Hailing from the City Of Angels, LA rockers NEXT CItY are your new favorite band.
Combining garage rock crunch with driving dance groove, Los Angeles rock band NEXT CItY is making their sonic assault on the world with the release of their debut single “Blue Star”.
The band have signed a global management deal with Australia’s Wild Thing Presents and will be booked by LA’s 33 & West Agency.
NEXT CItY have just dropped their debut single, Blue Star, and are set to take their intense rock and roll show global, kicking off with shows in Los Angeles and New York City in June.
NEXT CItY is the creation of vocalist (and renowned actor) Samuel Larsen, best known for his work on Glee as the Joe Hart character, and his supporting role in the current hit film After, based on the novel by Anna Todd that became a worldwide phenomenon, and guitarist Philip Paulsen. The two met while on tour together and began writing for a brand new project that would be heavy in garage rock grit, layered over a foundation steeped in groove, with the intention of getting people to shake off their inhibitions and dance. The band is rounded out by bassist Nick Diiorio, and drummer Ben Brinckerhoff who have helped to perfect the band’s brand of guitar-driven rock influenced by heavy hitters like Death From Above 1979, The Dead Weather, and Queens of the Stone Age, all while encompassing the electric energy of funk driven pop music that takes its cues from Prince and Michael Jackson.
After releasing solo music in the pop and funk world, Larsen had the itch to start a rock band, to write and perform with. “‘Blue Star’ was the first song I started working on with a band in mind”, says Larsen. “I had the riffs and lyrics for a while before I met Phil and I felt stuck, like I couldn’t fully finish it, so I handed it off to Phil and he tightened up the arrangement, added a falsetto hook in the chorus and together we added a bridge.”
“Blue Star” is inspired by the dichotomy between the dream and the reality of Hollywood and how it can be the dream, but also the nightmare. The song is performed from the point of Hollywood and that they are enticing the dreamer with the bright dreams, but haunting her with the harsh reality too.
Fat, fuzzy funk filled guitar lines, visual lyrics and beats you can bang, dance or both to, NEXT CItY sound totally familiar yet sound refreshingly like nothing you’ve heard before.
NEXT CItY’s mantra is that it’s got to be heavy and make people dance but above all, be honest.
TOUR DATES
Wed, June 5: The Peppermint Club, Los Angeles
Tues, June 11: Mercury Lounge, New York City
Tickets at nextcityband.com
Steam/Buy “Blue Star” here
