Interview City On The Make

City On The Make’s live shows are sweat-inducing dance parties fueled by Mischa Kegan’s bluesy, psychedelic guitar work; Stephen Rowe’s thick basslines; Colin Stumbras’ pounding drums; and Mike Massey’s roaring vocals. That might explain why the group’s new full-length is called Keep This On Fire, which whipsaws through blues, experimental post-punk, and jazz. Before its July 3 CD release show at Bedlam Theater, the group spoke to Decider about being broke, how Pro Tools is a Pandora's box, and why a $5 cover won't buy you art. [Editor's note: This show was rescheduled late Thursday night from its original venue, the 400 Bar.]

Decider: Keep This On Fire is a lot more layered than past City On The Make records. How did that come about?

Stephen Rowe: It was the time we took with it. When we first recorded those original tracks, I just thought it would be cool to fill out the space a little bit more. There were just little things where we’d do two guitar tracks: the main one and then some accompaniment. But then, when I got hold of Pro Tools, it just blew my mind.

Colin Stumbras: Pandora’s box opened. [Laughs.]

D: How do you work to create cohesion from so many different elements?

Mischa Kegan: Information is so fast these days—things get thrown around so quickly. People owe it to themselves. If you only listen to rap or you only listen to indie-rock, you know, “I don’t listen to X because I only listen Y.” That’s bullshit if you ask me. That’s so close-minded.

CS: A lot of what we do is taking something we’ve heard and liked, and twisting it into something that’s our own. When we sit down to write a tune, someone starts with an idea that's usually inspired by something we’ve heard, and that becomes a jumping-off point. That’s when it gets tangled.

SR: Yeah, when Mischa sits down with a line, it can be informed by music we'll all be instantly aware of—like, “This is kind of like John Fogerty!”—and you know how to play it because you’ve heard it before. And then you think, “Wouldn’t it be cool if we played this with a Black Sabbath bass line?”

D: You are known for long, high-energy sets. How has this new, slower material translated live?

SR: I think the time we took [crafting the live set after] this album was recorded really helped as far as how to play the songs like you mean it. If you can’t feel it, then you can’t play it live, but if you can’t play it live, then it shouldn’t be on the record. [Laughs.]

Mike Massey: I like playing long sets. You read about Springsteen in the '70s playing those Jersey Shore places for three, four hours, or you see someone at the Dakota and they play for three hours and bring the house down. I am interested in doing that. I have very little interest in doing 45-minute sets with five bands on the bill—and all of them splitting a $5 cover. That’s more of a scene than it is art, and I am much more attached to art than any particular scene.

D: Many of your songs deal with dissatisfaction about being broke and young. Why is that?

MK: Because our generation is so comfortable, because of the age, because of a million other related things. There’s not that protest-in-the-streets, burn-shit-down mentality that I think sometimes needs to be. And this goes into everything from politics to poverty to hunger to the music scene—about wanting to change the status quo, about not wanting to be the same all the time.

MM: I don’t want to project it like any of us are destitute. We’re all employed—we all grew up with food on the table—but we’re not on a safety net. We aren’t a hobby band. We’re not feeding ourselves with music, so we have to work.

CS: Not only are we not feeding ourselves with the music, but we often wind up paying to be able to do some of the things we do. I’m not complaining—we do it as a very conscious choice.

MM: The creative process is there for you even when you are broke.

"Chicks On Bikes," from City On The Make's previous disc, $1,000,000:

(You can listen to more of Keep This On Fire on the band's website.)