Londoners Chris Bull and Mike Grice met on a cold Tuesday night in Manchester, in a queue outside a Ryan Adams concert.
The pair had both recently moved north with little money and no friends, and quickly bonded over a mutual love of the great songwriters of the 90s, not too mention the need for two southerners to stick together up North. The pair quickly set out writing music together, with the intention of forming a band and travelling the world.
Fast forward 6 years, and the pair are founding members of one of Manchester’s most critically acclaimed bands City Reign, having released an album, toured the UK and Europe, and made a lot of friends along the way.
The band have had the pleasure to record with producer Sam Jones (Band on the Wall, Alex Turner) in Salford’s Sacred Trinity Church, where they recorded their full length debut album ‘Another Step’. They have also had the honour of working with Grammy winner Dan Parry in London’s Metropolis Studio and Fred Kindt (of Manchester band Slow Show) at the Blueprint studios over the years.
At the same time they have also set up an independent record label, ‘Car Boot Records’. Their debut single ‘Making Plans’, released in September 2010, caught the ears of Steve Lamacq who listed them as one of his favourite new bands during 2010’s In The City Festival.
