San Cisco


San Cisco is an Australian indie pop band that formed in 2009 under the original name of King George, in Fremantle, Western Australia. The band are a three-piece, and currently consists of Jordi Davieson, Josh Biondillo and Scarlett Stevens. All members, except Stevens, share duties on keyboards. In November 2011, the band was signed by Albert Productions, but moved to Island Records for the release of its debut album. In October 2012, the band described its '' as "squelchy, crispy, streamlined, hairy, indie". At the ARIA Music Awards of 2013 the group were nominated for Best Independent Release and Best Dance Release for the album; and Best Video for "Fred Astaire", which was directed by Andrew Nowrojee.

History

Formation

The three male members of San Cisco attended the same high school, Christian Brothers College in Fremantle, whilst Stevens attended nearby Iona Presentation College. Singer/guitarist Davieson and drummer Stevens have known each other since early childhood. At only thirteen Davieson's first band was The Real Life Animators. The band formed in early December 2005, with Albert Loss on lead guitar and vocals, Davieson on rhythm guitar and vocals, Bill Lawrie on drums, and Theo Campbell on bass guitar. The band played around Fremantle, supporting other bands such as the Watts and the Flairz. Stevens' first performances were in December 2003, at age eleven, as the drummer for the rock trio, the Flairz, together with Dion Mariani and John Mariani. Meanwhile, Biondillo and Davieson also bonded over a shared interest in skateboarding, the water, and music. Stevens is the daughter of Phil Stevens, who co-founded Jarrah Records with both the John Butler Trio and The Waifs, two bands that he also manages. Biondillo has explained, "I started playing guitar when I was in high school, about year 8 or 9, but it was mostly just playing music in my bedroom. So I did that until I met Jordi and then we started jamming together."
In late 2009, Davieson, Stevens, and Biondillo started playing music together and were later joined by bass guitarist Gardner. Initially called King George, the band changed its name to San Cisco after surveying friends and fans. According to the band, "there is no link between the city San Francisco and our name San Cisco..... The reason we went with San Cisco was because it is nothing; like a blank canvas which we were able to sculpt into whatever we wanted".

2010-2011:''Golden Revolver''

In 2010, San Cisco recorded its debut EP Golden Revolver at Blackbird Studios, in Perth, Western Australia. The EP's five songs were co-produced by Little Birdy drummer Matt Chequer and veteran engineer/producer Steven Schram. "Golden Revolver", the EP's critically acclaimed lead single, received heavy airplay on national Australian radio station Triple J. XFM London DJ Mike Walsh said of "Golden Revolver"; "If this song was brought to me as the next Vampire Weekend single, I would not be disappointed".
The music video for "Golden Revolver" shows the band sailing along Western Australia's Margaret River on a makeshift boat. The group's second single "Girls Do Cry" and a cover of Perth band Tame Impala's 2010 single "Solitude is Bliss" are also featured on the EP. Prior to the release of Golden Revolver, San Cisco was profiled in a December episode of Triple J Unearthed.
San Cisco performed at numerous festivals throughout 2011, such as Adelaide's Fuse Festival, BIGSOUND in Brisbane, the Melbourne, Victoria leg of the St Jerome's Laneway Festival, the Pyramid Rock Festival on Victoria's Phillip Island, Peats Ridge Festival in New South Wales' Glenworth Valley, and the Western Australian stops of the Big Day Out and the Groovin' the Moo festivals. The band has also supported established Australian acts, such as The Grates, Jebediah and Architecture in Helsinki, and made appearances on the Australian version of BalconyTV and 3 News.
In late 2011, the band was signed by Albert Productions, the home of major Australian acts such as AC/DC and Megan Washington—the label described San Cisco's sound as "rough, low-fi garage pop" mixed with "bright catchy hooks". In September 2011, the band released "Awkward" and became the band's first charting single. In an interview, Davieson said to song is "...a bit of a weird story about a stalker, involving me and Scarlett. It's completely made up". The song was voted number 7 in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2011.

2012-2013: ''Awkward'' & ''San Cisco''

In February 2012, the band's released their second EP, Awkward.
In September 2012, the band left Albert Productions to join the roster of United States label, Fat Possum Records—a deal that was made in partnership with RCA Records—for the release of its debut album San Cisco in all territories, except for Australia, on 23 November 2012. Singles "Wild Things" and "Fred Astaire" were released from the album and featured in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2012. In December 2012, Triple J announced that the station's listeners had voted San Cisco into the No. 10 position in the "Listeners Top 10 Albums Poll".
In March 2013, San Cisco appeared at the CMJ Festival in New York City. Writing for the Bullett website, Luke O'Neil presented the band's CMJ showcase in a positive light saying "Better off not planning to do anything and hope you accidentally stumble across something you didn't know you wanted to see and avoid disappointment. That's what happened last night... I found an Australian band called San Cisco playing, and against all odds, their breezy indie charms—something of a cross between Vampire Weekend and Arctic Monkeys, put the first smile on my face of the night." In May 2013, San Cisco recorded a cover version of the Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" and N*E*R*D's "Hypnotize U" for Triple J's Like a Version segment.
At the ARIA Music Awards of 2013 the group were nominated for Breakthrough Artist - Release, Best Independent Release and Best Dance Release for their debut album; and Best Video for "Fred Astaire", which was directed by Andrew Nowrojee.

2014-2016: ''Gracetown''

In October 2014, San Cisco released "Run", the lead single from their second studio album Gracetown, which was released on 6 March 2015. The title of which was inspired by Gracetown a small coastal town in Western Australia. In early March immediately prior to the release of the album, bass player, Nick Gardner accidentally shot himself in the foot when rabbit shooting at a friend's farm near Collie. As a result, he missed the band's tour of the United States and Mexico, promoting the new album.

2017-2019: ''The Water''

San Cisco released their third studio album "The Water" on 5 May 2017. The album was preceded with the singles"Slo-Mo" and "Hey, Did I Do You Wrong?".
To promote the album, the band commenced one of their biggest Australian tours on 18 May 2017. Visiting 21 shows in 46 days, guitarist Josh Biondillo said ahead of the tour: "Yeah it's definitely a big one. I think it will be a good reintroduction to the fans and the crowd. The whole thing, I think, for me, is a lot more mature. Even though we're still doing the silly stuff that we've always done, but hopefully in the tour maturity as songwriters and performers." They played at the 2017 Splendour in the Grass festival.

2020: ''Flaws'' & ''Between You and Me''

In March 2020, the band released the EP, Flaws. In July 2020, the band announced the release of Between You and Me, set for release in September 2020.

Influences

The band has identified MGMT, The Flaming Lips and Vampire Weekend as influences on its songwriting and, as of January 2011, Stevens worked in a record store, a connection that the band members have explained "creates new influences and ideas, which we can apply to our own music."

Other projects

Stevens is responsible for the backing vocals on the Bob Evans song "Go", from his fourth album Familiar Stranger. She performed vocals on the single version of Australian rapper Illy's song Tightrope.
She is the drummer for the Ghetto Crystals, a new post-grunge project featuring her and guitarist/vocalist Doug May.

Band members

Current members

Touring members

Former members

Discography

Studio albums

EPs

Singles

Awards

ARIA Music Awards

The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. San Cisco has been nominated for three nominations.