The band formed in the summer of 2010, when Mike, Tom and Lawrence, previously of Official Secrets Act, sat together at a rather disappointing house party, listening to music. The three of them met Martyn through a mutual friend, and Thom later, after an old friend of the band suggested him to them. The reason they started the band was to make "amazing, imaginative pop music". Their bold statement about pop music is that "pop is not a dirty word, it’s a holy one!" They named the band after a headline on a Gotham City newspaper in a Batman comic and they like to think of it as "a call to arms, a statement, a mark in the sand". Lead guitarist Thom Rhoades is also a world renowned Carp angler, finishing as runner up in the 2013 Dorset Carp Angling Championships.
2011-12: ''Here We Are''
In early 2011, the band signed to French independent record label Kitsuné. In Spring that year they recorded their debut album Here We Are in Scotland with Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand, who asked to produce their record after hearing one of the band’s early demos. Kapranos told the NME that "there are only three or four bands a decade that really matter. Citizens! sound like one of them to me. They do something you haven't heard before, yet you feel they've always been in your life. They sound fresh because they aren't followers - they have the balls to do something new and it sounds good." Three singles were issued from the album: True Romance, Reptile and Caroline. An EP of these tracks was released prior to the release of the album in the US. Acts such as Goldroom, White Shadow, Gildas Loaëc and Gigamesh have all remixed their tracks. Here We Are received generally favourable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 69, based on 7 reviews. Les Inrocks placed True Romance at number ten on its 100 Best Songs of 2012 list. The band first began touring the UK and Europe in August 2011. They have toured with The Rapture, The Maccabees, Spiritualized and Two Door Cinema Club.
2013 – present: Second Album ''European Soul''
After completing an extensive world tour including Australia, Asia, South and North America, the band confirmed on Twitter in April 2013 that they were working on their second studio album. Their second album is titled European Soul and released officially on 13 April 2015. Its launch will be supported by a two-month-long European Tour. American dates have yet to be announced.
Awards and nominations
In November 2012 Citizens! were nominated for the "New Blood Award" for Best New Band by Artrocker. The video for True Romance directed by We Are From L.A. won a number of awards, including the 2013 Fubiz Award for Best Music Video.
