White City

White City were the first western-style rock band to play in post-Taliban Afghanistan. A motley mix of British journalist, Australian videographer and Swedish humanitarian worker came together in Kabul during the fall of 2009 in the shape of Ruth “Ru” Owen (vox, bass), Travis “Travka” Beard (guitar, FX) and Andreas “Andronik” Stefansson (drums, percussion).

Jamming together in a studio that used sandbags for soundproofing and doubled as a bomb bunker, the band wrote the reflections on Afghan life that would form the basis for their 2012 debut EP, Space Cadet.

But the band weren't to be confined to a bunker for long. Travka founded Central Asia's only alternative arts and music festival, Sound Central, which saw 1000s of young Afghan men and women learning how to head-bang and enjoy rock, metal and hip-hop in a safe environment for the first time. They also spent 2011 touring every country ending in 'Stan, taking in Kabul, Dushanbe, Bishkek, Almaty, Tashkent and Lahore, where they recorded their EP at True Brew studios.

During 2012, the band were invited to the BBC's Olympic studios, following the release of the Space Cadet video and saw additional White City features pop up in the Times, the Wall Street Journal and Rolling Stone.

Following a overwhelmingly positive reaction to 2012's EP release, the band decided it was about time to record an album. During summer 2013, they escaped the increasingly perilous conditions of pre-withdrawal Kabul and headed to Colombo, Sri Lanka. Here, they wrote the majority of their debut album.

Fall 2013 saw the band finally record said debut album at Orgone Studios in London with producer Jaime Arellano Gomez (Cathedral, Guapo, Turisas, Art Brut, Plan B). The album is set for release in February 2014 on their own label and will be accompanied by their first US tour, to climax at the world-renowned SXSW festival in Austin, Texas (March 11-16th 2014).

RIYL: Dead Weather, Queens of the Stone Age, The Sounds, The Distillers
DIRTY: #10
TRY: #1, 3, 4

Download Full Album Here:
https://www.piratepirate.com/downloads/

More Info Here:
http://whitecitykabul.com
http://facebook.com/whitecitykabul
http://whitecitywhitecity.bandcamp.com
http://soundcloud.com/whitecitykabul