An Interview With The Minnesota Rock Group, CITY OF THE WEAK!

City of the Weak are a young, energetic, Minneapolis-based rock group ready to take over the world.   Their first full length album PULLING TEETH was released on June 22nd.  City of the Weak is made up members, Stef w/ an F – Vocals, Brent Lindblad – Guitars and Cody Hoffman – Bass.

City of the Weak captures a modern rock ‘n roll sound that is so perfectly defined, combining catchy pop melodies with aggressive guitar riffs and moving bass lines to create a genre of their own. They are best known for their intensity and passion on stage, as well as their fearless personalities off the stage.

The band had previous released White Fire Alarm (EP) in 2013, Disclosure (EP) in 2014, Censor This (Single) in 2016, Ungrateful (Single) in 2017 and Pardon Me (Single) in 2018.

Connect With City of The Weak Here:

https://cityoftheweak.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/cityoftheweak/
https://twitter.com/CityoftheWeak
https://www.instagram.com/cityoftheweak/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChFoSo_gJ3Fv11SQPkzMx7Q
https://www.vevo.com/artist/city-of-the-weak

Learn more about City of The Weak in the following All Access interview:

(STEF w/an F answered the questions)

So how has 2018 been treating you all? What is one musical goal that you have had for this year & how close are you to reaching it? 

2018 has been great! We kicked off the year with the “Turn it To 11” Tour with Echo Black. There was a lot of really great shows on that tour. Then we did Rocklahoma & World’s Largest Brat Fest, and we are currently on the “Pulling Teeth” Tour in celebration of our new album. The musical goal we had was to release the album this summer & we have accomplished that! Now on to touring as much as possible this year! 

Can you recall the moment when you thought you could be in this group together? Has anything surprised you about it all so far? 

Well I started the band, so I’ve always known. This life is so full of surprises. You never really know what’s going to happen, good or bad. Probably thought I’d have a lot more money than I do now lol. But I’m having fun & building a lifelong career, so that’s all that really matters. 

How difficult was it to come up with your band name? What other names were you considering? 

It was hard- we sat in my apartment for days just trying to come up with a name. We had a few others up for consideration- Taking the Saint, Conquer the City, Day of the Weak. 

How do you think your hometown has influenced the sound & how you all carry yourselves in this group? If you don’t think that it has, why is that? 

I think our hometown has influenced our sound. Minneapolis/ St. Paul is bursting with culture, & I write our lyrics based on what I see and hear around me. Minneapolis is a very liberal, tolerant city with so many people of different races, religion, lifestyles, etc. & we are always learning from people that are different than we are. When you are with people who are different than yourself, you see things from their point of view, which is always a mind-opening experience. 

What does it feel like to be about t o release your debut full-length album, “Pulling Teeth”? What was it like putting this collection together? Did anything surprise you about the overall process? Why did it take so long to put together an entire album? 

It feels great obviously! We are excited to share what we have been working on. So far the reaction from press has been great! It’s cool to see everyone’s take on the album, & what they really love about it. 

How do you think your sound has grown over the years and since your first EP was released in 2013? 

It’s grown a lot. I mean, we were teenagers when we recorded it, so the things that really matter to you as a person change over time. Obviously practicing our songwriting over the last 5 years has helped us grow enormously. We have learned a lot of life lessons & our music reflects that. 

Where do you think you are all happiest- in the studio recording new music, on stage performing, or elsewhere? 

We really enjoy being on the road- I feel like it brings the music to life, & puts faces with the people who interact with us on social media. Seeing people in person being really excited about your music & your art makes it real. But it’s also where the hardships happen, being on the road is extremely difficult, when it rains it pours. But those challenges only make you stronger.

Do you have any upcoming tour dates this summer that you would like to tell our readers about?

We always have dates coming in, right now we have a few one offs for the summer, and then mid-August we will be back on the road full time in support of “Pulling Teeth.” If people want to get updates on us, they can track us on Bandsintown, which will then email them when we are coming to their town. Or they can subscribe to our mailing list from our website, cityoftheweakofficial.com 

How do you think being musicians and in this band gives you all the most joy in life today? 

Meeting the people who are inspired by us actually inspires us the most. Also being able to express ourselves creatively with absolutely no limits is extremely liberating. The record we just released is 100% who we are, & it’s the best feeling in the world to say: “This is who we are, & we don’t care what you think.” Nothing compares to being yourself & not caring what the world thinks. 

We are currently living through a very trying and politically charged time right now so I am curious to know how your own music is reflecting this time period? If you don’t think it is, why is that? Would you say that other musicians are making music that has been influenced by this climate?

We were in the studio recording when the last election took place, so a lot of the political chaos kind of started after we were done writing. We are a very socially conscious band, we’ve written about very difficult subjects like child abuse, animal abuse, gay marriage, & more. We always try and be conscious about the fact that we have fans that come from all different backgrounds & beliefs, so any opinions that are reflected in our music must be extremely practical, tolerant, & topics that we are extremely educated about that we can truly stand behind. I think a lot of the chaos today comes from people not being educated on what they are talking about, mainly because with the internet it is extremely easy to warp & twist things to show a small piece of a story, instead of the whole truth. 

How important do you think social media has been to this band? Do all you help to maintain all your sites or is one of you more into it all? Ord o you rely on your PR/management team to handle it? 

Social media has been crucial in reaching & interacting with people around the globe. We all run our own social media sites. We have a tech team at Paystr who helped us build our new website, but the content is still maintained by us. We don’t have a management team, we are still very much DIY. 

Who would you love to work with in the future? Who are some of your favorite artists right now? What do you think would be a dream collaboration for this group?

We co-wrote “Drag Us Under” on our new record with Daniel Wonacott (Finch). That ended up being a really great fit, & everyone was excited with how the song turned out. We definitely plan on working with him again. Right now we are all kind of on an Eternity Forever kick. We’ve been jamming them in the van quite a bit this tour. 

If you guys were all going to be stranded on a deserted island, what musical item would you want to take with you and why?

Probably guitar? It’s portable, you can write songs with it, & we can all play it. 

What do you hope is the message of your music? What do you hope people continue to take away from your songs? 

We hope people continue to feel liberated to live their lives to their fullest potential. I hate seeing people stuck in unhappy relationships, jobs, or other situations. I want people to know that they are in control of their own lives, and I want them to follow their wildest dreams & take risks because life is much too short not to. 

Where can our readers connect with the group? 

They can follow us on Facebook, Instagram (@CityoftheWeak), Twitter (@CityoftheWeak), they can subscribe to our mailing list over at cityoftheweakofficial.com – we send out the emails ourselves. Also coming out to a show is probably the best way – we love hanging out with fans and have become good friends with some of them! 

Photography By Glam Tie Media