San Francisco's premier septet, Citay will perform alongside Rodeo Ruby Love and Cains and Abels this Saturday evening at The Bishop Bar. Reminiscent of 1960s Haight-Ashbury, their carefully-crafted sound is just as quick to turn into a rollicking jam session.
Check out some MP3s from their third release, Dream Get Together below as well as a q&a with the man behind the band, Ezra Feinberg.
Citay
+Rodeo Ruby Love, Cains & Abels
The Bishop (18+)
Saturday March 27
10 p.m.
$6
LIVE BUZZ: Both Citay's studio recordings and live performances have been described as meticulously planned and tight while also making great room for improvisation. How does the group achieve this balance? I read that Citay's recording process is very extensive and well-thought out. Can you describe how things worked for Dream Get Together?
EZRA FEINBERG: Really the same as the first two records! I demo everything while writing on garageband. I teach the rest of the band the parts they need to know, then we lay it all down from scratch in Tim Green's Louder Studios. Tim adds all that he adds - so much, all the right spices, just enough salt, and it comes out of the oven a Citay song.
LB: Have you been to Bloomington since Citay signed with Dead Oceans? What do you think of the town?
EF:Never been! SO PSYCHED!!! We can't wait. All the bands on the three labels always talk about how rad Bloomington is. And it'll be amazing to hang with all the peeps I email with all the time! We're stoked...
LB: Can you describe the Dream Get Together project, and why you picked those specific artists?
EF: The Dream Get Together project was all about getting other musicians to talk about music but in a fun and weird way, half homage, half creative writing project. I was a little concerned some of the bands might think it was nerdy, but the truth is that Citay is nerdy, we're all total music geeks, so it made sense for us to impose that on everyone. But all the bands who participated wrote amazing Dream Get Togethers! We were psyched.
LB:Are you still teaching at the San Francisco School of Rock? Did the students share a common taste in music, or did it vary?
EF: Warren our drummer teaches there and through him we've gotten a lot of kids at our shows. We love it cuz they're SO into the music, and the whole scene appears to blow their minds a little. The students there are all between 7-15 and they're just really open and excited to soak up all music.
LB: What was your own rock education like? When did you first start listening to and playing music?
EF: My rock education began after seeing "Rocky 3" when I was 6 years old. I made my mom buy me the soundtrack and I'd play air guitar to "Eye of the Tiger" while jumping up and down on my bed. After that I was hooked.
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LB: When did you first hear of Alex Chilton's death? I read a 2007 interview in which you described Big Star's live performance and the band's influence on Citay. Was that the last time you saw them live?
EF: People wrote me texts right when they found out, kind of like he was a friend of mine! I definitely shed a tear for him. His songs are so beautiful, and Big Star has been such an influence on Citay. I saw them only once, in 2007, and seeing those songs live was special. Alex Chilton's voice is somehow both powerful and fragile. And Jody Stephens is the perfect power pop drummer. It was exhilarating.
LB: What were some of the first artist deaths that you can remember made an impact on you as a musician?
Well of course Kurt Cobain was kind of generation-defining. But to be honest Alex Chilton's death has had the most significant impact on me. Discovering him in my late teens opened up so much about what songs could be, and I never stopped listening to Big Star.
(Alex Chilton)
-Stefania
