Source: Promo Image / Andrew Swartz
We don’t know about you, but we’re super stoked about the fact that Citizen will be returning to our shores this month. The Michigan/ Ohio band will be making appearances at Reading & Leeds Festival this year. Luckily, they’ve also thrown in a handful intimate dates in Cardiff, Southampton, Brighton and London alongside support act Big Jesus. In anticipation of the band’s return, we had a brief chat with guitarist Nick Hamm. Find out what to expect from these upcoming shows.
MOSH: How has 2016 been for Citizen so far?
NH: It’s been really cool. We wrapped up the best tour we’ve ever done, so it was a really exciting year.
MOSH: What have you been occupying yourself with since the last time you were in the UK?
NH: Immediately after that tour, we did a tour with Turnover in America. Besides that, really just relaxing. We haven’t had a real break in a while. I suppose this still really isn’t one, but i’ve been taking it easy.
MOSH: So you’re about to head back here for Reading & Leeds as well as a number of intimate gigs. How do you feel?
NH: We’re actually without our drummer Jake for this run. Title Fight has graciously lent us Ben to play for these shows so I’m a bit nervous! Jake is my man. I love Ben though and I’m sure he’s going to be great.
MOSH: What can fans expect from these upcoming UK shows?
NH: We’re just going to smash out a really cool, balanced set. No frills. Just badass shows. Plus we’ve got Big Jesus so that’s going to be great.
MOSH: What is your favourite song to play live at the moment?
NH: My favorite song to play is definitely Ten.
MOSH: Quite some time has passed since you released Everybody Is Going To Heaven. Is there new material in the works?
NH: Yeah, we’ve been writing LP3 for a while now actually. It’s the best stuff we’ve ever written. Everyone is super excited about.
MOSH: With how different your previous album was in comparison to your debut album, what is the next step sonically for you as a band?
NH: It’s again going to be a shift. We’ll never put out the same album twice. I really like what we’ve been exploring for this record. There’s some songs I wish we could just play live now. Really fun ones.
MOSH: Which artists/ records have you been listening to lately?
NH: The new Unified Right promo tape, Nicole Dollanganger, and been on a huge Beatles Please Please Me kick.
MOSH: You’ll be playing a number of small tour runs across US, UK, Australia, Japan. Anything in particular you are looking forward to?
NH: Can’t wait to play Hawaii. Really just excited to see Hawaii and Japan. We’ve been to Australia so I know that’s going to be sick but playing these new places is going to be crazy.
MOSH: Where do see you Citizen in 5 years?
NH: In 5 years, I hope that we carved out a nice legacy for ourselves. We’re not the type of band that really sees ourselves over-staying our welcome so we’ll see…we might still be playing…we might not…but I hope we’re proud of whatever we’re doing.
