Introducing: The City Calls

Shiny happy south coast pop punk anyone? Then look no further than Southampton five-piece The City Calls.

Since forming in 2009, the band have already achieved quite a lot. Support slots for bands such as Futures, Twenty Twenty and The Mission District, sold out headline shows in their home-town and even a slot on the bill at 2010’s Glastonbury Festival. “To play at one of the most prestigious, famous and biggest festivals in the world was an honour and I think we all cherish a damn good memory from it” said front man Lucas.  

After releasing their debut EP ‘Dirty Tricks’ last summer, the band have already finished  recording a follow up which will be released later this year. Lucas said; “We recently finished up in the studio and we are super excited to get the final mixes and get the record out to the public. It's a big step for us. We put a lot of time, heart and practice into these songs and its sounding great.”

Writing their pop-punk anthems is a structured process for The City Calls. “Scotty (guitar/vocals) will write out chord progressions, some lead lines and a structure for the song and we'll go through it all with two guitars until we're happy with it all” said Lucas; “I'll then spend a few days listening to a demo of the song and collecting melody ideas and start writing the lyrics. Then we take to the rehearsal room and make it sound as big as possible.”

New single ‘Truth Or Dare’ is effortlessly infectious with a teenage angst fuelled chorus and plenty of sing-a-long moments. It’s also accompanied by a suitably sunny and fun-packed video. The band have a quintessential You Me At Six vibe and also list Blink 182, All Time Low and New Found Glory among their influences. However, Lucas adds; “We could get into Scotty's love for The Police and John's (drums) love for Muse.”

Fans of the video blog, the band have several tour and studio diaries on YouTube, allowing the fans to see what they are getting up to. “When we’re not making music, we're normally out there letting people know about the band, working on other things that help the band grow: Merchandise, Promotion, Partying” said Lucas.

The band start touring the UK on April 15^th so if you’re partial to a bit of energetic pop-punk - as well as colourful hoodies and the sweepy fringe - then look out for them in town near you.

The City Calls - Truth Or Dare from iammightyrecords on Vimeo.

Top 5 Websites: Driving You To Distraction

3000 words to go on that important assignment? An entire textbook to read for a crucial exam? Don’t worry about it, the internet is way more interesting.

The internet is an amazing thing. It makes selling and buying over priced rubbish easier. It enables us to contact people who we have forgotten why we stopped talking to in the first place. And it puts a whole host of incorrect information right at your fingertips. But the internet also comes in handy for providing a welcome distraction from ‘important work’. Here is a selection of the best time wasting sites…

1. FML.com

Think your life sucks? Well log on to fml.com to be proved completely wrong. An abbreviation of ‘F*** My Life’, the blog allows anyone to post anecdotes about their unfortunate experiences for the whole world to read. Each post starts with ‘Today,..’ and ends in ‘FML’. Whatever is in between can range from misfortunes that we can all recognise to the down-right absurd, laugh out loud cases of bad luck. How true they all are we cannot know, but they certainly make for an entertaining read.

2. Fail Blog

Similar to FML.com, Fail Blog also displays examples of hilarious misfortune, but this time in picture or video form. However, it’s not just failures that this site showcases. The occasional ‘Win’ slips through the net too. Fail Blog and its several sister sites have become hugely popular is recent years with many TV shows stealing their content for comedy material. So if you want to see unbelievable signs or inappropriate illustrations then you know what to do. For those of you who want something even more delightfully immature, I also recommend you check this out. *snigger*

3. 27bslash6

Who knew emails could be so amusing? Well, it seems David Thorne did. The Australian’s website features hilarious anecdotes from his life, but is most known for the email exchanges between himself and various acquaintances that show his extraordinary talent for sarcasm. Thorne’s work first became popular after the infamous spider drawing email that was once featured on Have I Got News For You and now has a massive following.

4. PostSecret

Everyone is at least a little bit nosey. And now there is a website for us to indulge our curiosity. PostSecret is an art project which enables people to unload their deepest secrets onto a postcard and send them in anonymously. The best ones are then posted onto the website for the whole world to see. The popularity of the site has grown and grown and American rock band All-American Rejects famously used some of the postcards in their music video for ‘Dirty Little Secret’. The ultimate confession.

5. =3

And finally, since 2005 YouTube has been making sure we never get bored on the internet. But we can’t possibly be expected to trawl through all of the videos of skateboarding dogs and old people falling over to find those hilarious gems. Well luckily there is someone who has kindly done all the leg - or mouse - work for us. Video blogger Ray William Johnson reviews the funniest videos on the net and packages them all in a little programme called =3. Viewers also have the chance to get involved via the ‘Comment Question of the Day’. Get ready for LOLs aplenty.