Open City

Open City (mem Worriers, Paint It Black, Lifetime) streaming LP, playing shows

Philly punk band Open City are a new band who just released their debut album a couple weeks ago, but the members are all familiar faces. They’re fronted by Rachel Rubino, who plays in Worriers and Bridge and Tunnel, and the lineup also includes two of punk’s busiest and best musicians around: Dan Yemin (Lifetime, Kid Dynamite, Paint It Black) and Andy Nelson (Paint It Black, Ceremiony, Dark Blue). Behind the kit is longtime Ted Leo + the Pharmacists drummer Chris Wilson, who also currently plays in Titus Andronicus.

Yemin’s guitar riffs pull from the kind of classic-sounding melodic hardcore that he’s been a staple of since the ’90s, and they’re the perfect backdrop for Rachel’s impassioned voice. Usually she’s got a piercing scream, and uses it to deliver such powerful lines as “I know you’d like it if we just sat silent, and never challenged your ideas,” which opens the record. But she gets melodic too, like on “Black Veils,” which is as good an update on early emo-core as you can find these days. It’s a killer punk record, and the whole thing can be streamed below.

Open City have a few upcoming shows booked, including two in their hometown of Philly. The first of those is this Thursday (2/16) at Everybody Hits with Pinkwash. They also play day one of Get Better Fest at First Unitarian Church on 4/29. That also has Pinkwash, plus +HIRS+, Pandemix, Radiator Hospital, Solarized, and Soul Glo. Day two (4/30) has Thin Lips, Amanda X, Katie Ellen, and more. Tickets for 4/29, 4/30, and a two-day pass are on sale now.

That fest is just about a week after Paint It Black play their only US show of 2017 at that same venue, with Downtown Boys, Praise, Gouge Away, and Soul Glo. That show is sold out.

Open City — 2017 Tour Dates
Feb 16 Everybody Hits Philadelphia, PA*
Feb 17 Comet Ping Pong Washington, DC
Feb 18 Black Iris Richmond, VA
Feb 19 Downsquares Baltimore, MD
Apr 29 First Unitarian Church Philadelphia, PA*

* – w/ Pinwkash