We Are The City are exactly the type of band that I look for. Fresh, new music, coming from a group of guys young enough to be experiencing the grueling industry for the first time. I think that they might even like it.

They recently notched their first full-length, first national tour, first music video, and experienced their first time seeing the country we live in through the window of a Toyota 1988 Land Cruiser. This will also be their first time playing a Toronto venue outside of a music festival.

When I first got Cayne McKenzie (lead vocals, piano) on the line, he didn't even know where he was...

"Yeah, we're in... uh... you know what? I'm not really sure. We're about two hours away from Thunder Bay, if that helps. We were going in and out of [cell phone] service and we knew you'd be calling so we've just pulled over."

The three-piece Kelowna band have known each other for some time. Although all are just 19 years old now, Cayne and David Menzel (guitars) have know each other since grade 3. They began jamming in grade 8, and producing what Cayne calls "bad, horrible music. The worst. Like a cross between POD and U2."

Ugh!

They met Andrew Huculiak (drums) a couple years later and began taking songwriting very seriously, but they were determined to do it well.

"All of us are very stubborn and because we make it a three-part music writing process our songs take a long time to come out. It obviously depends on the song, but here's an extreme case: since we recorded [the full-length, In A Quiet World] we have one new song. And we recorded in October, 2008."

The upside is the resulting debut full-length disc that they are currently touring to promote. The 11-song album is an indie album worth listening to. Cayne's voice is very mature for his age and the songs are crafted beautifully; not a wasted track worth mentioning.

The band took the time and booked an entire cross-country tour and are currently traveling across Canada for the first time. The tour will be West-heavy, with a few Ontario dates, and only one East Coast date scheduled in Charlottetown. Up until now, they have never embarked on any tour so grand.

"We really haven't. This tour has been our first anywhere really. We've done a few smaller one around B.C., but this will be our first time playing in Toronto... well besides Canadian Music Week, I guess."

During this year's CMW, the boys were lucky enough to open for Mother Mother and played to a packed venue.

"The place was at capacity and there were people on the streets even. We're not even sure if anyone will remember us from it, but it was still pretty incredible."

On Wednesday, September 30th We Are The City will play Rancho Relaxo for the first time. But probably not the last.

Photo courtesy of Must Be Santa.