Citizen talk new album, influences, Rob Schnapf, ‘Youth’ turning 10, & more

We’ve teamed with up with Citizen on an exclusive blue/red swirl vinyl variant of their new album, which is out this week. It’s limited to 400.

It’s been a big year for the ever-changing Midwest rock band Citizen, who celebrated the 10th anniversary of their classic debut album Youth with the biggest shows of their career, and who are marching right along and about to release their new album Calling The Dogs this Friday (10/6) via Run For Cover. Ahead of the album’s release, vocalist Mat Kerekes and guitarist Nick Hamm joined us on the BrooklynVegan podcast.

Calling The Dogs feels both like a culmination of everything Citizen have done up to this point, as well as yet another step forward, so Mat and Nick reflected on the long road to its existence, from Youth to present day. They spoke about some of the new influences that informed this album, including Eddy Current Suppression Ring, The Cribs, and The Rolling Stones; lyrical themes; the impact of making it with new members Ben Russin (Title Fight) on drums and Mason Mercer (Muscle Before Paradise, Free At Last) on guitar; and working with producer Rob Schnapf.

“He’s just a legend,” Nick said of Schnapf. “Having friends that have worked with him helped, because you have some common ground and you see that he knows how to work with bands from our general sphere. I’m definitely a big Elliott Smith fan, and we love the work he did with Tokyo Police Club and The Garden. He’s done so many things in so many different styles, and I mean that’s a Citizen dream.”

You can listen to the episode on Spotify, Apple, Google, or wherever you listen to podcasts; and you can pick up our exclusive blue/red swirl vinyl variant of Calling The Dogs and/or Youth on highlighter yellow vinyl in the BV shop.

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Citizen’s tour begins on October 18 in Indianapolis, right before they play the When We Were Young festival, and they have dates announced through February 2024. The North American run has support from Narrow Head and Modern Color on all dates, plus additional support from Cryogeyser, Spine, Onionizm, and LUCY (Cooper B. Handy), varying by date. Next year’s Europe/UK run is with Drug Church. All dates (including Brooklyn’s Warsaw on 11/18) are listed below.

Citizen — 2023/2024 Tour Dates
October 18, 2023 – Indianapolis, IN – HI-Fi Annex
October 21, 2023 – Las Vegas, NV – When We Were Young Festival
October 22, 2023 – Las Vegas, NV – When We Were Young Festival
October 24, 2023 – Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren
October 25, 2023 – San Diego, CA – Observatory San Diego
October 27, 2023 – Los Angeles, CA – The Novo
October 28, 2023 – San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
October 29, 2023 – Sacramento, CA – Goldfield Roseville
October 31, 2023 – Portland, OR – Aladdin Theater
November 1, 2023 – Seattle, WA – Neumos
November 3, 2023 – Salt Lake City, UT – Soundwell
November 4, 2023 – Denver, CO – Summit
November 5, 2023 – Kansas City, MO – recordbar
November 7, 2023 – Austin, TX – Mohawk Austin
November 8, 2023 – Dallas, TX – Trees
November 10, 2023 – Nashville, TN – Eastside Bowl
November 11, 2023 – Atlanta, GA – Hell at The Masquerade
November 12, 2023 – Tampa, FL – The Orpheum
November 13, 2023 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL – Revolution Live
November 15, 2023 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
November 17, 2023 – Washington, D.C. – Black Cat
November 18, 2023 – New York, NY – Warsaw
November 19, 2023 – Philadelphia, PA – Brooklyn Bowl
November 21, 2023 – Boston, MA – Big Night Live
November 22, 2023 – Pittsburg, PA – Mr. Smalls Theatre
November 23, 2023 – Toronto, ON – Danforth Music Hall
November 24, 2023 – Cleveland, OH – The Roxy
November 25, 2023 – Detroit, MI – St. Andrew’s Hall
November 26, 2023 – Chicago, IL – Concord Music Hall
February 6, 2024 – Glasgow, UK – St. Lukes Church
February 7, 2024 – Leeds, UK – Project House
February 8, 2024 – London, UK – Electric Ballroom
February 9, 2024 – Bristol, UK – SWX
February 11, 2024 – Berlin, GER – So36
February 12, 2024 – Hamburg, GER – Knust
February 13, 2023 – Copenhagen, GER – Beta
February 15, 2024 – Cologne, GER – Club Volta
February 16, 2024 – Eindhoven, NL – Dynamo

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