Melodic Metallers Steal The City Explain Their Debut Album – Road To Nowhere & Drop Video

19th July 2024 0 By Jon Deaux

As seen live with: Skindred, Those Damn Crows, Call of the Wild Festival, Tramlines Fringe, Mapfest, Womfest, Heaven’s Basement, Glamour of the Kill, Rockin’ the Bowl Festival, Rockmantic Carlisle, Winter Rocks Festival and many more.

If you’re a fan of Heavy Rock, Modern Melodic Metal or A Day To Remember, Trivium. Steal The City is a band to keep an eye on.

Steal The City drop their new album Road To Nowhere (on the 20th of September 2024. The band recently sat down to explain the album track by track as well as their new video

DRAG ME TO HELL

I had the idea of this song while I was doom scrolling on social media since it’s today’s norm. An awful habit I need to try and do less of if I’m honest. Sometimes you get a glimpse of how awful people can be on social media. Sometimes you can’t help but grab the popcorn when those people say things they really shouldn’t be and it blows up in their face. They immediately go into damage control and more often than not it just makes it worse. I’ve seen it when they try to drag someone else into their mess to either try and defend them or even to say ‘It’s just as much you as it is me’ and it backfires. We’ve all seen it when people in the comments like ‘baiting’ them to try and make it worse for that person too. Kinda like the person who’s screwed up is now being trolled.

Drag Me To Hell is from the perspective of a person who has been dragged into another person’s blunder. This person, however, is enjoying watching them squirm. Almost like fueling the fire and not helping the situation at all. It’s an over-dramatisation of watching a bad person get outed and fall with their ideals.

IN RUINS

This song was written around toxic work environments. I used to love where I worked, but one way or another, I was either overworked, underpaid, under-appreciated, or even a mix of all 3. It’s frustrating looking back because I used to think it was the norm. It only took me to have a mental breakdown in front of my wife and bandmates for them to tell me that something had to change. If I kept going the way I did, I’d just fall apart. I had to get out. This was the realization that I was worth more as an individual and I wasn’t going to tolerate being treated the way I was being treated anymore.

STAND TOGETHER

Nowadays, it’s an absolute godsend that the whole ‘It’s ok not be ok’ is in full swing. As a person who’s struggled with personal demons before, it’s amazing to see people letting other people know that they are not ok and struggling. Speaking out can be the next step in getting help if you are struggling with mental health or anything else that might be getting you down. Since I was in my teens, I always held my hand out or gave an ear to anyone who had problems. Even though sometimes I wouldn’t really know how to help, I’d still be there. Whether it’s someone just to talk to, a shoulder to cry on or even just someone who could be vented at, anything helps and you could really make that person’s day just by being there for them. However, some people don’t speak out and I feel we have a responsibility to hold our hand out and offer help. Stand Together is based on this. If you notice a friend or family member who seems to be struggling, ask them if they wanna talk about it or need help. Just being there can be enough. ‘Even though you feel alone, it doesn’t mean you’re on your own.’ You can overcome anything if you’ve got someone to stand together with.

IF YOU COULD SEE ME NOW

It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but one day we will all lose someone close to us. If You Could See Me Now explores this. It hurts knowing that you won’t see that person again, it hurts even more knowing that they were rooting for you with anything you wanted to do. It sucks when they are taken away from you before you could achieve it. When I wrote this song, I intended it to be a celebration. Although you are hurting and still carrying on, it’s because of them that kept spurring you on. Almost holding on to hope that although they are gone, they could still somehow see you doing what you love. Like they are watching over you.

YOU DON’T DEFINE ME

I never grew up with Rock and Metal, technically. Growing up, my only experience with rock and metal was from my Grandad who liked The Rolling Stones and Thin Lizzy but I never really clicked with it back then. Looking back, I really wish I’d have listened to him more with it because I’d probably be a better musician. My other experience with music was through playing WWE games as a kid. I genuinely didn’t realize that the music in those games was real bands. I legit, just thought it was video game music. So you can imagine when I started secondary and a couple of my mates liked rock and metal, it blew my mind that they knew the songs I was on about but they had never actually played any of the wrestling games I did. I think this sent me into my spiral of bingeing so much rock and metal. I’d never really found something that I enjoyed quite like this and didn’t realize how many bands were out there for me to explore. So I dove headfirst into it. Black band shirts, chains, studded belts around the arse, the lot. This sounds like I’m properly rambling about nothing to do with the song but believe me I’m getting there. One day I rocked up to school in a Metallica hoodie. I’d just bought it and absolutely loved it. So, when I strolled into the schoolyard and was attacked by a student in the school, trying to rip the jacket off my back saying ‘You aren’t allowed to like that band. I’ve liked them longer. As a kid this shook me and I’d never had that kinda thing happen to me before. I genuinely didn’t know if it was ok to like this kind of music anymore or if I was accepted, all because one person decided to take a punt at me. Luckily I had my mates around me to tell me ‘You are who you are’. So yep! I wrote a song about being pissed off and happy that I am who I am today. I’ll listen to what I want, wear what I want, and be what I wanna be and I won’t let anyone define who I am. Everyone is their own person and has the right to express who they are.

KNIGHT THE UNHOLY

When James came to us with this song, we all loved it instantly and knew it was gonna be a banger of a track. But in all the excitement, I realized that when it came to lyrics or even a song subject, I had absolutely nothing. I had the melody, structure, and everything to go, but nothing to base it on. I was banging my head against the wall. Almost wished that I was a badass rockstar with cool rockstar stories to write about. The proper Sex, Drugs, and Rock n Roll thing. As I’m thinking this, and absolutely knocking back a can of Monster Energy Drink. Then it hit me. Addiction. I’ve legit never taken any drugs. I’m a good lad and momma taught me well. I did however at one stage in my life have a ridiculous addiction to energy drinks. I just couldn’t stop taking them. It made me happy. Why the hell should I stop something that I like doing? I had a really scary moment where I thought I was gonna die of a heart attack in my bedroom as a teen. There was a new Mountain Dew flavor that came out and I was obsessed. I ended up buying a crate of it, taking it home, and having a night on my wrestling games on the PlayStation. Then I had a really stupid thought. ‘I wonder how many of these I could drink in one night?’ 12 out of 16 is the answer. The next thing I knew, I was lying on my bed trying to calm down. I felt like my heart was going to pound out of my chest and I physically couldn’t move. I was panicking that much. I’ve no idea how long I was there but it felt like hours. When I eventually calmed down, it was the next morning. I’d managed to pull an all-nighter and I felt awful. No energy and I definitely wasn’t happy. So yeah, Knight The Unholy is loosely based on a 17-year-old chuggy almost OD’ing on energy drinks.

TIMEBOMB

At one point in my life, I was pulled out with it at work, family life was busy with the new home my wife and I just bought, Steal The City was busy gigging everywhere and there was band admin stuff to sort out behind the scenes. Everything was going ok-ish, until I burned myself out so much that I passed out from it all. I ended up not being able to drive for a while whilst I waited for blood test results in case it was something serious because this had never happened to me before. In the end, the doctors said it was stress. That I was taking too much on and eventually it just got the better of me. Time Bomb is based on that time period in my life. It seemed good at the time, and I knew I was working my arse off because I cared about everything going on, but sometimes you’ve gotta take a step back or even ask for help.

TOMORROW’S ANOTHER DAY (Written by James Kirkham)

Tomorrow’s Another Day was written very shortly after my grandad passed away, and this track was never meant to see the light of day. It was only by chance that the rest of the band heard the track whilst recording, to which we agreed we would put it on the album. Writing this track was my way of dealing with my grandad’s death as I didn’t know how to deal with it at the time. Sadly, I didn’t get a chance to speak to my grandad as he was resting days before his passing, so the lyrics are what I imagined our final conversation to be. Tomorrow’s another day is fused with emotion from start to finish, from the grief of losing my grandad, to knowing he was proud of me, and knowing he’d want me to push forward, dream big and have fun doing it.

Tomorrow’s Another Day is about remembering and honoring your past, living your best in the present, and always striving for the best future.

UP IN SMOKE

This song came to me so quickly. Possibly the fastest song I’ve ever written lyrically. When the song was musically completed, I knew exactly what I wanted to write it about. This track is such an angry and aggressive-sounding song, I was glad that I finally had an outlet to get something off my chest. For a while, I tried to get along with someone who meant a lot to someone else. Almost like to keep this other person happy that I like their new friend. But as I tried and tried, I ended up realizing that they were just horrible human beings. Acting like a victim all the time, craving attention, and gaslighting others. I couldn’t justify trying with them anymore and they were also being vile to others around them. I’d had enough and just decided to avoid them as much as possible. I can’t let someone so toxic affect my life so much when I could just cut the cord. And that’s how Up In Smoke came to be. If you have someone toxic in your life, cut them out. Some people can change and will better themselves. Some people will just be dicks forever. Don’t waste your time with them.
ADRENALINE

I’ve always wanted to write a song based on this topic. It’s something I’ve always felt strongly about whilst being in a band. It’s just the absolute best. From playing to the bar staff in a tiny venue to playing the big festival stages with an awesome crowd. Traveling in a car stuffed full of 4 mates with all their music gear whilst listening to your current favorite songs at max volume. Having a laugh and making some wicked and awful memories together. Playing alongside some amazing bands and meeting lovely new people along the way. The adrenaline I get when I get up on stage absolutely sends me into overdrive and makes any journey worth it cause I get to play my music. And hey, if we’re lucky, maybe someone else will like the music we play. For me, I would love it if being a band ended up being my full time job and I know we’ve gotta work hard for it. But I also know that if we didn’t ‘make it’, I wouldn’t be disappointed at all. It’s our Road To Nowhere and we are going to keep driving on it until we can’t anymore.

ROAD TO NOWHERE

Now we get to the song that symbolizes the album. Yes, I know it’s the same lyrics as Adrenaline, but I see it a little differently in this context. This song is the feeling I get after I finally get into bed after a long day of gigging and being a musician. This is the feeling I get when I’m finally relaxing afterward and looking back on the day. Even if I’m not fully rested, I’d get up the next day and do it again in a heartbeat.