The City Veins

I am going to interrupt our normal scheduled brokenupness to point out that The City Veins have been nominated for a Wammie for best Modern Rock Duo/Group.

It occurs to me that I never thought to create an award tag.

I had to think a while about how to respond to Charles’ latest post.  While the majority of what Charles said is true, it’s slightly (okay, very much) infused with the wonderful wit, exageration, and self-deprecation we’ve all come to know and love from our resident curmudgeon.  So, here’s my take on our current situation - for what it’s worth.

First of all, no one is a bigger fan of this band, Charles, or Aaron than I am.  I knew as soon as I heard their homemade demo with lousy computer drums 2 years ago that this was the band I wanted to be in.  The songs were raw and inspired, the musicianship was thoughtful, tasteful, and powerful, and Aaron’s voice was (and is) a marvel.  I spent a good while looking for a new band after my last one had ended, and I knew right away that I had to be a part of what Aaron, Charles, and Adam were doing.

More than that, though, those guys were a delight to play with.  Some of my fondest memories of our brief time together are of playing in my basement to no audience with Aaron and Charles.  Aaron has not only one of the best male voices I’ve ever heard, but an innate understanding of vocal phrasing, melody, and sheer power.  Under other circumstances, I definitely think he could have been one of the all-time great rock vocalists.  His bass playing shouldn’t be overlooked either.  A guitarist for most of his life, Aaron somehow avoided the “playing the root note on the downbeat” trap that so often snares converted guitarists playing bass, and came up with some incredibly interesting stuff (the song “In the Sky”, which is in 9/8 time and which Aaron wrote, is proof positive of that).  On top of that, he was the anchor of the band, and the only reason Charles and I were able to jam so effectively in concert was because Aaron always laid a perfect foundation.

Charles will deflect praise and hide behind humor, but he’s a beast.  A natural music freak if there ever was one.  He has a true “feel” for music, and is perfect at coming up with exactly what a song needs - both as a as a musician and a producer.  He agonizes over details, but that’s ok because 1) he’s smarter than most of us, 2) his agony usually leads to brilliance, and 3) when he occassionally does let go and improvise, he rips shit up.  On top of that, he’s got far more technical ability than he’d ever tell anyone.  Guitarists tend to have large egos and so-so abilities; Charles is the polar opposite.  If he had half the swagger that is deserved for his abilities, he’d be the cockiest guy you’d know.  Of course, then he wouldn’t be Charles.

As for the band’s sort-of “demise,” a couple of thoughts.  Charles is off base when he says we weren’t succesful.  We definitely had our share.  We played at Ft. Reno and got praised by Ian MacKaye and Ted Leo.  Our CD “Cracks in the Floor” exceeded everyone’s expectations, including our own (in fact, it was kind of difficult to move on from, because we couldn’t quite get that magic back, at least not in our own self-critical minds), and received some very nice reviews (none more so than from Amanda Mattos at dcist.com, to whom we owe a world of gratitude).  And we had some (key word = some) shows at which the crowd size and/or enthusiasm delighted and surprised us.  Those things we’ll never forget.

So what happened? Life, I guess.  Aaron’s now engaged and house-shopping.  For a while there we were all buried in work.  And through all of that, the band took a back seat.  When we did have shows, we didn’t promote as well as we could or should have, nor did we particularly “hustle” to sell CDs or sign up people on the mailing list.

Most bands that “make it” nowadays are either phenomenal self-promoters, relentlessy hard-working, or fortuitously connected (or all three).  We’re not any of those things.  We are 3 guys (formerly 4) who simply love playing together and making music we enjoy.  We mostly hate doing that other stuff (the marketing, the “viral” online promotion game, the selling of things, the press releases, the networking, etc.) that it takes to become a more popular band.  Hats off to bands who are good at those things.  Having tried them, I have a world of respect for you.  But that’s not why we formed the band, and it’s certainly not what kept us going as one.  Ironically, though, our inability to do those things did kind of contribute to our current state.  However, I still hold my head up knowing that we accomplished some pretty remarkable things in less than 2 years for how crappy we are at self-promotion, which I take as a testament to our chemistry, live show, and actual music.  It sounds like a self-serving excuse, but I think I’d always rather be in a band that makes great music and gets along than one that makes forgettable music and is good at promotion (of which there is no shortage, both DC and nationwide).

So where does that leave us?  For now, I’d say on a well-deserved break (length TBD).

My most heartfelt thanks and deepest appreciation for each and every one of you that helped make this a truly enjoyable 2 years.  Every one who came to a show (or several), bought a CD, paid us a compliment, posted a comment on our MySpace or blog, or promoted us to your friends.  You made this all worthwhile, and you are the reason we have no regrets.

Well, it has been more than a week since our show at Iota. For those who don’t know, that was our last concert.

The question has been “why are you breaking up?” Basically, we can’t seem to write any new music, we can’t seem to develop a fan base, which mean that we can’t get better concerts. Also, no one wants to buy/download/steal/listen to our album.

So a better question may be, “why did you stay together for so long while obviously failing at every aspect of being in a band?” Well, we really like playing together. We get along well, and have had a lot of fun. The problem was that once work started getting in the way, and we had been playing the same music for so long, concerts just were not fun anymore.

The positives are that we all still get along, and we played a great show at Iota for our last concert. This is better than when Roosevelt Roosevelt broke up, and we played our last concert at Zig’s and didn’t talk to each other for months. I still don’t really talk with half of that band, and I was so angry with Aaron that he moved to England for a year to escape my wrath. Compared to that, this is a lot better.

Still, it is sad when a band breaks up.

Keep your eye out here for some .mp3s that didn’t make the CD that no one cares about. Also, I imagine that if any of us get a new gig, we will post details here.

Thank you to everyone who came out to see us, played with us, supported us, etc. It was fun.

If you have any inclination to ever see the City Veins play live, you should probably make your way over to Iota on Monday.

It has been a while since I have been over here. I really wish I could write more, I am brimming with brilliance, but alas I don’t have the time. That is sorta the default condition of this band at this point. No one has the time.

That said, despite being busy, Spencer managed to find time to talk to the good folks at MSNBC about where to find good music.

The answer is iTunes of course. Add to the $10.00 in royalties that is already waiting for us!