About
the City Streets
since circa 2005
"Holy shit, where did these guys come from?" - See Magazine. "Their songs- a tight mix of the hard social message of the Clash and the twang of Wilco- are spectacular."- Vue Weekly cover story
The City Streets play rock n roll music. They live and were also born in Edmonton Alberta, Canada. They formed in April 2005, but they've all played in bands for years. Their musical style could be described as the Replacements making love to the Clash with Elvis Costello watching from the closet. Or you could say its really diverse melodic bliss power pop with the spirit of punk rock always shining a light.
Rick Reid plays guitar, writes the words and sings them too. Matt Leddy plays bass guitar and sings sometimes. Mark Chmilar plays drums, but doesn't sing.
Three months after forming, the City Streets recorded a full length album with local producer and good friend Steve Loree (Corb Lund, Jr. Gone Wild), called 'These Things Happen'.
They spent a lot of time making sure the record was as good as is could be, and they invited their friends and local musicians to guest on the songs, which feature pedal steel, female vocals, violin, trumpet and Hammond organ. While the album was being mixed, the City Streets went on a pair of North American tours that took them to Vancouver, Toronto, L.A., Montreal, San Francisco, Seattle and everywhere in between. They released These Things Happen in December to great response from fans and critics alike. It was called "a prairie rock London Calling" and given a 4 star review in See magazine. There was praise from other publications including Vue Weekly, the Edmonton Journal, the Sudbury Chronicle and the Nerve.
The album did well on college radio, peaking at number 72 on the national charts in February. It stayed in the top 10 at CJSR for 6 weeks, including a stint at number 3.
To keep the buzz going, the City Streets booked a 7 week North American tour in February/March of 2006. Highlights of this tour included stops at CMW, SXSW, a week long stint in NYC, with shows at the legendary CBGB's and the Knitting Factory, New Orleans, a show in Juarez, Mexico, and shows along the west coast.
The City Streets love playing music, especially live, which explains their ambitious touring schedule. In May 2006 they released a free Internet exclusive EP on their website called, 'if you dont like the Clash you are a bad person.'
For the summertime they completed two cross Canada tours with stops at Pop Montreal, and the Halifax Pop Explosion. They are currently in the process of working on their second full length album for release in 2007.
The City Streets are the kind of band that makes you feel good when you discover them, as if the songs were your friends. If they were a novel, they'd be 'On the Road.'
"the City Streets have developed a sound of their own, a rock n roll spirit from a time when that meant something to be proud of. I genuinely haven't been won over during the course of an album so convincingly since Exile on Main Street. Forget the loftiness of the comparisons-just pick it up and find out for yourself." James Stewart, See Magazine.
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Audio Samples
Past Events
Railway Club
04
Mar
2009
16:00 16:00
02
Apr
2006
21:00 13:00
07
Jul
2005
21:00 22:00
07
Jul
2005
20:00 16:00
Current Lineup
