Even though the announcement of Alexisonfire’s disbandment came in August of 2011, the following farewell tour ensured that co-singer Dallas Green stayed busy for an extended period. His solo guise, City And Colour, couldn’t become his sole focus until the post-hardcore outfit’s last show in Ontario on December 30th last year.
Unlike the recording of City And Colour’s 2011 record Little Hell, where the musician was yet to inform the rest of Alexisonfire about his decision to leave the band, the recording of his latest LP, The Hurry And The Harm, saw Green able to focus on the one project for the first time.
“Even though I had told myself that while making Little Hell that was going to be the first record moving forward,” says Green, on the line in Toronto, “I knew that I had quit the band, but no one else knew, so mentally I was in this strange space.”
“Publicly I was still in Alexisonfire, but secretly I had left. Subconsciously there were all these emotions going on while I was making that record that I think got in the way. Even though I love it,” he reveals.
“I know that the trials and tribulations of making that record had a lot to do with where I was mentally and emotionally.”
Nevertheless, for Green, the last Alexisonfire shows would allow him to, “close the book on that in the right way.”
This would ultimately affect City And Colour’s fourth full-length album by allowing, as Green says, “freedom of expression to pour out of me which would become The Hurry And The Harm.” “I knew that I had quit the band, but no one else knew, so mentally I was in this strange space. Publicly I was still in Alexisonfire, but secretly I had left.”
While his latest album doesn’t drastically distance itself from Little Hell, the added expansion in terms of instrumentation comes as a result of recording with esteemed musicians such as Jack Lawrence (The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather), Bo Koster (My Morning Jacket), and drummer Matt Chamberlin (Pearl Jam, Fiona Apple) to name but a few.
“The whole evolution of the sound; I think that’s just a total reaction to where I’m at creatively,” affirms Green.
“This group of songs just happened. The more I played them and the more I worked on them, the more I heard drums and bass and keyboards and strings and harmonies and things like that.”
For Green there was no conscious effort for The Hurry And The Harm to sound as it did when finished. In that sense Green distances himself from the type of people, “who get paid millions of dollars to sit in a room and try to write the perfect pop song.”
“I write songs that I love, that I want to listen to again and again and that I want to sing over and over,” he explains. “The goal is that you can get to that point and hope there are some other people out there that will feel the same way about them.”
“People ask ‘how you do handle the success when it comes to the writing?’ Well I just approach songs the same way I always have, because if I were to change that, then that would be going against everything that has gotten me to this point.”
“I always look at it [this way] and the day that everyone stops listening, maybe I’ll think about something else,” he concludes.
While it’s hard to see City And Colour losing its audience anytime soon, the track “Commenters” on The Hurry And The Harm sees Green writing about his critics and the influence of the internet on modern day society.
“It’s a two-part song,” begins Green. “Part of it is that it’s sort of a reaction to lazy uniformed journalism which is running abundant in this day and age that we live in, because everyone has a blog, everyone thinks they’re a writer, everyone has an opinion that they think is the right opinion.”
While the vocalist concedes that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, in the song he is essentially saying, “I don’t care if you like it or not”.
Pausing, Green draws from a quote that was made by John Legend about Kanye West to convey his explanation of the song’s sentiment.
“He said ‘Kanye’s always felt that there is something he needed to share with the world’, and it’s like, jeez, would you just get over yourself for two seconds. I know that I write songs that I like and I think that some people will like the songs that I write, but I don’t think that everyone will and I don’t care if everyone does cause it doesn’t matter,” he declares. “He said ‘Kanye’s always felt that there is something he needed to share with the world’, and it’s like, jeez, would you just get over yourself.”
The second inspiration behind “Commenters” is drawn from the musician’s disgust at how rude people can be on the internet.
“Everyone feels the need to tell everyone what they’re thinking without ever thinking about it – with the click of a button. It’s like there is no filter anymore unless you’re on Instagram and you pick the best filter for your picture,” he says, half in jest.
Speaking of photo apps, the singer’s practice of making the audience put down their camera phones for one song during his show is a custom that more and more acts are picking up on.
“I’ve noticed how it’s becoming kind of popular to tell people to turn their cameras off. I think I may have started that trend. Just saying,” laughs Green.
Why is it though, that people have such an obsession with ‘capturing the moment’? “I have no idea,” he replies. “That sort of informed the title of the record. People are forgetting that you’re capable of having an actual memory, you don’t need to go consult the instant replay.”
The musician talks favorably of being able to tell stories – not through electronic devices, but word of mouth.
“Maybe I’m just romantic or something and I want a human element to remain in things, especially in live music,” Green laments.
Whether that idealism goes against the grain or not, those who do reject the urge to reach for their phone will have little trouble remembering Green when he returns to Australia early next year, armed with City And Colour’s latest release.
The Hurry And The Harm is out today via Dine Alone/Caroline, you can win your own copy of the album on Tone Deaf HERE. The lyric video for ‘Thirst’ is below.
