Formed in October 2000, Somewhere Beneath the City quickly established a local fanbase, performing frequently around London and at the Cartoon in Croydon with bands such as Re#ash and Reason2Regret. While their main inspiration comes from the melodic American punk of Less Than Jake, Green Day et al, they have influences as diverse as Pavement and even Oasis, and it is by injecting the diversity of these other influences into that traditional commercial punk sound that the band achieves its originality.

What is the most unique thing about your band?

We have an Iranian member in the band!

What is been your biggest inspiration (musical or otherwise)?

Hearing so many great songs over time, and writing songs ourselves and being happy with them both provide inspiration and a drive to make ourselves better all the time.

What has been the greatest moment in your musical career so far?

Recording and selling our debut CD, receiving positive feedback from it and since then trying to improve and better our reputation.

What’s your attitude towards mainstream music at the moment?

A lot of it is crap but great songs will always be recognised as such, however big or small the band may be.

How does the band go about writing its songs?

Shaun writes songs and so does Amir occasionally – we’ll build them as a band and work on them, changing things around until we’re all completely happy with them.

Where do you see the band in a year’s time?

Possibly with another CD under our name, but we just want to continue to improve in all manners, all the time, and we’ll see where it takes us.

How would you describe your band’s sound?

A good combination of edgy guitar rock, emotional melodies and meaningful lyrics.

Anything else you want to tell us?

If you follow the emo movement and still like your punk essence, give us a listen, visit our website or just contact us and we’ll try and sort you out a CD, or put you on our mailing list to let you know about live gigs, etc. Thanks again for everyone’s support and thanks to Drowned in Sound for featuring us!

Contact information:

Shak Yousaf:
email sbtc_shaxxyy@yahoo.co.uk
Tel: 07764 498 036

Links

• Somewhere Beneath The City - official site - The band's official website

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