October 18, 2011
The City Harmonic’s early success has steep learning curve
By Holly Wilson/Heartland Gatekeeper
One year ago, Americans had never heard of a worship band from Hamilton, Ontario.
In less than 12 months, The City Harmonic has captured America’s Christian radio airwaves with “Manifesto” from their EP, Introducing. This rookie six-track project has garnered five GMA Covenant Award nominations, the Canadian equivalent of the Dove Awards.
Five national industry awards from a single EP - all before their Kingsway release of their first full-length album, I Have a Dream (It Feels Like Home) on Oct. 18.
Front man Elias Dummer, bassist Eric Fusilier, guitarist Aaron Powell and drummer Josh Vanderlaan are looking forward to attending the 33rd Annual Covenant Awards on Oct. 28, but they might arrive in Calgary a little out of breath. They just completed their 17-city “Hello Somebody Tour” with Aaron Gillespie and A.J. Cheek. The City Harmonic will squeeze in another six concerts before heading north for the awards ceremony in Alberta.
The band’s 2011 Covenant Award nominations include New Artist, Praise & Worship Song (“My God”), while “Manifesto” has drawn nominations for Modern Worship Song, Song of the Year, and Recorded Song of the Year.
The achievement is stunning for a recording that is not a full album. Next year, acclaimed artists such as Brian Doerksen and Matt Maher will find their categories more crowded if I Have A Dream meets artistic expectations.
The City Harmonic Road Manager Ryan Recine matter-of-factly explained the biggest difference between American and Canadian Christian music. During a stop in Omaha for the Hello Somebody Tour he said, “In Canada, we live in a very post-Christian environment. There aren’t a lot of Christians around. There’s no Christian radio at all. We don’t have a K-LOVE.”
Despite appearances at major Christian music festivals in the U.S., Recine said they are still adjusting to touring and time away from their families. Their large tour van is jammed with six people, luggage, and equipment.
“When you’re doing a full day of driving, sixteen hours, it does get stressful; but you just have to learn how to live together in peace and harmony – and remember why we’re doing it in the first place!” he said with a grin.
Bass player Eric Fusilier agreed. “We’re relatively new to touring, so maybe that goes away. Maybe if you ask a band who has been doing it for years, they get used to the whole feeling. But for us, it’s been a steep learning curve. You’re in a different city every night. You don’t have any pattern, any rhythm to life.”
Lost cell phone signals mean calls home must wait.
“Eli (Dummer) has three kids and a fourth on the way. Aaron (Powell) has his first baby due in May. Without question, hands-down, that is the hardest part.”
The band strives to remain grounded with daily psalm reading and reflection together. Fusilier said the purpose of this morning routine is to maintain conversation – with each other and with God, as well as defuse interpersonal conflict as friends.
For all the issues with limited space on the road, the band chose to complicate logistics by packing a large concert drum, on loan from a friend.
The concert drum has a prominent place on the new album, but it also speaks to the band’s vision and sound. Before they had a name, they had songs.
“We’ve got this orchestral, philharmonic sense,” said Fusilier. “So we worked backward from philharmonic to get ‘The City Harmonic’ – there’s other meanings built in, but the concert drum fits in perfectly.”
He cheerfully recalled learning how to play jazz bass in seventh grade band. “That was the first instrument I ever learned! That’s sort of where my roots are, so it’s great to get back to concert band stuff!”
Dummer said the members began playing music at early ages. “Aaron and I were both in bands, sort of the punk rock scene. Eric and I went to high school together and actually took bass together in (a public high school) music class. Josh and Eric went to different universities but were roommates in college.”
The four musicians have all contributed to local worship teams at different churches.
In addition to their sound, the band’s name reflects their lives in Hamilton, a city of half a million people along the shores of Lake Ontario. It is a sister city to Flint, Mich.
“Part of the name comes from an organization where we live, called True City,” Dummer explained.
“Hamilton is a city that used to be a steel town and now has a child poverty rate of something like 20-percent… Over the last ten years, the church, especially in the urban setting, has really started to work together, to find common ground, do tangible things…True City is really a grassroots movement that came out of that and their slogan is ‘Churches Together for the Good of the City.’”
Fusilier interjected. “It’s really shaped us, individually and together, in our faith for understanding what the call of the church is…”
“As opposed to my church versus your church versus your church,” added Dummer.
“Even ‘Manifesto’ is certainly a response to that; it’s a sense of saying, ‘Let’s hearken back to these ancient creeds. This is the foundation of the Gospel and not all the other things we make it.”
Fusilier said the band values artistic experimentation in the studio. Despite tour challenges, both musicians emphasized the importance of audience interaction. “We get out on the road and connect with people with that artistic expression, so in a lot of ways that is the culmination of our efforts in the studio.”
Dummer said the other issue is worship versus performance. “For us, the more we can point people to what’s going on within the music, the more invitational it becomes… It’s not just go to a concert and a guitar solo, you know?” †
Editor’s note:
Out of five Covenant Award nominations, The City Harmonic won three awards from Canada’s Gospel Music Association: 2011 New Artist of the Year, Modern Worship Song of the Year, and Recorded Song of the Year for the hit single, “Manifesto” – the distinctive worship song that fueled heavy radio rotation across North America.
Since the music video for “Manifesto” was posted online (November 2010), it has drawn more than 1.1 million viewers. View the “Manifesto” video.
How did The City Harmonic pull off this video, filmed in a parking garage in downtown Hamilton? Watch their self-produced documentary of the video shoot on a cold Canadian day.