Bands face many hurdles while on tour, but the members of As Cities Burn have been traveling for so long they flow straight through it. As Cities Burn consists of four members who have attended or graduated from the University. The band released its second CD on Aug. 14 with its most recent label, Velvet Hammer, and has been on tour for the past two weeks. This is its third tour with the addition of new guitarist, Chris Lott. “The rest of us have been together for five years,” said Colin Kimble, University psychology alumnus. “We’ve been everywhere around the United States, as well as Puerto Rico.” After booking their own tours for many years, the band signed with the agency, who is based in Los Angeles. “Our old manager asked a guy named Chad Johnson, who manages the Deftones, to come and see our show in Seattle,” Kimble said. “Back then, it was just us booking our own tours, setting up for a show, taking down for the shows. We did almost everything ourselves.” Kimble jokingly said he didn’t think the label liked their music very much, but it signed the band because it was impressed with the amount of work the band members put into it. Now, on the band’s third tour within a year, the members are like a family. “We are all best friends,” Kimble said. “You have to like each other or you will kill each other.” As the fan base has grown, so has the band’s touring luxuries. “We have been on the road for so long that we have met a lot of people who just invite us to sleep at their houses,” Kimble said. “We hate hotels, so sleeping at an old friend’s house is our preferred way to go. The band members travel in a large van with seven people. As they travel from Florida to California, they fill their time with sleep and episodes of “The Office.” “A lot of the time we aren’t doing too much,” Lott said. “But it’s fun, you know, doing nothing in particular.” As for role models, Lott said the Beatles and Neil Young have given the band much inspiration. “I feel as if they go outside what everyone is thinking and try to do something completely different,” he said. “And that is what we try to do.” Lott describes the band as “art rock” and said he would love to be compared to bands like Radiohead. Kimble contributes a lot of the band’s success to its fans in Baton Rouge. “Baton Rouge was a huge part of helping us get out and start touring,” he said. “We got a little fan following there and we were able to make a little money to start a tour.” He added that North Gate Tavern, when it was Ichibod’s, was a primary concert arena for them to play when they were attending the University. Neither Lott nor Kimble expect to hit number one on the Billboard charts, but neither of them mind. “We are able to pay our bills and stay on the road. That’s what matters now because I’m married and some of the other guys are engaged,” Kimble said. Lott said he does not think it will be a huge band, but believes in the band’s fan base, whom they hold a tremendous respect for. The members said they don’t like being far away from their loved ones for so long, but the distance has its perks. “It’s kind of a good thing to just get away from the standard life,” Lott said. “It forces you to live like a hippie for a month.” Kimble offered some advice for those who aspire to enter the music business. “You have to give your all, or this business will eat you alive,” he said. “You never know if you will have a sudden burst of popularity and then crash. You have to love what you are doing.” As a constantly touring band, As Cities Burn consider themselves professionals who love their job. “Playing music is exactly what we want to do. This is our life,” Kimble said. “We don’t make a ton of money, but we love our lives and we love our jobs.”
—-Contact Ashley Norsworthy at [email protected]