We are the City are a local success story. They return home to play an exclusive show tonight (Thursday) at the Kelowna Community Theatre.
Lets start today’s columnn with my interview with Andy (drummer).

RD: First off congrats on succeeding in carving out a career in the music industry. For those of us in Kelowna that were over the moon to see a Kelowna band win the Peak Performance Project and the $150,000 top prize can you give us an update of what you’ve been up to since the win?
Andy:Thank you very much. Still working hard at “carving out a career” but what has happened thus far has been greatly rewarding, and I’d like to think purely based on the manner of work alone. I’m really trying hard to not base my gratification in numbers, like how many people come out to a show, or how many views a video on YouTube has, or how many people buy our record. I’d be fooling myself if I said that those things don’t factor at all into my happiness, but I’m working on it. You know, trying to realize that those temporary things don’t mean anything. I’m feeling very satisfied in the things that the band has created and been involved in creating, and I’d like to leave it at that. Since the Peak Performance Project we’ve toured across Canada three times, toured the United States twice, made an EP called High School, worked in conjunction with Amazing Factory Productions to make a music video series for High School, spent two years writing and recording our sophomore full length album called Violent that’s now released, and we’ve also been working on a film again with Amazing Factory, but this time it’s a full length narrative movie, and it was shot in Norway. So all of those things feel good.

RD:Did I hear correctly that you were off in Norway shooting a feature length film? Details are greatly desired? any snippets from youtube I can share?
Andy:Haha you did hear correctly! Well, early last year we all decided that making a movie to go hand in hand with the album was the thing that we wanted to do. So we did it. Now, a year later, we have sent away the final edit for sound mixing. Not really sure what the plans for release are yet, but we’d like to have it run in some festivals first and maybe look towards distribution with a film house. It’s a little more departed from the album than we initially thought it would be, which is actually pretty exciting, because it stands well on its own and doesn’t require the album as a crutch. The film itself is a pretty wild idea, we actually shot in Bergen, Norway and the majority of the dialogue is in Norwegian, despite none of us understanding it. I like to think of it as a pretty absurd experiment that seems to have worked. We’ll have to wait and see what people think of it.

Discover the epically visual new video they just released with a glimpse of their upcoming feature film and a sampler of their sound.

RD: Your band is now back to the original 3 members. I recall seeing your first EP for sale at a coffee shop in Glenmore for $2 in 2009. Its been an amazing journey for you guys since then. Do you have any advice for new bands from Kelowna looking to follow in your footsteps?
Andy: What a memory you have! That must’ve been at Perc’s right? To be very honest with you, I’m not entirely sure how we found ourselves here, but I’d like to humbly suggest a large amount of discipline, spending a lot of time in front of your instrument, pushing out all material — good and bad — and being kind to everyone. That last one’s the most important one, I think, but that’s a universally good thing to practice.

RD: You have a show on Thursday at the Kelowna Community Theatre. I think the last time you played the venue was a triple header with Said the Whale, Aiden Knight and Kingdom Cloud. It was truly magical evening. How did you select the bands to play along side you for this show?
Andy: Thank you, that night is magical in my mind too. We are very fortunate that people with such talent don’t mind being friends with us. I have so much respect for those bands. Same goes with the bands playing with us on Thursday. Hannah Epperson came with us on our entire Canadian tour and I had the pleasure of watching her blow away every audience. The Belle Game are a really cool band from Vancouver that have an excellent album out called Ritual Tradition Habit. Nuuka are good friends of ours, and I’ve actually never seen them live. I’ve heard their music and heard a lot of good things about their show so maybe having them on the bill was a selfish choice. I just want to see them play! It’s going to be very special.

Ticket are available at the door or online here: http://bit.ly/122gsOB
The show is at the Kelowna Community Theatre tonight (June 27th) for $18.

I must also mention that we have another stellar show coming to Kelowna this Saturday at the Habitat:

I would also highly recommend checking out the show with Michael Bernard Fitzgerald at the Habitat this Saturday night. Here’s the fb event link: https://www.facebook.com/events/531556626907832/?ref=22

I’m absolutely loving his new EP firecracker. Its been my playlist on the way to work for the past month:
iTunes link:https://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/michael-bernard-fitzgerald/id200956943