Neformat Family: City of Me

About three years since their last concert and more than 8 years since the moment of creation of the band which lived through the bright musical story under the protectorate of fortune itself – City of Me.

Jokingly accused of being egocentric because of the name, the collective justified this choice as it managed to reach something of its own, separate and unrepeatable sound, not in the genre but above it. There were just Dmytro Kachan (drums, sound post-editing) and Eduard Tokuyev (vocals, guitar, keyboards) in the beginning, who played as duo, but in summer of 2012 this duo turned into trio – Regina Zheleznyakova (bass) joined the band. The same year their first single "Jealousy" came out on SoundCloud after what the band took long-lasting time-out.

Collective came back to the horizon only in 2014 – that’s when the active phase of productivity started for CITY OF ME. At first, the band wrote it on Facebook that it’s been more than a year since their last concert, and it testified members’ intention to change situation for the better.

"In City of Me specifically the concerts were the most important for me. We always felt like playing maximally emotionally so we could find the rebound in other person which came to listen to us", — says Eduard Tokuyev.

In June of 2014th their "No History" EP came out, which consisted of the mentioned above single and tree more old songs of the band. Straight after that the band started writing its new material and a year later, in April of 2015th, their second and last EP "Fall" was self-released.

The eponymous composition of the album is the result of cooperation between City of Me and one more Kharkiv-based band KAT, whose vocals can be heard in the new to them environment. After this release exactly the band had its first tour across Ukrainian cities.

Besides local recognition, City of Me was estimated abroad as well. Band’s first mini album was listed in the shoegaze and dream-pop EPs top of the 2014th by DKFM American portal version. There their brainchild fought for the best mini album of the year title along with the bands of genre from the different corners of the world. The band did not pass through the local tops in the same year of 2014, for example, it hit the seventh position in "the best 10 Ukrainian albums of the 2014th year" list by decision of the musical site Rok.Kiev.Ua. Also their song "Sun" was used during Ukrainian Fashion Week in 2016th and another composition "Dear" was played there in 2017th thanks to their coworking with MUSI by Musichenko. Furthermore, the band was reviewed in foreign languages, e.g. the laudative feedback on Forkster, and there is an інтерв’ю with them on the Portuguese popular blog The Blog That Celebrates Itself. There exactly the band refers to its sources of inspiration which explains the sound wideness and uniqueness of City of Me.

And, of course, this trio can boast of the rich experience of interesting performances.

"Literally the day before concert O.Children (ed. – UK) band lost its support, it should be unknown back then Вагоновожатые ("Carriage drivers"), which were replaced by us. In 2010th I would not believe we’ll play with them.", — says Eduard Tokuyev.

Moreover, the band had an opportunity to play with British Dissociates band and warmed up the scene for the Australian band Nite Field. Among home bands with whom CITY OF ME shared the scene, while festivals or separate concerts, there were such ones as Krobak, KAT, Voida, ZRADA, Cold Comfort, Noir Pill, oh, deer! etc. The end of their creational path, that neither had the intention, nor had the date for chasing CITY OF ME on their apex of activity, gave band a chance to have the joint tour with 5R6 band. During this mini tour the members accidentally played the concert in Krakiv, the first and only one abroad.

Those times City of Me perfectly fit in the circle of bands "on the edge" which played interesting music that was hard to characterize by one word, whether it meant genre or their distinctive feature. Besides the joint performances with other representatives of the alternative Ukrainian scene there was one more important factor to define the destiny of creature Eduard, Dmytro and Regina gave life to – all three members were the integral parts of other musical projects. Eduard Tokuyev was seriously into nearr then and now continues to lead this formation. Long ago the trio even performed vocal parties in "tropic rain" song from the nearr album "VISION". Regina Zheleznyakova curates her own creation Regina Collage and also plays in Продукти ("Products") and H.Soror bands. The drummer Dmytro is responsible for percussion in Dr Jail and Mr Hype.

City of Me members did not conceal they had difficulties with sound post-editing as they always recorded by themselves – it’s been a stumbling block on their way. And their later rehearsals included only old material repeating, which they had no energy to release. Their last concert was played withing Winter Mass in 2017th and after that the end was put to their stagnation – the band finished its activity, unfortunately. But coming back to the previous paragraph, we can see that there is an opportunity to enjoy all three members now though separately.

City of Me in social networks:

https://www.facebook.com/cityofmeband
http://cityofme.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/cityofmeband/
 

Previously in the section: https://www.neformat.com.ua/neformat-family

Cover photo - Ishchenko film photography