| Civil Civic | |
| Origin: | Melbourne, Australia |
| Genre: | Post-punk, noise rock |
| Years Active: | –present |
| Current Members: | Aaron Cupples Benjamin Green |
Civil Civic are an instrumental post-punk/electronic rock band consisting of two Australian musicians, Aaron Cupples (guitar, synth) and Benjamin Green (bass, synth), formed in 2009.[1] Aaron currently resides in London, UK, and Benjamin lives in Barcelona, Spain.[2] [3] They employ a drum machine which is referred to as the third member of the band and is called 'The Box'.[4] Their sound has been compared with bands such as Gang Of Four, The Pixies, My Bloody Valentine, The Cure, The Smiths, Sonic Youth and Joy Division.[5] [6] [7] Their live shows have been described as "a perfectly synchronised mesh of electro pop and cheek-vibrating space noise"[8] with a "stage presence and lust for playing that exhilarates in the extreme".
2008 – 2009: formation
The band was conceived by music producer Aaron Cupples who uploaded some home recorded demos to Myspace in 2008. In looking for a bandmate to realise the project he contacted Benjamin Green who responded enthusiastically. Aaron flew to Barcelona where they jammed for 2 weeks and CIVIL CIVIC was born. They had not met prior to this.[9] The concept was to make music that was highly energetic and intellectual without being overly dense and un-danceable. Their output so far has been wholly instrumental.
2010: first EP and single
In March 2010 they self-released a 5 track EP titled 'EP1' on 100 limited edition cassette tapes. MP3's of the lead single 'Less Unless' were widely blogged about and the single eventually reached number 1 on The Hype Machine popular charts. The single was also featured in NME for the first time. They initially adopted a D.I.Y approach and booked all their shows themselves but were picked up by the Julie Tippex booking agency in late 2010.[10]
On 8 June 2010 the band were The Guardian 'new band of the day' just prior to their follow up single "Run Overdrive" which was self-released in July 2010 on 500 limited edition 7" vinyl.
In November 2010 the single "Lights On A Leash" was released on 500 limited edition 7" vinyl on the Too Pure label[11]
2011: debut album
The band's debut full-length album was released in November 2011, it was praised by many bloggers and some mainstream press including Artrocker who gave it a 5 Star feature review[12]
2012: touring and visa complications
Civil Civic suffered a major setback with complications regarding Aaron's visa renewal process, the result was 6 weeks without a passport and the cancellation of 25 European shows.[13] The band did tour later in the year culminating with a show at France's La Route Du Rock festival where the band played after Spiritualized.[14]
2013 – present
Since 2010 the band have been touring consistently playing over 160 shows in 4 years [15] They are currently working on their second album after a successful crowd-funding campaign.[16]
2014: R. Stevie Moore collaboration
CIVIL CIVIC collaborated with R. Stevie Moore to produce the single "When You Gonna Find Me A Wife?" released by Remote Control Records
2016: second albumTheir second album, The Test, was released on 14 October 2016.