005

Green began releasing City and Colour songs on the Internet for fans to download. Eventually, he compiled and rewrote several of these songs to make his first album, Sometimes. The full length debut was released on November 1, 2005 to a good reception, described by one reviewer as "dynamically gentle and vulnerable".^[2] The cover art was designed by Scott McEwan, in a tattoo-esque style; Green "still may decide to have some of them inked at a later point in time".^[3]

Green indicated that his view that the "best music for [him] is sad music", influenced the type of songs he created. He also said that he "love[s] music to sort of escape to" and the idea of sad music that people could identify with. Green said of the album that, "a lot of those songs are written on some of the experiences I've been through and stuff and that’s just how I deal with it. I just write songs when I’m bummed out and I feel happier."^[3] Sometimes was re-released on Vagrant Records on January 13, 2009, which was first time the album was available in physical form in the United States.

Bring Me Your Love (2008–2009)

Bring Me Your Love is Dallas' second full-length album. It was released on February 12, 2008 and features a wide array of instruments not used on his previous recordings (such as harmonica, banjo, drums and lap steel) giving it a more folk-influenced sound. The album also features collaborations with other musicians, such as Canadian musician Gordon Downie of Tragically Hip on the track "Sleeping Sickness", and additional instrumentals done by Matt Sullivan and the members of Attack in Black. The lead single, "Waiting...", was released on Green's official MySpace page for the first time featuring a "making of" video.

The album is named after a novel by Charles Bukowski. It is also a line sung in the closing track, "As Much As I Ever Could." Green has stated in interviews that he has troubles writing a lot of his lyrics and he saw Charles Bukowski's book in a book store while on tour with Alexisonfire and adopted the title for his new album.

On September 26, 2008, City and Colour embarked on their first American tour, in support of Bring Me Your Love.^[4] On the tour, the band supported Tegan and Sara along with Girl in a Coma. This tour was followed by a headlining tour of the US in January 2009, with support from William Elliott Whitmore. In October 2008, Dine Alone Records announced a special 2-disc limited edition of Bring Me Your Love to be released on December 2, 2008. Only 6,000 copies are available; 5,000 in North America and 1,000 in Australia.^[5] In Canada, when the record label put up the album on pre-sale on November 20, 2008, so many fans tried to pre-order it that the store's website crashed.

Little Hell and future (2010–present)

In January 2010, City and Colour embarked on an additional US headlining tour, again supporting Bring Me Your Love, with supporting act Lissie, and an additional UK tour in June 2010, supporting P!nk, along with Butch Walker, along with a few headlining dates. On these tours, Dallas Green has performed two new songs by the titles of "Silver and Gold" and "Oh Sister", as well as a couple of never-played-before covers - "Murderer", originally by Low, and "Grinnin' In Your Face", originally by Son House. In an interview with Alter the Press, Green has revealed that he has written a bunch of new songs and he just needs to record them for his next record, hinting on a possible early 2011 release date for his third studio album. He said that there are 15 songs that he really likes and he expects around 10 to appear on his next album.^[6]

On September 2, 2010, it was announced on MTV News Canada that Dallas had been in the studio with Polaris Prize nominee Shad working on a remix of a Shad song as well as an original song to be released as a 12" vinyl single. Dallas was quoted as saying "I've always wanted to be the Mary J. Blige to somebody's Method Man". The remix is to Shad's song "Listen" from his latest album TSOL, and the new song that Dallas co-wrote is entitled "Live Forever".^[7] On September 30, 2010, it was announced that Dallas Green planned to start recording his third studio album in January 2011, after demoing 14 songs.^[7] "There are a lot of musically unusual songs." Green has said about the record, "There's a lot more piano on these songs, keyboards and stuff. And there are a couple of songs almost I would say a bit rockin', if that makes any sense, not in a heavy metal kind of way, but just a little bit more upbeat than what you're used to hearing from me."^[7]

On November 9, 2010, Dallas announced via Twitter that he would be releasing a new single on iTunes called "At the Bird's Foot" which will be on a compilation album called Gasoline Rainbows, which also features new songs by such artists as Damien Rice and Amy Kuney. The song was written by Dallas in response to the oil spill in the Gulf. All proceeds from the album will go directly to Global Green USA.^[8][9] "At the Bird's Foot" was first made available for 48-hour streaming on the Gasoline Rainbows myspace page on November 23, 2010, and features Amanda Zelina of the band The Coppertone on vocals.^[10] In an interview with Reverb Magazine's Sean Frazer, Green spilled news of an upcoming 2011 album release, saying "Hopefully I am going to start recording in January so I'm hoping that there will be another album by next Summer/Spring."

On February 15, 2011 Green performed a specially recorded version of "Northern Wind" on the Valentine's Day episode of One Tree Hill.^[11] On February 23, 2011, it was officially announced on the Dine Alone Records website that City and Colour's third album will be titled Little Hell and is set for release in June 2011.^[12] On March 23, 2011, the official track listing was posted on City and Colour's official website. Release date for the album was set to June 7, 2011. In an interview with Radar Radio's Reegan McLaughlin, Green said 'I look at people like Bob Dylan back in the day and he'd have pages of lyrics and would have to decide out of seven, eight of nine verses which three were the best. I think to myself, I have to struggle to get two verses I am happy with in a song' Green also said 'I think melodies come relatively easy to me because I've been singing so long but lyrics, it's a battle to get to a point when I am happy with a song.'^[13]

On March 27, 2011, City and Colour performed Neil Young's "Old Man" as part of the four song tribute to Toronto during the Juno Awards of 2011. On April 5, 2011, "Fragile Bird", the first single off Little Hell was released to the radio. The song had its world premiere on Australian radio station Triple J, where the band was touring a sold out tour at the time. The single became City and Colour's highest charting single, reaching #1 on the Canadian rock/alternative chart.^[14] City and Colour has been announced to be performing as part of The Voodoo Experience 2011, which is held at City Park in New Orleans, Louisiana on October 28–30. On August 5, 2011, Alexisonfire announced their break-up. George Pettit wrote a message on the band's official website saying Dallas had been planning to leave to focus on City and Colour, as balancing the two bands had become too difficult.

Band members

• Dallas Green – lead vocals, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, banjo, harmonica, piano, drums, percussion

Other backup band members

The following musicians have appeared as recording artists on the album Bring Me Your Love and have also toured with Dallas Green as backing musicians.

• Spencer Burton - bass guitar, mandolin, backing vocals
• Daniel Romano - lap steel, organ, guitar, drums, backing vocals
• Jordan Mitchell - backing vocals (The Rest)
• Anna Jarvis - Cello (The Rest)
• Casey Baker - rhythm guitar (Casey Baker & the Buffalo Sinners/ex- Sleeper Set Sail)
• Nicholas Osczypko - keyboards, percussion
• Dylan Green - drums (Raising the Fawn)
• Scott Remila - bass guitar, rhythm guitar, backing vocals (Raising the Fawn)
• Haris Cehajic - bass guitar, rhythm guitar

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Album details	Peak positions						Certifications
		CAN	AUS	UK	US	US Heat	US Indie
2005	Sometimes Released: November 1, 2005 Label: Dine Alone Records	—	—	—	—	—	—	CAN: Platinum[15]
2008	Bring Me Your Love Released: February 12, 2008 Label: Dine Alone Records/Vagrant Records	3	31	—	—	11	35	CAN: Platinum[16]
2011	Little Hell Release Date: June 7, 2011 Label: Dine Alone Records/Vagrant Records	1	2	43	28	—	7	CAN: Gold[17]
"-" denotes releases that did not chart

EPs/Limited Editions

Date of Release	Title	Label
2004	Simple Songs	N/A
2004	The Death of Me (EP)	Dine Alone Records
2005	Missing EP	Dine Alone Records
2008	Live Session EP (iTunes Exclusive)	iTunes Exclusive
2008	The MySpace Transmissions	Vagrant Records/Dine Alone Records/MySpace Records
2010	Live at the Verge	Vagrant Records
2010	Live at the Orange Lounge EP[18]	Vagrant Records/Dine Alone Records
2011	iTunes Live: SXSW (Live in Austin, TX/2011)	iTunes Exclusive

Live albums

Date of Release	Title	Label
2007	Live	Dine Alone Records

Singles

Year	Song	Chart peak				CRIA Certification	Album
		CAN [19]	CAN Alt [20][21]	CAN Rock [22][23]	UK
2005	"Save Your Scissors"	—	10	32	—		Sometimes
2006	"Comin' Home"	—	14	—	—
2007	"Like Knives"	—	—	—	—		Live
2008	"Waiting..."	32	9	21	—		Bring Me Your Love
	"Sleeping Sickness"	59	7	15	—	Gold[24]
2009	"The Girl"	—	29	—	195[25]
2011	"Fragile Bird"	48	1	11	—		Little Hell
	"Weightless"	—	3	20	—

Awards and nominations

2006 MuchMusic Video Awards

• Nominated for Best Pop Video for "Save Your Scissors"
• Nominated for Best Independent Video for "Save Your Scissors"
• Won Peoples Choice: Favourite Artist for "Save Your Scissors"

2008 MuchMusic Video Awards

• Nominated for Peoples Choice: Favourite Artist for "Waiting..."

Chart magazine

• 2006 Artist of the Year

2007 Juno Awards

• Won: Alternative Album of the Year (for Sometimes)

2009 Juno Awards

• Won: Songwriter of the Year (for "Waiting...", "Sleeping Sickness" and "The Girl")
• Nominated: Artist of the Year

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Dallas Green mellows out with City and Colour". Muchmusic.com. http://www.muchmusic.com/insidemuch/stuff/dallas_green_mellows_out_with_city_and_colour.asp. Retrieved 2011-03-02. 
2. ^ (5 votes, average: 4.20 out of 5) (2005-11-01). "City and Colour - Sometimes". Music-critic.ca. http://www.music-critic.ca/wp/2005/city-and-colour-sometimes/. Retrieved 2011-03-02. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Diana Outos. "Dallas Green: An Introspective Look". Yorku.ca. http://www.yorku.ca/walrus/06-03/feature2.php. Retrieved 2011-03-02. 
4. ^ "City and Colour Set Out On First U.S. Tour". Hangout.altsounds.com. http://hangout.altsounds.com/news/100260-city-colour-set-out-first-u-s-tour.html. Retrieved 2011-03-02. 
5. ^ "Dine Alone Records". Dine Alone Records. 2008-12-02. http://www.dinealonerecords.com/releases/view/36. Retrieved 2011-03-02. 
6. ^ Ableson, Jon. "Interview: City and Colour". Alter The Press!. http://www.alterthepress.com/2010/06/interview-city-and-colour.html. Retrieved 2011-03-02. 
7. ^ ^{a b c} "City and Colour's Next Album Promises More Piano and More Rock". Spinner. 2010-09-30. http://www.spinner.com/2010/09/30/city-and-colour-next-album-dallas-green/. Retrieved 2011-03-02. 
8. ^ "City and Colour's Dallas Green Records Gulf Oil Spill Song". Spinner. 2010-08-20. http://www.spinner.com/2010/08/20/city-and-colour-dallas-green-gulf-oil-spill/. Retrieved 2011-03-02. 
9. ^ "City And Colour Records Song For Oil Spill Relief Compilation". melodic.net. http://www.melodic.net/newsOne.asp?newsId=16809. Retrieved 2011-03-02. 
10. ^ "City and Colour - Bring Me Your Love". Cityandcolour.ca. http://www.cityandcolour.ca/news. Retrieved 2011-03-02. 
11. ^ "City and Colour - The Northern Wind (Debut Live Version)". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxU7o_804iY. Retrieved 2011-08-30. 
12. ^ "Dine Alone Records". Dine Alone Records. http://dinealonerecords.com/updates/view/725/. Retrieved 2011-03-02. 
13. ^ "Radar Record of the week City and Colour | Radar Artists. Band info, interviews, reviews & artist music upload". Radar Radio. http://www.radarradio.com.au/artists/interview/radar-record-of-the-week-city-and-colour.aspx. Retrieved 2011-08-30. 
14. ^ "Canada Singles Top 100 - Music Charts". Acharts.us. http://acharts.us/canada_singles_top_100. Retrieved 2011-08-30. 
15. ^ "Gold & Platinum Certification – November 2006". Canadian Recording Industry Association. http://www.cria.ca/gold/1106_g.php. Retrieved 2011-02-22. 
16. ^ "Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA): Gold & Platinum - November 2009". Cria.ca. http://www.cria.ca/gold/1109_g.php. Retrieved 2011-03-02. 
17. ^ "Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA): Gold & Platinum". Cria.ca. http://cria.ca/goldplat.php. Retrieved 2011-08-30. 
18. ^ "City and Colour - Bring Me Your Love". Cityandcolour.ca. http://cityandcolour.ca/store/#Dinfo. Retrieved 2011-03-02. 
19. ^ "City and Colour Album & Song Chart History – Canadian Hot 100". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/#/artist/city-and-colour/chart-history/772624?f=793&g=Singles. Retrieved 2011-02-24. 
20. ^ "Canadian Active Rock & Alt Rock Chart Archive: Alternative Rock - May 17, 2011". America's Music Charts. http://canadianrockalt.blogspot.com/2011/05/alternative-rock-may-17-2011.html. Retrieved May 18, 2011. 
21. ^ "Canadian Active Rock & Alt Rock Chart Archive: Alternative Rock - October 11, 2011". America's Music Charts. http://canadianrockalt.blogspot.com/2011/10/alternative-rock-october-11-2011.html. Retrieved October 11, 2011. 
22. ^ "Canadian Active Rock & Alt Rock Chart Archive: Active Rock - August 2, 2011". America's Music Charts. http://canadianrockalt.blogspot.com/2011/08/active-rock-august-2-2011.html. Retrieved August 2, 2011. 
23. ^ "Canadian Active Rock & Alt Rock Chart Archive: Active Rock - November 1, 2011". America's Music Charts. http://canadianrockalt.blogspot.com/2011/11/active-rock-november-1-2011.html. Retrieved November 1, 2011. 
24. ^ "Gold & Platinum Certification – May 2009". Canadian Recording Industry Association. http://www.cria.ca/gold/0509_g.php. Retrieved 2011-02-24. 
25. ^ http://zobbel.de/cluk/111015cluk.txt

Bold text== External links ==

• Official website
• City and Colour Official French Website
• City and Colour at Allmusic
• City and Colour on Myspace
• Dallas Green at Allmusic
• City and Colour at Vagrant Records
• City and Colour Fan Community
• Interview with Dallas Green from PUNKVIDEOSROCK
• City and Colour on Pure Volume