burn the city knoxville
Burn The City
There’s a new band in town, and they are burning up the stage. Burn The City consists of a quintet of performers. Hunter writes the lyrics and sings the main vocals, though he gets help from Spencer, Brandon, and Dylan in both areas. He jokes that Randy (their bass player) is a silent assassin. Dylan and Spencer also play the guitar, while Brandon rocks the drums. Playing together for five years, the band started with Spencer reaching out. He encouraged each person to play together. Each member had played with other groups and circled each other for years.
Hunter says he’s been a huge fan of Spencer’s and his friend before the band started and claimed that he bugged him for years about doing something together. Dylan has said that he feels lucky to be a part of the band and that he used to work for Spencer. After learning that Dylan had no projects, Spencer encouraged him to join the band. Brandon had previously played with Spencer in a band called Signs of Life, but the band disbanded when the singer joined the Air Force. After entering the Air National Guard around the same time, Brandon got an email on deployment from Spencer saying he was looking to start a band and they needed a drummer. After hearing a demo, he joined immediately. Each member gives Spencer credit and is happy that the band has been the best experience.
Starting From The Beginning
The band’s first record was three years ago, but they’ve been together far longer. If you’ve seen the video entitled ‘A Very Merry Beacon House Christmas,’ they appear unofficially. As a result, they’ve been together for five years, honing their craft and creating something unique and unlike anything you’ve heard before.
Burn The City was not a simple name to come by, and they had a nightmare trying to get it right. Everyone agrees that naming bands is incredibly difficult, but Hunter’s wife Libby had the idea for the name Burn The City, and the members thought it was great and ran with it. Before Libby, however, they had tried everything from submitting names in a hat to other methods. It’s been described as pandemonium and several hours of trying to narrow it down to the best title possible, knowing that whatever you choose will represent the band and how people see you forever.
Learning Their Style
From here, Burn The City had to decide on their style and what music they wanted to play. Dylan began pitching things like indie and punk rock but feels they’ve hit their stride with the heavy metal adjacent spaces they’ve been working with lately. Spencer has also said that he feels there is a point where you realize where you belong and what you’re meant to do. He likes to play everything and feels Hunter’s voice anchors it together. Brandon said they all like rock and hard rock, so it was an easy decision, and the process happened naturally. He says that the result was something magical when they formed.
For his part, Hunter expresses that Spencer is a true powerhouse of ideas and has ways of layering different songs or art pieces together. The band is highly visual, and a lot of the art is Hunter and Dylan going back and forth as they have dabbled in visual art. However, he also says that Randy is the band member that can drive deep, meaningful conversations around film and philosophy, and we have no doubt that plays into the music as well.
Life Outside The Music
Each band member has a busy life outside of the band. For instance, when they’re not playing, you might find them playing tabletop role playing games, coming up with new ideas for the music, getting into editing and creating videos, and more. Additionally, you’ll find them spending time with their families and camping or weekends at the lake. The band is very visual, and you’ll see that art and passion are things that they all have in common. Each member of the band can create something beautiful. We don’t know about you, but this would be a great group to hang out with.
Finding Inspiration For Burn The City
When it comes to finding inspiration for their music, you’ll find that the band gets inspiration from various sources. As they have been trying to create more cinematic and grand sounds and incorporate more lore and stories, there is more weight behind the music. It creates a different experience and gives you the feeling of stepping into a new world.
The band also inspires each other because they have an eclectic music palette, and inspiration comes from many different avenues. You can hear and see it when they play together in the music. One thing that stands out, however, is that Burn The City will jam out, and inspiration comes from all directions creating something genuinely astonishing.
They also take inspiration from comics, their conversations, and the bands they admire and enter a completely new head space. It’s about visualizing a unique story and trying to bring the heart of that story to life while searching for deeper meaning.
The Dream Performance
Everyone has a dream of who they could play with if they could, and Burn The City is no different. Because each person is so different, you’ll find that the dream performance ranges from KISS, Prince, Corey Taylor, Ben Burnley, or Anders from In Flames.
Each band member has also got a love of locations, and the stage is their home. Hunter has enjoyed playing at Scruffy City and enjoys the memories he’s had there, while other band members have said that they’ve loved preservation pub. However, they all agree that in every venue they’ve played in, no matter if there was a big crowd, they loved having the chance to play and let fans experience their music. Showing a genuine love of playing live and a heart for music stands out to their fans.
The band has also said that when you can be in a band, it’s the most magical thing you can experience, and playing live together and seeing the fans is one of the most incredible things someone can experience in their lifetime.
Uncovering Hidden Talent
There are many hidden talents in the band as well. Brandon, for instance, claims that he is a bit of a computer nerd and that he is an admin for a local company. They configure switches, phone systems, and infrastructures, among other avenues. As far as music goes, however, he can play piano and the mandolin. He also sings from time to time.
On the other hand, Dylan is good at getting his hair into his face while playing, and he says it’s a curse he wishes he didn’t have. However, you won’t find him chopping his locks anytime soon. Spencer runs a syndicated podcast called The Beacon House, and we urge you all to check it out to see a new side of him. Hunter is a visual person and has a great talent for art. Check out their Facebook page to see some of the band’s talent!
Seeing Burn The City Live
However, hearing the band’s music is different from seeing them in person. I had the pleasure of seeing them at a show not too long ago, and what happened was indeed a magical moment. The crowd began to rush to the stage, and finding a place to stand was difficult. There seemed to be a hush of anticipation, and looking around, you could see fans waiting with bated breath. Then, they started playing, and the silence evaporated into loud cheering and videos being taken as the fans fell in love with the music.
The show was made even better because this band has no egos. Each member is proud and happy to share the stage equally, and you can tell that each member deeply respects the other. It makes the show more incredible and leaves you sad when the music stops. It is a genuine joy to see this band take the stage, and their music is loud and pulsates, reaching you deep within and longing for one more song.
Additionally, the band knows how to give a great show. During their performance, Hunter leaped off the stage to thunderous cheers and applause and continued singing like nothing had happened. It made the show more special for fans, and no one wanted them to stop playing. When the band did, it was answered with a pleading for them to stay longer and continue throughout the night.
Meeting the band in person is a fantastic treat as well. Each Burn The City member is a blast to meet because they are kind and love to talk about their music. You can see right from the start that they have incredible passion, which is why they are a band worth seeing.
The Future Of Burn The City
The band members each have a different idea about what the band’s future will look like, but they agree that they hope they can keep playing and connecting with their fans. They also want to keep doing what they are doing and go where the journey takes them.
Defining their sound and taking the things that they have learned and honing them is another goal that the band has, as well as having more visual accompaniment. Looking for and discovering the lore they put into their music is something that they hope the fans will do as well.
Overall the band members love making music together and will continue playing until they can’t anymore. That is a great thing for fans because it means they can see their shows indefinitely. Burn The City has engaging shows and seeing them live is a true treasure. Look for surprises in their music and examine the lyrics for a more profound message when you see them yourself.
While they currently don’t have any shows, follow them on social media to see them live. They have big plans for this year!
Find Burn The City Here:
https://www.facebook.com/burnthecityknox/
https://www.instagram.com/burnthecityknox/?hl=en
https://burnthecity.bandcamp.com/
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