Self Against City is a pop-rock band from Sacramento, California formed in 2004 and is signed to Drive-Thru/Rushmore Records
For some people the most important goals is a pimped out ride and a pimped out life Ask Self Against City lead singer Jonathan Temkin about his goals and he tells a different story "People are looking for something to fill in themselves," he says "If we can inspire people with our music, I can die a happy person" Temkin may be something particular in the light of Self Against City's disclosure Drive-Thru/Rushmore new CD tells secrets to strangers
Produced by Steven Haigler (Pixies, Fuel) songs on the album are written by Temkin and guitarist Jack Matranga The two sketched out every progression and guitar riff in the pre-n prep tidbetalas like a seamless cohesion ties the album together, "Every song is a chapter," says Temkin "a summation of everything we went through the past year"
He refers to the rock 'n' roll grade school that is touring a big country in a small van Every triumph and misbegotten adventure has been converted into song starts with "Becoming a Monster" a punch-full rocker Temkin calls "our mission" The track exemplifies the band's signature sound: Buzzsaw guitar choppy rhythms and Temkin's trip-wire vocals "We To be energetic and melodic at the same time, "says Matranga" But we did not want just one song repeated ten times on the disc "
Their pattern, even if songs like" lucky shot "Ready and Willing" and "Even the strong will not survive "says Temkin of thennes "It is a testament to growing up and having to put mental limits on myself It's about different forms of abuse and the inner struggle people have" the tuneful guitar-centered "Disappearing Act" is about an eccentric former band member, while the acoustic-flavored "Tequila Moonlight" is one of the CD's more introspective track "This is an alcohol-driven memory of some important events that occur overnight," says Temkin "It was written mostly by Jack and is so pure and honest"
"Yours is not the first 'is, says Temkin a tribute" to anyone who has ever had their heartbroken because they got dumped "while the sly" Smooth Silver "is one of the CD's most adventurous songs" It's about frustration, desire and confusionwrapped in a note he album ends with "Back to Our Innocence" a full circle rocker who serves as the perfect grace note "This is our way of saying when a child is when everything feels so clean when you get older, it becomes desensitized, you lose the vibrant colors we are on a quest to feel like childish adults "
This quest is not born yesterday, although the band made a big impression with their 2005 Rushmore debut EP" Take it how you want the "origin of the Self Against City dating back to the son of a single mother, Texas-born Temkin grew up in Hawaii, Germany and northern California, raised mostly by a loving aunt and uncle, he
were given access to all types of musical instruments and was able to p?? more But it was a Matchbox 20 concert in Frankfurt that proved the threshold "something changed in me," he remembers "and I said 'That's what I do" From when I asked for a guitar and at 15, I finally a "
Temkin moved back to California's Central Valley and began playing guitar in various bands of which one singer anointed him even though he had never sung in his life proved that he was good at it, he also began writing songs but the big breakthrough came in 2003 when he met Matranga and Latour "I spent every waking moment to figure out what the we needed to do to get the band together," he says, "I was with musicians who wanted exactly the same as me"
Jack MatraNGA had a very different upbringing from Temkin: livingin the same home all her life happily married parents, however, the two clicked right away as a songwriter and artist partners, "He is nuts," says Matranga of his friend "I feed off of him when we first started writing, we would jump in the band room to the amplifier and mold a song Our confidence has grown since then "
Bassist Patrick O'Connor and drummer Chris Trombley rounded out the line-up of Self Against City (the name came from Temkin mishearing a DJ announce the Bowie classic" Suffragette City ") band cut a few demos, posting two on PureVolume Those tracks caught the ear of Drive-Thru founders Richard Reines and Stefanie Reines who kept track of the band's progress, only five months after Officially forming the band had their Rushmore deal and soonenough a debut EP buoyed by rave reviews Self Against City toured the U.S. as well as performed at the CMJ convention all the while thinking ahead to the new CD "We are a high energy rock band" says Matranga "but we wanted to write something a bit longer"
O'Connor and Trombley played on the new CD but has since left the band All five are still friends and the other was sad to see them go but with the release of telling secrets to strangers Temkin Matranga and Latour see just ahead "The day we finished album, "says Temkin," I thought we did everything we set out to do: make a record we were proud to write songs we believe in and let people know who we are "
