City And Colour | Interview

Story by Jacob Fricke 

| Published Nov 8, 2011

For more than five years, Dallas Green lived a life with a musically split personality. He concurrently toured and recorded with the hardcore punk band, Alexisonfire, and his acoustic solo project, City and Colour.

Since his musical advent back in 2001, Green has toured around the world with both of his groups. As Alexisonfire headlined punk festivals around the world, each group member formed side projects as a supplement for their creativity.

While the other members played music much in the same vein as their main band, Green released an album of solo acoustic songs. His vocals, powerful and in a high register, were heralded in the dark and loud Alexisonfire. When applied to his new project, they became the focal point of all his acclaim.

Haunting, quiet, and moving, 2005’s “Sometimes” was a massive and unexpected hit in his native Canada. It was released later in the US, to similar acclaim. Many of Green’s new fans had no idea of his aggressive musical origins.

What followed was a life that successful musicians would both be envious of and have reservations about: two successful bands, constant work in the studio, and worldwide touring followed.

After two critically acclaimed City and Colour albums and two similarly heralded Alexisonfire albums, Green made a decision. Late 2010 saw him leave Alexisonfire, and the band broke up almost a year later.

Now Green is touring in support of his third City and Colour album, “Little Hell.” It was lauded for a more diverse sound, influenced by blues and country, when released in June.

While the words ‘subtle’ and ‘stirring’ have been applied to his music, they apply just as much to the man himself. Read on as he speaks about the creative process, seeing the future, and why he actually doesn’t hate Lincoln, Nebraska.

Dailyer Nebraskan: “Little Hell,” your third studio album, came out in June. How was creating and recording it different than your first two?

Dallas Green: Much different, actually. The first record I made was literally me, a guitar, and two days in the studio recording a bunch of songs I happened to have. I had written them from the time I was 16 years old, and at the time I was 22. It was a collection of songs, and I never imagined it would become anything other than just that. With the second record, I went to a studio with a bunch of songs and made a record like you usually do.

This record I actually recorded on tape. That was an interesting experience. A fun one.

DerN: Did recording on tape make it more difficult?

DG: I don’t want to say ‘difficult.’ It was a little more challenging, just because I had always made records with Pro Tools. Not to say that I used all the tricks, but it’s just a lot quicker. When you want to move on to another instrument, you just load up a new track.

With tape, to put things together you have to cut the tape, flip things over, and be a lot more precise unless you just want to sit and waste time.

DerN: Did you purposely strive to make the album with a more blues feel?

DG: I didn’t necessarily try to do that. I think that reviews, and journalism in general, always try to write something about your record because it’s their job to try and describe it to people.

I just write songs that make me happiest, and record them. I listen to the blues a lot, but I don’t know if I went into the record thinking, “I need to make the sound more bluesy.” I didn’t put pedal steel on a couple songs because I wanted to make it more country-sounding. I put pedal steel on because I think it is one of the most beautiful instruments that there is.

DerN: Did your split from Alexisonfire inspire any of the songs on the record?

DG: Almost all of the songs I had written before I had made that decision. The band just officially broke up a couple months ago, but I had already told the guys that I was going to leave about a year ago. When I was making the record, I had already in my mind ‘quit the band.’

I didn’t harbor any ill will towards the guys; it was just something I had to do. I wanted to focus my attention on this. I didn’t find anything coming out of me regarding that situation.

DerN: Do you build songs by yourself with an acoustic guitar, or are they constructed with a full band in mind?

DG: I wrote them all on acoustic guitar. What I do then is demo other instruments. I would record a drum track, and then play the bass line over it, and then play guitar over that. I build the song myself, until I have an idea set in stone what it should be. Then I show it to the guys in my band who help me flesh it out that way. It is sort of a solitary process.

DerN: You’ve been a professional musician for a decade, and City and Colour is the largest thing you’ve ever been a part of. Is it ever strange to see yourself as a ‘celebrity?’

DG: Oh yeah, it’s strange. Every time I read about myself, or even every time I do an interview like this, I feel a little strange. Talking about myself isn’t my favorite part of the job. I know that it does come along with being a musician. If you want people to come see you, you have to talk about it to get people interested.

Yesterday I was sitting on my couch watching television, and just flipping through the channels. Going through the music channels I saw that my latest music video was on. It was really weird.

Performing is what I look forward to. I don’t play music so I can take pictures and talk about myself, nor so I can spend my whole life traveling and being in a different city every night. I play music because it is the best part of my day. Thankfully, I have that part of my day to look forward to, to get me through all the rest of it.

DerN: Your current tour covers a large part of North America and about three months of time. Is that a daunting prospect?

DG: I think if I was younger, it might be. But this is literally my eleventh year of touring like this. For the last five years, I’ve been doing this for two bands at the same time. It’s comforting and a little scary to know that I can look on the internet and see where I’ll be on February 17th of next year. It’s almost like knowing the future.

DerN: The Dailyer is based in Lincoln, Nebraska…

DG: It’s funny, I thought for a second, “wow, he’s not going to ask me about it…”

DerN: Yes, I have to. Why, on your song “Coming Home,” is one of the lyrics, “I've been to Lincoln, Nebraska/and hell you know it ain't worth shit…”

DG: Sometimes, in songwriting, you need certain things to rhyme. And I had had a day in Lincoln, Nebraska that was just one of those bad days you have on tour. Sometimes on tour you question yourself and why you’re doing this. You question if you should be putting yourself through this. I had one of those days in Lincoln, Nebraska.

It’s like when you get mad at your sister and tell her you hate her, but the next day you say, “no I don’t, I love you.” I, of course, as musician will have that live on forever.

No offense though, there’s a lot of shitty places in the world. My hometown is not much better.

DerN: And I have to imagine it’s hard to rhyme ‘Alaska’ with anything?

DG: Correct.

City and Colour plays the Slowdown in Omaha on November 13th. Tickets are $25