In 2015, I totally discovered one of my current favorite bands by total accident. The minute I heard the Electric Citizen song “Light Years Beyond” I was immediately floored. I wanted to know and hear everything I could about this band. Luckily, they only had one album and were to play Atlanta shortly after my discovery of them. Electric Citizen easily put on one of the most dynamic, electrifying, and exciting live shows I saw last year and I immediately was hooked and became a fan.
Husband and wife team Ross (Guitar) and Laura (vocals) Dolan were very willing to do an interview with the Great Southern Brainfart and I was so excited to finally get to talk to them. We discussed the origin of their name, what it was like opening for King Diamond, and just how they can be in a band as husband and wife and not kill each other. Ross and Laura were really cool people I totally enjoyed getting to know them. Now it’s your turn. Kick back and get to know more about Ross, Laura, and their awesome Cincinnati based band, Electric Citizen.
Thanks for taking the time out to do this interview this evening.
Laura: Hey Don! It’s great to hear from you.
Ross: Hi , Don. Thanks for having us!
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Before we get started, I have to congratulate you on winning a Farty Award in 2015. How big of an honor was that? You can give your speech now if you’d like.
Laura: [laughs] Thank you so much for that! Well, it’s the biggest award we won all year [laughs].
Ross: [laughs] That was funny.
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At least once, every band is asked that musical question, “Where did you get your name from?” Since I haven’t asked you this yet and I don’t know, what’s the story behind the name?
Laura: We got that name from an Edgar Broughton Band song called, “Death of an Electric Citizen.” We’re not as tuned into the doom word as we maybe should’ve been when we named our band because there is a lot of “electrics” out there, especially Electric Wizard [laughs]. That’s the name we started with and the name we released our first album under. We still like it and even though “electric” is an overused word, we just got over that.
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I think it’s a cool as fuck name. Matter of fact, I don’t even like Electric Wizard so I didn’t even put two and two together.
Laura: [laughs] That’s funny. Actually, the best compliment we ever got was from Bobby Liebling of Pentagram when he said, “Electric Citizen. Yeah, I like that. That’s what we all are. Electric citizens!” [laughs]
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Now you definitely can’t go back. You go the approval of Bobby Liebling!
Laura: [laughs] For sure!
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If you had to describe your band to someone who has never heard you, how would you do so?
Laura: Oh man, [laughs]. Rock n’ roll is what I would like to describe ourselves as. No frills rock n’ roll at that. I think that encompasses it all for us. It’s hard to start dividing out into sub-genres because I don’t feel like we fit into any single one of them. For that reason, I just like to keep it at rock n’ roll. Even the “female fronted” thing isn’t something I necessarily like to point out in our bios because to me it’s not a novelty. I’m just here like the rest of the guys wanting to make music and have fun.
Ross: On the other hand, I’d like to say that we’re similar to classic rock or even Black Sabbath with a female vocalist. I’ve had people ask me that before that aren’t super into music so that’s usually my basic answer to them.
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Electric Citizen definitely has the Sabbath element but there are so many other influences that I can hear in there. What would you say that some of them are?
Ross: I mean, I have to say that The Stooges and the MC5 are more of an inspiration than Sabbath or Pentagram. It’s just that raw 70’s Detroit rock sound. It was just so raw and nasty. That area is only about 3 hours away from us so it’s very relatable to the lifestyle we live here. A lot of the same stuff happens in Cincinnati that happens in Detroit. It’s blue collar work and is just kind of rough. It’s not all sunny days and 70 degrees like California [laughs].
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Sateen is quite a monstrous album and the songs are so well written. Who is primarily responsible for the writing?
Ross: Thanks so much, Don. It’s kind of a half and half. I write the music and Laura writes the melodies and words. I wish I could sit down and write an entire piece of music but it never really works that way. I usually have a verse or maybe an intro and a verse and then we’ll just kind of hammer away at that until it becomes something.
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I happened to stumble across Electric Citizen while on a journey down the psych rock rabbit hole. How are you finding that most of your fans are discovering you?
Laura: Pretty much organically. We’ve done a lot of touring and that certainly helps people find us. Supporting bigger bands like Fu Manchu, Wolfmother, and Pentagram has helped a great deal. Just the combination of touring and the internet. Thank God for the internet. I don’t think we’d be half as big as we are without the Internet. You can connect with people all over the world using that technology which is one of the coolest things I think about living in this time that we live in. I think, for the most part, we’re still an undiscovered band at this point so hopefully we’ll just continue to organically grow.
Ross: For me, it’s more about touring. Laura talks about the internet but I kind of disagree. I think the internet is completely over-saturated with bands, and bad bands [laughs]. The internet almost becomes a vacuum. I think we’ve covered the most ground just touring. It’s very important that bands get out there and tour. I rarely go online to look for bands.
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EC had a great tour last year with the Riding Easy Records tour. How was your first headlining tour and what kind of lessons did you learn along the way?
Ross: I think we learned that we need to tour with maybe just one other band. We found out that it was hard for venues to put together a bill because we were with two other bands. Even though we loved all of the bands we were touring with.
Laura: When a touring three band package comes to town and the venue still has to tack on local support on top of that. Then you end up a five or six band bill and it can get pretty cumbersome for the people that are attending those shows. That’s just something that we’ll plan for in the future. It was such a great tour and we’d love to do that again this year but, like Ross said, maybe with just one other band versus a whole package.
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Electric Citizen recently opened for King Diamond. How was that experience?
Ross: It was awesome. Everyone in the band but Laura and I got to meet King so we were pretty bummed about that. Other than that it was amazing [laughs]. We had never seen King Diamond before and we knew that they really put on a theatrical show. When we played we had a good, solid show and we were really happy. By the time King Diamond came on and we got to see his show, it was amazing. That’s probably a top 10 all time favorite show for me.
Laura: His voice is super human [laughs]. It’s incredible. It’s something other worldly.
How was the crowd? I know that a King Diamond crowd can be a tough crowd.
Ross: They were surprisingly really sweet and they bought a ton of merch. We sold out of our CDs, we were signing records, and taking pictures. We were kind of taken back by it. Then it was followed by, “Where are you from?” When we said, “Cincinnati” they said, “We hate you!” [laughs] There’s a big rivalry between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh’s football teams so that was funny. It was all in good humor.
Laura: It was all in good fun but on stage, I didn’t say we were from Cincinnati. I just said Ohio [laughs]. Our cities are so similar that I’m like, we should all be buddies [laughs]. They look almost identical.
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You have a new album coming out soon. What can you tell us about the album and what to expect?
Laura: It’s all going to depend on how quickly the record plant can press our vinyl. There’s a huge backlog right now with vinyl pressing and it takes like 4-5 months to get a record pressed. It’s looking like April right now but that might get pushed back a little bit. There will probably be some songs leaked out before that happens. We’re really excited. When we wrote and recorded our first album, we didn’t ever anticipate anyone giving a shit [laughs].
Ross: Yeah, we just did it for fun. This band was formed purely just for fun with my wife and a couple of friends. It wasn’t meant to be where we are now where we’ve got all of these great shows under our belt. That was just kind of a fluke that came along with it. Our first album was just like, “Let’s make music like Black Sabbath and Pentagram because it’s fun to play!” Also, Laura’s only been singing for like four years or so. The first record is the first thing she ever sang on.
Laura: This new album was recorded at the same studio that we recorded Sateen but the big difference is that we took this one down to Nashville for mixing. A lot of the magic happens in mixing and I feel like we do have a more balanced sound quality and more full sound than the first one. As far as the songwriting, we’re just continuously trying to push ourselves beyond what we’ve done. I’m always trying to be in a constant state of improvement.
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Being married in the same band. That sounds pretty brutal. How do you guys make this work without killing each other?
Ross: [laughs] We’ve definitely had our moments. On our first tour we had a few rough patches but nothing we couldn’t just talk about and get over. As more tours roll in and we do them we just kind of learn how to be in a band together. Laura and I get along really well to begin with but we’ve hit our little spots.
Laura: I think a lot of it was just learning how to tour. I think that’s a hell of a thing to take on for a band that’s never done that before. All of the sudden, you’re in closed quarters for 30 days with the same people and it takes some adjusting. Ross and I both are pretty introverted so to not have any alone time is something you’ve got to get used to [laughs].
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What was it that made you want to play music in the first place?
Ross: I was introduced to Jimi Hendrix when I was 12 years old and I was completely blown away. I couldn’t believe somebody could make all that sound with one guitar and I became incredibly inspired. I got my first guitar a couple of years later.
Laura: There’s a big theater here in Cincinnati called Taft Theater. We had gone there for something, I was four years old at the time, and I looked up at my mom and said, “Mom, when do I get to be on that stage?” I think from a very young age I’ve just been drawn to performing. I participated in drama all through school and I also grew up with artistic parents so I’ve always been immersed in that world. For a really long time I was really scared to sing in front of people. I don’t know why but at some point it just clicked in my brain: “Why on Earth am I not doing this if this is what I want to do?” This pushed me into starting some small projects and bands with friends which led me to where I am now with Electric Citizen.
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If you could play with any band, from any era for just one night who would it be?
Ross: Mine would definitely be the Jimi Hendrix Experience. I would just play some rhythm guitar and let him rip [laughs].
Laura: Oh, that’s such a hard question. There’s so many bands flying through my head. There’s this band from Germany that I’m completely obsessed with called Frumpy. Have you heard of them?
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I fucking love, Frumpy. I’m a huge fan of their debut album.
Laura: Yes! That album is so amazing. Yeah, I think it would be incredibly fun to be in Frumpy or even another cool girl group like The Runaways. That would be amazing.
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If Electric Citizen could hit the road with any band, who would it be and why?
Laura: Ross and I have been obsessed with Flower Traveling Band. Maybe we can bring them back to life [laughs]. The instrumentation and the vocals in this band are just so unique. I love them so much. As far as current bands? Not sure. Ross, what do you think?
Ross: Well the Stooges are still a current band!
Laura: Yeah! Can we play with the Stooges, Don [laughs].
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What is one hard rock/metal album that nobody should go without owning?
Ross: Man, I’d have to say, for me, since I love Detroit rock so much, I’d have to say Funhouse by The Stooges. That’s a definite must own hard rock album that shows you how to put some balls and some mean spirit into the music.
Laura: Hard rock or metal. I guess T. Rex isn’t heavy enough but I fucking love T. Rex. T. Rex’s Electric Warrior pretty much saved my life the first time I heard it. It’s go so much attitude and the lyrics are so awesome and untouchable. Only he could write and sound like that. When you have an album that you listen to for the first time and it changes you, those are the ones that everybody should just go and buy. That’s the one that I heard in my early 20s and I still listen to it all the time.
Finish this sentence: If I wasn’t a musician I would be _____________.
Laura: I got this [laughs]. I always said that my ultimate back up plan for if all of this falls apart and Ross gets hit by a bus is to just move out west and become a cowgirl. I rode horses for 14 years and I was obsessed with them and I still am. I don’t really ride anymore but that’s my ultimate backup plan.
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Ok, Ross. What are you going to do if Laura gets hit by a bus?
Ross: [laugh] Oh man, that’s a tough one. I don’t know. I’ve never given it much thought but it would probably be pretty depressing [laughs]. I’ll just probably keep working my job to make ends meet and walking around alone.
Laura: That’s the saddest answer I’ve ever heard [laughs]. I did just make Ross promise that if I ever lost my legs that he’d have to carry me around in a backpack [laughs].
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That’s awesome! You can carry her around on your back like Yoda! Get her a headset mic and shit!
Laura: [laughs] Yes! See, we do have a backup plan for if I ever lose my legs!
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Last but not least, what’s in store for Electric Citizen in 2016?
Ross: More touring [laughs].
Laura: We’re working on getting the 2nd album out and we’re just really excited to start playing these songs out for people and seeing what this album will do for us, if anything. We’d love to get to Europe and play some festivals over there. They have such a great appreciation for rock n’ roll there. I feel that brewing here in the US but it’s on full blast in Europe and I love that. We just want to get out to as many cities and countries as we can.
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Well thanks so much for taking the time out to talk to me tonight. It was great to catch up with you guys!
Ross: Thank you, Don.
Laura: Thanks for supporting us. People like you keep us going and we really appreciate what you do.
For more on Electric Citizen, head over to https://www.facebook.com/ElectricCitizen
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