Softcore

By Meriha Beaton, Arts Contributor

Canadian based singer/songwriter Dallas Green is on the road again, and he won’t be going home in the near future.
“I don’t have any plans to stop any time soon,” says Green. “There is nothing but touring to do.” The Juno-winning artist, who is currently touring the U.S., will be hitting up the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium on Feb. 1, and due to his growing popularity, a second Halifax show was added for Feb. 2.
“All of the shows have been very well attended,” says Green.
Green’s passion for music began at the age of eight, when his parents gave him his first guitar. After a few years he began to fall in love with it.
“After that it was kind of a no brainer in my head – it was music,” he says. “It was the only thing I really wanted to do – it was the only thing I really felt that I was getting good at.”
Green’s big break came in 2001, when he joined the band Alexisonfire. The band’s aggressive, punk sound was offset by Green’s smooth and powerful voice. In 2005, Alexisonfire’s second album reached platinum and the band won a Juno for New Group of the Year.
The success of the band encouraged Green to pursue a solo career. In 2005 he released his first solo record, Sometimes, under the name City and Colour. The album was a compilation of songs Green had written over the years, covering themes of heartbreak and homesickness. Sometimes was not only a crossover into a solo career for Green, it also introduced an entirely new sound.
“I am just a big music fan, that is all it is,” he explains when asked about his diverse styles. “I have always leaned towards loud aggressive music since I was a kid, but at the same time I also really dig melody and simple songs. I am just really inspired by music and end up writing different sorts of songs.”
Originally inspired by Jeff Buckley to become a musician, Green says his music is more inspired by what he doesn’t like, than what he does.
“Certain things that I love make me almost depressed in a way, where I think: ‘This is so good. Why would anyone want to listen to what I’m doing?’ Whereas things I don’t like, I’ll see on T.V. or in a magazine and I think to myself: ‘Well, that is something I really don’t want to be like. I’m going to write a song that has nothing to do with that.’”
His honest and heartfelt songs are relatable to fans, as they discuss the pain and heartbreak experienced in everyday life. The ability to write such beautifully relatable songs comes from his personal experiences.
“I can’t seem to write a song that doesn’t involve myself,” says Green. “Maybe it is because I am selfish.”
In 2008, Green released his second album with City and Colour, Bring Me Your Love. In this album he experimented with a different sound and more complex lyrics.
Having written the songs on Sometimes when he was a teenager, he says Bring Me Your Love is a more mature album that focuses on the experiences he’s had in adulthood and is reflective of who he is now.
“The first songs were much more woe is me, heartbreak and relationship type songs, because when you are younger you think it is the end of the world,” says Green. “The new one is more about me getting older, and realizing there are more things to life.”