The City Lives Interview: SXSW 2010

Chase Kerby's dreamy, affected vocal soars in the power ballads of The City Lives, a band from Oklahoma City. In addition to Kerby on keys, guitarists Josh McCleskey and Sammy Mitchell, bassist Shaun Brown and drummer Eric Gameros round out the strong, unified sound of the band. Getting ready for SXSW, Kerby speaks with us about loving depressing music, shares his all-important top five desert island albums and explains why the city in question does indeed live.

How do you describe your sound?

I always use the reference to a Coke suicide when you blend all the different Cokes together. Each separate one is a different influence to us, a little bit of rock 'n' roll and a little bit of Jeff Buckley [for instance]. That or we just say rock 'n' roll.

You have kind of a power ballad style going on, strong and clear, and a lot of people like that. Would you agree with that description?

We're one of those bands that believe just because you're technical, it doesn't necessarily mean you're better. We keep it simple to let the song have room to breathe. It makes it accessible for us and other people, too. We definitely have the big power ballad style of us.


What are your musical influences?

Jeff Buckley is definitely a big one for me as I think he is for a lot of singers. We, as a band, share influences through classic rock, Tom Petty [and] post-classic rock like U2. I could say the Beatles but that's not very original ... The Beatles, the Stones, the Who. All of these bands definitely keep inspiring us.

How did you come up with the name The City Lives?

A long time ago, in one of my old bands, a friend and I were sitting around and the Oklahoma City music scene was kind of dying out. It was the belief that as long as one person's still playing music, the city will still be alive.

How did the band come together?

We formed in January of 2007. Josh McCleskey, our guitarist, he got a message on MySpace asking if I wanted to jam. I had all these songs that I planned to do solo. We all kind of knew each other from the past year being active in the scene. Everything just kind of fell into place. In 2008, when I went to go to SXSW to watch bands, I ended up breaking my wrist and hyperextending my elbow. We asked Sammy [Mitchell] if he wanted to fill in and he was such an awesome addition that we ended up keeping him.

What's your most current release? Is your EP coming out?

From 2007, 'American Kids,' our debut [self-released] full-length. Our EP should be done mixing tomorrow. I think it's just going to be called 'The City Lives.' The name has not been decided upon yet. The goal is to release it in April. I've already been writing for songs to go on the record to drop by the end of this year or the beginning of next year.

What's your biggest vice?

I'd say cigarettes ... but I would say all my friends make fun of me for listening to really depressing music. I guess that's kind of a vice for me in a way. It's not very popular in a social situation. That and beer.

What's in your festival survival kit? How are you getting to SXSW?

We're getting to SXSW via our van. Lots of water, an equal amount of beer, and we always try to bring along a good sense of humor, make sure that's packed. Before shows we always have our huddle. It's not serious, it's just something we do. When you go to a festival like this everything is overwhelming. Sometimes you show up and you're just a number. One thing to take with you is a cockiness, just self-assurance of 'why are you doing this?' And you gotta be willing to have a little fun and cut loose.

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

I really like the band Tonic. I usually get made fun of for that one. I think Emerson Hart [Tonic's lead singer] is a really good songwriter too. '90s rock kind of in general. I don't have any skeletons in my closet like Celine Dion or something like that.

Beatles or Stones?

Depends on the day. I mean sometimes I wake up and feel like listening to 'Sgt. Pepper's' and sometimes I wake up and just wanna hear ['Rocks Off']. Depends on the weather, too.

What's the craziest thing you've seen or experienced while on tour?

Our show in Las Vegas was pretty crazy. We'll just say it involved a fire extinguisher, warning the venue for the next night and two missing cases of beer ... and shenanigans on the side of the highway.

How did the Oklahoma City music scene shape you as an artist? When explaining your band name, you referenced the idea that it had been dying.

I'm from Oklahoma City, born and raised. With Oklahoma City, though, it was one of those things that, now, the music scene here is incredible. We have amazing, amazing artists. Instead of competing, everybody's really joining together. Everybody knows everybody. As writers, a lot of songwriters draw inspiration from everything that's around them and so being a part of a scene [is like being part of something] that is almost like a living, breathing organism, that shapes everybody in the scene because you have all these people that kind of hold you musically accountable. It inspires you to go - just like any other music you would listen to - to try new things and to expand your own horizons.

What question do you want to be asked that we didn't ask?

Top five desert island albums.

What are yours?

Me, personally, top five would be Nick Drake, 'Bryter Layter'; Jeff Buckley, 'Grace'; Van Morrison, 'Astral Weeks'; Sunny Day Real Estate, 'The Rising Tide.' Last, I would say Ryan Adams, 'Heartbreaker.' I think it's one of the best albums that's come out in the last 15 years. Honorable mentions would be Elbow, 'Cast of Thousands,' Radiohead ... I wanna go with 'Kid A,' a really awesome turning point for them. That or 'Hail to the Thief.' And Oasis ... the list goes on.


Amy Kuperinsky is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.