In This City

Album: And Then Boom (2008)
Charted: 5
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Songfacts®:

  • The band were formed after singer Jarvis Anderson, keyboardist Sam Martin, and guitarist Simon Katz met at the University of Colorado. When they moved to California they recruited drummer Luis Rosiles and bass player Michael Bucher. The band released their debut UK single "Violent & Young" on the Indie label Another Music = Another Kitchen before signing to Mercury Records after a brief bidding war. This feel good summer anthem was their debut major label release.
  • Jarvis Anderson explained the song to The Yorkshire Evening Post: "It's about moving to LA, going through different things… our parents were like 'great!' It's controlling your surroundings, once you've attained that confidence it's a euphoric moment. The hook came right out of my mouth, really naturally. It's an inspirational song, and I hope people listen to it and find that honesty for dominating whatever they want in their life."
  • This song, along with the rest of the album, was recorded with Mark Needham, who has previously worked with The Killers and My Chemical Romance.
  • None of the quintet are called Iglu or Hartly. Anderson explained to The Yorkshire Evening Post the band's name. "Iglu & Hartly was the name of a ship. We took a history class in college. The ship sailed to Hawaii to get pineapples, but got cinnamon instead. It was cheaper and easier to store or something. So it's a metaphor: you go searching for something but maybe get something better instead. We didn't set out to be in Iglu & Hartly, y'know?"
  • Anderson gave an alternative explanation of the band's name to Billboard magazine: "I used to help a mentally disabled kid in high school get to his classes and he called me igloo so I just used that but with the letter "u." Sam called himself Hartly Dark while in college for some odd reason and we came together as Iglu & Hartly. This was the beginning of a totally awesome adventure."

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