City and Colour

City and Colour
Dallas Green performing in Winnipeg on July 10, 2013
Background information
Origin	St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
Genres	Folk, Alternative rock, Blues rock, Singer Songwriter
Years active	2004 (2004)–present
Labels	Dine Alone, Vagrant Arts & Crafts México
Associated acts	Alexisonfire, Attack in Black, Raising the Fawn, The Miniatures, Righteous Among Men, Tegan and Sara
Website	cityandcolour.ca
Members	Dallas Green

City and Colour is the recording alias for Canadian singer-songwriter Dallas Green, who was also the guitarist and vocalist of the post-hardcore band Alexisonfire from 2001 to 2012. He plays melodic acoustic and folk music and is often accompanied by a rotating number of Canadian indie rock musicians, such as Daniel Romano and Spencer Burton of Attack in Black. The name City and Colour comes from his own name: Dallas, a city, and Green, a colour. His reasoning for the name was that he felt queasy "putting the album out under the name Dallas Green".^[1] Green said that he had been writing material since he was around the age of 14.^[1] Regarding the songs released on his first album, Sometimes, Green said that he had been writing material for it as early as when he was 16 years old, and finished writing songs for it in 2005.^[1]

History

Sometimes (2005–2007)

Green began releasing City and Colour songs on the Internet for fans to download. Eventually, he compiled and rewrote several of these songs to make his first album, Sometimes. The full length debut was released on November 1, 2005 to a good reception, described by one reviewer as "dynamically gentle and vulnerable".^[2] The cover art was designed by Scott McEwan, in a tattoo-esque style; Green "still may decide to have some of them inked at a later point in time".^[3]

Green indicated that his view that the "best music for [him] is sad music", influenced the type of songs he created. He also said that he "love[s] music to sort of escape to" and the idea of sad music that people could identify with. Green said of the album that, "a lot of those songs are written on some of the experiences I've been through and stuff and that’s just how I deal with it. I just write songs when I’m bummed out and I feel happier."^[3] Sometimes was re-released on Vagrant Records on January 13, 2009, which was the first time the album was available in physical form in the United States.

Bring Me Your Love (2008–2009)

Bring Me Your Love is Dallas' second full-length album. It was released on February 12, 2008 and features a wide array of instruments not used on his previous recordings (such as harmonica, banjo, drums and lap steel) giving it a more folk-influenced sound. The album also features collaborations with other musicians, such as Canadian musician Gordon Downie of Tragically Hip on the track "Sleeping Sickness", and additional instrumentals done by Matt Sullivan and the members of Attack in Black. The lead single, "Waiting...", was released on Green's official MySpace page for the first time featuring a "making of" video.

The album is named after a short story by Charles Bukowski. It is also a line sung in the closing track, "As Much As I Ever Could." Green has stated in interviews that he has troubles writing a lot of his lyrics and he saw Charles Bukowski's book in a book store while on tour with Alexisonfire and adopted the title for his new album.

On September 26, 2008, City and Colour embarked on their first American tour, in support of Bring Me Your Love.^[4] On the tour, the band supported Tegan and Sara along with Girl in a Coma. This tour was followed by a headlining tour of the US in January 2009, with support from William Elliott Whitmore. In October 2008, Dine Alone Records announced a special 2-disc limited edition of Bring Me Your Love to be released on December 2, 2008. Only 6,000 copies are available; 5,000 in North America and 1,000 in Australia.^[5] In Canada, when the record label put up the album on pre-sale on November 20, 2008, so many fans tried to pre-order it that the store's website crashed.

Little Hell (2010–2012)

In January 2010, City and Colour embarked on an additional US headlining tour, again supporting Bring Me Your Love, with supporting act Lissie, and an additional UK tour in June 2010, supporting P!nk, along with Butch Walker, along with a few headlining dates. On these tours, Dallas Green has performed two new songs by the titles of "Silver and Gold" and "Oh Sister", as well as a couple of never-played-before covers - "Murderer", originally by Low, and "Grinnin' In Your Face", originally by Son House. In an interview with Alter the Press, Green has revealed that he has written a bunch of new songs and he just needs to record them for his next record, hinting on a possible early 2011 release date for his third studio album. He said that there are 15 songs that he really likes and he expects around 10 to appear on his next album.^[6]

On September 2, 2010, it was announced on MTV News Canada that Dallas had been in the studio with Polaris Prize nominee Shad working on a remix of a Shad song as well as an original song to be released as a 12" vinyl single. Dallas was quoted as saying "I've always wanted to be the Mary J. Blige to somebody's Method Man". The remix is to Shad's song "Listen" from his latest album TSOL, and the new song that Dallas co-wrote is entitled "Live Forever".^[7] On September 30, 2010, it was announced that Dallas Green planned to start recording his third studio album in January 2011, after demoing 14 songs.^[7] "There are a lot of musically unusual songs." Green has said about the record, "There's a lot more piano on these songs, keyboards and stuff. And there are a couple of songs almost I would say a bit rockin', if that makes any sense, not in a heavy metal kind of way, but just a little bit more upbeat than what you're used to hearing from me."^[7]

On November 9, 2010, Dallas announced via Twitter that he would be releasing a new single on iTunes called "At the Bird's Foot" which will be on a compilation album called Gasoline Rainbows, which also features new songs by such artists as Damien Rice and Amy Kuney. The song was written by Dallas in response to the oil spill in the Gulf. All proceeds from the album will go directly to Global Green USA.^[8][9] "At the Bird's Foot" was first made available for 48-hour streaming on the Gasoline Rainbows Myspace page on November 23, 2010, and features Amanda Zelina of the band The Coppertone on vocals.^[10] In an interview with Reverb Magazine's Sean Frazer, Green spilled news of an upcoming 2011 album release, saying "Hopefully I am going to start recording in January so I'm hoping that there will be another album by next Summer/Spring."

On February 15, 2011 Green performed a specially recorded version of "Northern Wind" on the Valentine's Day episode of One Tree Hill.^[11] On February 23, 2011, it was officially announced on the Dine Alone Records website that City and Colour's third album will be titled Little Hell and is set for release in June 2011.^[12] On March 23, 2011, the official track listing was posted on City and Colour's official website. Release date for the album was set to June 7, 2011. In an interview with Radar Radio's Reegan McLaughlin, Green said 'I look at people like Bob Dylan back in the day and he'd have pages of lyrics and would have to decide out of seven, eight of nine verses which three were the best. I think to myself, I have to struggle to get two verses I am happy with in a song' Green also said 'I think melodies come relatively easy to me because I've been singing so long but lyrics, it's a battle to get to a point when I am happy with a song.'^[13]

On March 27, 2011, City and Colour performed Neil Young's "Old Man" as part of the four song tribute to Toronto during the Juno Awards of 2011. On April 5, 2011, "Fragile Bird", the first single off Little Hell was released to the radio. The song had its world premiere on Australian radio station Triple J, where the band was touring a sold out tour at the time. The single became City and Colour's highest charting single, reaching No. 1 on the Canadian rock/alternative chart.^[14] City and Colour has been announced to be performing as part of The Voodoo Experience 2011, which is held at City Park in New Orleans, Louisiana on October 28–30. On August 5, 2011, Alexisonfire announced their break-up. George Pettit wrote a message on the band's official website saying Dallas had been planning to leave to focus on City and Colour, as balancing the two bands had become too difficult.

As of November 2012, Green is back in the studio recording the follow up to Little Hell.^[15]

On December 17, Biffy Clyro announced that City and Colour would be the main support on their massive 2013 arena tour, in support of their new album.

The Hurry and the Harm (2013)

City and Colour announced the release of the new album entitled The Hurry and the Harm to be released on June 4, 2013. The song "Of Space and Time" was released on March 11, 2013 prior to the announcement of the new album. The track listing includes 12 songs; the special iTunes deluxe version, available for pre-order in April, will include 3 extra tracks for a total of 15 new songs. The song "Thirst" was released on April 1, 2013 on City and Colour's Soundcloud page. The album was unofficially leaked on May 22, 2013. The album cover shows Dallas Green's face which felt weird for him, since he always wanted his music about his songs and not about himself.^[16]

Band members

• Dallas Green – lead vocals, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, banjo, harmonica, piano, drums, percussion

Other backup band members

Current touring lineup:

• Jack Lawrence – bass guitar (The Dead Weather/The Raconteurs/The Greenhornes)
• Doug MacGregor – drums (The Constantines)
• Matt Kelly - pedal steel, organ, pianos (Yukon Blonde)
• Dante Schwebel - guitar (Hacienda)

The following musicians have appeared as recording artists on the album Bring Me Your Love and have also toured with Dallas Green as backing musicians.

• Spencer Burton – bass guitar, mandolin, backing vocals
• Daniel Romano – lap steel, organ, guitar, drums, backing vocals
• Jordan Mitchell – backing vocals (The Rest)
• Anna Jarvis – cello (The Rest)
• Casey Baker – rhythm guitar (Casey Baker & the Buffalo Sinners/ex- Sleeper Set Sail)
• Nicholas Osczypko – keyboards, percussion
• Dylan Green – drums (Raising the Fawn)
• Scott Remila – bass guitar, rhythm guitar, backing vocals (Raising the Fawn)
• Haris Cehajic – bass guitar, rhythm guitar
• Aaron Goldstein – pedal steel, organ

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Album details	Peak positions						Certifications
		CAN	AUS	UK	US	US Heat	US Indie
2005	Sometimes Release Date: November 1, 2005 Label: Dine Alone Records/Vagrant Records	—	—	—	—	—	—	CAN: Platinum[17]
2008	Bring Me Your Love Release Date: February 12, 2008 Label: Dine Alone Records/Vagrant Records	3	31	—	—	11	35	CAN: Platinum[18]
2011	Little Hell Release Date: June 7, 2011 Label: Dine Alone Records/Vagrant Records	1	2	43	28	—	7	CAN: Platinum[19]
2013	The Hurry and the Harm Release Date: June 4, 2013 Label: Dine Alone Records/Cooking Vinyl	1	4	32	16	—	—	CAN: Gold[20]

Live albums

Date of Release	Title	Label
2004	Simple Songs	N/A
2005	The Death of Me	Dine Alone Records
2005	Missing EP	Dine Alone Records
2008	Live Session EP (iTunes Exclusive)	iTunes Exclusive
2008	The MySpace Transmissions	Vagrant Records/Dine Alone Records/MySpace Records
2010	Live at the Verge	Vagrant Records
2010	Live at the Orange Lounge EP[21]	Vagrant Records/Dine Alone Records
2011	iTunes Live: SXSW (Live in Austin, TX/2011)	iTunes Exclusive
2012	Covers, Pt.2	Dine Alone Records

Date of Release	Title	Label
2007	Live	Dine Alone Records
2012	Europe 2011	Indigo Records

Singles

Song	Year	Chart peak				Certifications	Album
		CAN [22]	CAN Alt [23][24][25]	CAN Rock [26][27][28]	UK [29]
"Save Your Scissors"	2005	—	10	36	—		Sometimes
"Comin' Home"	2006	—	12	×	—
"Like Knives"	2007	—	×	×	—		Live
"Waiting..."	2008	32	9	21	—		Bring Me Your Love
"Sleeping Sickness"		59	7	15	—	MC: Gold[30]
"The Girl"	2009	—	27	×	195
"Fragile Bird"	2011	48	1	11	—		Little Hell
"Weightless"		—	3	13	—
"The Grand Optimist"	2012	85	4	44	—
"Thirst"	2013	51	1	9	—		The Hurry and the Harm
"Of Space and Time"		—	—	—	—
"The Lonely Life"		—	6	25	—
"Harder Than Stone"	2014	—	—	—	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart. "×" denotes periods where charts did not exist or were not archived.

Awards and nominations

2006 MuchMusic Video Awards

• Nominated for Best Pop Video for "Save Your Scissors"
• Nominated for Best Independent Video for "Save Your Scissors"
• Won Peoples Choice: Favourite Artist for "Save Your Scissors"

2008 MuchMusic Video Awards

• Nominated for Peoples Choice: Favourite Artist for "Waiting..."

Chart magazine

• 2006 Artist of the Year

Juno Awards

City and Colour has been nominated for seven Juno Awards and won three.^[31]

Year	Award	Result
2007	Alternative Album of the Year for Sometimes	Won
2009	Songwriter of the Year for "Waiting...", "Sleeping Sickness" and "The Girl"	Won
	Artist of the Year	Nominated
2012	Songwriter of the Year for "Fragile Bird", "We Found Each Other" and "Weightless"	Won
	Artist of the Year	Nominated
	Fan Choice Award	Nominated
	Single of the Year for "Fragile Bird"	Nominated

References

External links

• Official website
• City and Colour at AllMusic
• City and Colour at Vagrant Records
• Interview with Dallas Green from PUNKVIDEOSROCK
• City and Colour on Pure Volume
• The Hurry and the Harm Review on HonestBlue

v t e City and Colour Dallas Green Studio albums Sometimes Bring Me Your Love Little Hell The Hurry and the Harm Live albums Live Europe 2011 EPs The Death of Me Missing EP The MySpace Transmissions Live Session EP (iTunes Exclusive) Singles "Save Your Scissors" "Comin' Home "Like Knives" "Waiting..." "Sleeping Sickness" "The Girl" "Fragile Bird" "Weightless" "The Grand Optimist" "Thirst" "The Lonely Life" "Harder Than Stone" Featured singles "Wavin' Flag" Labels Dine Alone Vagrant Related articles Alexisonfire Attack In Black