Dallas Green (musician)

Early life

Green was born on September 29, 1980 in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. Green was named after Philadelphia Phillies manager Dallas Green. Green has stated that he had gone without a name at first; his mother was considering naming him Graham-Todd Green, but his father had bet on the Phillies during the 1980 World Series that October and, after the team won, his parents decided on the name Dallas after the Phillies' manager.

Green started playing piano at the age of 8 and writing music since he was around the age of 14. Regarding the songs released on his first album, Sometimes, Green said that he had been writing material for it as early as when he was 16 years old, and finished writing songs for it in 2005.

Early work

Before joining Alexisonfire, Green was in a band called Helicon Blue, producing several songs before breaking up. The three piece band also featured Marcel Lanteigne on bass and vocal, and Nicholas Osczypko on drums. The band recorded a self-titled release with Greg Below from Distort Entertainment, who also recorded a second record with the band.

Alexisonfire

Dallas began playing with Alexisonfire in late 2001. They released four albums (Alexisonfire, Watch Out!, Crisis, and Old Crows / Young Cardinals) and several EPs before disbanding in 2011 due to Dallas' decision to focus on his work in City and Colour full-time.

Dallas came up with the name of the band from an episode on Discovery Channel. This specific episode was about contortionism. In this show there was a segment on a stripper who added contortionism into her show, as well as lactating and breathing fire. The woman's stage name was Alexis Fire, and the segment was called Alexisonfire. He thought that this would be a cool name for a band, and that is where it all started.

In 2003, Dallas appeared (along with Alexisonfire vocalist George Pettit) on Jude the Obscure's album "The Coldest Winter", doing additional vocals on 3 songs. He contributed vocals to Neverending White Lights' collaborative album Act 1: Goodbye Friends of the Heavenly Bodies, released in 2005, on the song "The Grace". Green provided additional vocals on the track "INRihab" with Every Time I Die as well as on the track "Black Albino Bones" with Fucked Up on their second full-length album, The Chemistry of Common Life.

Sometimes (2005–2007)

Green began releasing City and Colour songs on the internet for fans to download. Eventually, he compiled and rewrote several of these songs to make his first album, Sometimes. The full-length debut was released on November 1, 2005, to a good reception, described by one reviewer as "dynamically gentle and vulnerable". The cover art was designed by Scott McEwan, in a tattoo-esque style; Green "still may decide to have some of them inked at a later point in time".

Green indicated that his view that the "best music for [him] is sad music", influenced the type of songs he created. He also said that he "love[s] music to sort of escape to" and the idea of sad music that people could identify with. Green said of the album that, "a lot of those songs are written on some of the experiences I've been through and stuff and that’s just how I deal with it. I just write songs when I’m bummed out and I feel happier." Sometimes was re-released on Vagrant Records on January 13, 2009, which was the first time the album was available in physical form in the United States.

Bring Me Your Love (2008–2009)

Bring Me Your Love is Dallas' second full-length album. It was released on February 12, 2008 and features a wide array of instruments not used on his previous recordings (such as harmonica, banjo, drums and lap steel) giving it a more folk-influenced sound. The album also features collaborations with other musicians, such as Canadian musician Gordon Downie on the track "Sleeping Sickness", and additional instrumentals done by Matt Sullivan and the members of Attack in Black. The lead single, "Waiting...", was released on Green's official MySpace page for the first time featuring a "making of" video.

The album is named after a short story by Charles Bukowski. It is also a line sung in the closing track, "As Much As I Ever Could." Green has stated in interviews that he has troubles writing a lot of his lyrics and he saw Charles Bukowski's book in a book store while on tour with Alexisonfire and adopted the title for his new album.

On September 26, 2008, City and Colour embarked on their first American tour, in support of Bring Me Your Love. On the tour, the band supported Tegan and Sara along with Girl in a Coma. This tour was followed by a headlining tour of the US in January 2009, with support from William Elliott Whitmore. In October 2008, Dine Alone Records announced a special 2-disc limited edition of Bring Me Your Love to be released on December 2, 2008. Only 6,000 copies are available; 5,000 in North America and 1,000 in Australia. In Canada, when the record label put up the album on pre-sale on November 20, 2008, so many fans tried to pre-order it that the store's website crashed.

Little Hell (2010–2012)

In January 2010, City and Colour embarked on an additional US headlining tour, again supporting Bring Me Your Love, with supporting act Lissie, and an additional UK tour in June 2010, supporting P!nk, along with Butch Walker, along with a few headlining dates. On these tours, Dallas Green has performed two new songs by the titles of "Silver and Gold" and "Oh Sister", as well as a couple of never-played-before covers - "Murderer", originally by Low, and "Grinnin' In Your Face", originally by Son House. In an interview with Alter the Press, Green has revealed that he has written a bunch of new songs and he just needs to record them for his next record, hinting on a possible early 2011 release date for his third studio album. He said that there are 15 songs that he really likes and he expects around 10 to appear on his next album.

On September 2, 2010, it was announced on MTV News Canada that Dallas had been in the studio with Polaris Prize nominee Shad working on a remix of a Shad song as well as an original song to be released as a 12" vinyl single. Dallas was quoted as saying "I've always wanted to be the Mary J. Blige to somebody's Method Man". The remix is to Shad's song "Listen" from his latest album TSOL, and the new song that Dallas co-wrote is entitled "Live Forever". On September 30, 2010, it was announced that Dallas Green planned to start recording his third studio album in January 2011, after demoing 14 songs. "There are a lot of musically unusual songs." Green has said about the record, "There's a lot more piano on these songs, keyboards and stuff. And there are a couple of songs almost I would say a bit rockin', if that makes any sense, not in a heavy metal kind of way, but just a little bit more upbeat than what you're used to hearing from me."

On November 9, 2010, Dallas announced via Twitter that he would be releasing a new single on iTunes called "At the Bird's Foot" which will be on a compilation album called Gasoline Rainbows, which also features new songs by such artists as Damien Rice and Amy Kuney. The song was written by Dallas in response to the oil spill in the Gulf. All proceeds from the album will go directly to Global Green USA. "At the Bird's Foot" was first made available for 48-hour streaming on the Gasoline Rainbows Myspace page on November 23, 2010, and features Amanda Zelina of the band The Coppertone on vocals. In an interview with Reverb Magazine's Sean Frazer, Green spilled news of an upcoming 2011 album release, saying "Hopefully I am going to start recording in January so I'm hoping that there will be another album by next Summer/Spring."

On February 15, 2011, Green performed a specially recorded version of "Northern Wind" on the Valentine's Day episode of One Tree Hill. On February 23, 2011, it was officially announced on the Dine Alone Records website that City and Colour's third album will be titled Little Hell and is set for release in June 2011. On March 23, 2011, the official track listing was posted on City and Colour's official website. Release date for the album was set to June 7, 2011. In an interview with Radar Radio's Reegan McLaughlin, Green said 'I look at people like Bob Dylan back in the day and he'd have pages of lyrics and would have to decide out of seven, eight of nine verses which three were the best. I think to myself, I have to struggle to get two verses I am happy with in a song' Green also said 'I think melodies come relatively easy to me because I've been singing so long but lyrics, it's a battle to get to a point when I am happy with a song.'

On March 27, 2011, City and Colour performed Neil Young's "Old Man" as part of the four song tribute to Toronto during the Juno Awards of 2011. On April 5, 2011, "Fragile Bird", the first single off Little Hell was released to the radio. The song had its world premiere on Australian radio station Triple J, where the band was touring a sold out tour at the time. The single became City and Colour's highest charting single, reaching No. 1 on the Canadian rock/alternative chart. City and Colour has been announced to be performing as part of The Voodoo Experience 2011, which is held at City Park in New Orleans, Louisiana on October 28–30. On August 5, 2011, Alexisonfire announced their break-up. George Pettit wrote a message on the band's official website saying Dallas had been planning to leave to focus on City and Colour, as balancing the two bands had become too difficult.

On December 17, Biffy Clyro announced that City and Colour would be the main support on their 2013 arena tour, in support of their new album.

The Hurry and the Harm (2013)

City and Colour announced the release of the new album entitled The Hurry and the Harm to be released on June 4, 2013. The song "Of Space and Time" was released on March 11, 2013 prior to the announcement of the new album. The track listing includes 12 songs; the special iTunes deluxe version, available for pre-order in April, will include 3 extra tracks for a total of 15 new songs. The song "Thirst" was released on April 1, 2013 on City and Colour's Soundcloud page. The album was unofficially leaked on May 22, 2013. The album cover shows Dallas Green's face which felt weird for him, since he always wanted his music about his songs and not about himself.

In October 2014, City and Colour was selected as the headline act for the grand opening of the Meridian Centre, St. Catharines' new 50-million dollar hockey and performance arena.

If I Should Go Before You (2015-present)

City and Colour announced the release of the new album entitled If I Should Go Before You to be released on October 9, 2015. The song "Woman" was released exclusively on Beats 1 station on Apple Radio on July 15, 2015 hosted by Zane Lowe.

You+Me

On September 8, 2014, Green announced a collaboration with Pink. The duo, performing under the name You+Me, released an album titled Rose Ave. on October 14. The album debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart and at number four on the Billboard 200.

Personal life

In 2008, Green married Canadian television host Leah Miller.

Alexisonfire

You+Me

Guest appearances

2006 MuchMusic Video Awards

2008 MuchMusic Video Awards

Chart magazine

2015 SOCAN Awards

Juno Awards

City and Colour has been nominated for ten Juno Awards and won three.