We were lucky to catch up with Moving City recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Moving City thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Constantly. Always.

When we met our current guitar player, Chris Johnson in 2020 we were presented with an opportunity to learn from and build a relationship with someone that had been through some of the rigours of the music industry, and also just a multi dimensional and talented musician. He really opened our minds to approaching music from multiple angles as song writers, and musicians who want to get better at their specific craft.

Since then, and with momentum behind the band coming off of just recording our first record, 2308, which was warmly received despite minimal marketing and live shows, we have each committed to progressing and challenging each other to progress as individuals.

We are all genuinely excited to learn from each other, and different artists that we play with, industry professionals and through more scholarly forms of practice. It’s really about going out and doing, and we are kind of in the process of doing just that.

We are also still in the process of coming into our sound as a five-piece, having spent the majority of time with Moving City performing as a duo. We believe that starting the project that way ended up providing us with a unique perspective on the music we create and how we can deliver it in different ways. Now, we perform most of our shows and songs in multiple arrangements depending on the scenario and crowd. By doing that we ultimately learned how to better play to an audience and connect with them on an intimate level.

It’s always been learning by putting ourselves out there and being receptive to other points of view.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Now a five-piece band based out of Vancouver BC, Moving City started back in 2013 in a small shared 1 bedroom apartment with Andrew Facciolo and Logan Shaw. With one of them sleeping in a bedroom for an extra $50 on rent and the other sleeping in the living room, the two spent a lot of time together playing acoustic guitars and writing songs. With what was purely a relationship built on housing affordability and mutual friends, their environment quickly turned into an immensely creative atmosphere and once they established a shared passion for music, it forged a lifelong bond and friendship.

They started writing songs and playing together constantly with a natural ease. The passion project quickly turned into a life style for the two fledgling musicians, it was the main focus during their tenure in Toronto for the next 2 years. Playing small shows and hitting open mics all over the city, the reception was always positive and the two decided to record their first song together titled “California” with Bernie Cisternas at Number 9 Audio in Toronto, both playing acoustic guitars and singing vocals. The song was never officially released but had a short run on Youtube in 2015 under the name Moving City which still stands today.

After the Toronto stint they both decided to put everything on hold to experience different parts of world, with Andrew going to Australia and Logan to Europe in 2016.

After about a year of travelling and other unexpected life events the two reunited back in Toronto. This time around they were living in different parts of the city but still making Moving City a priority, frequently spending time together to write new songs and kept playing shows.

An unexpected event in Logan’s life caused him to move away suddenly in January of 2018, going to Vancouver to spend time with his father who was terminally ill, eventually passing away in 2020. During these two years away Andrew and Logan kept in contact frequently, sending demos and always planning for their eventual reunion, this time in Vancouver.

The summer of 2020 was when the two would finally meet again and continue the Moving City project under very strange circumstances. Covid-19 had been only a few months in and working remotely became the only way Andrew could operate with his office job. With that, the move to Vancouver looked more realistic, him also having family in the area it made even more sense. Logan had mentioned during a call that he was moving into a bigger unit in his apartment and his affordable place was up for grabs. Andrew immediately jumped on the opportunity and was on a plane a month later. In July 2020 the two were back making music, living in the same apartment building and constantly creating.

The duo wrote a plethora of new songs, immediately diving back in and decided to record a full album. After consulting a friend and local musician in Vancouver, Kevan Schell (AKA Tobacco Brown), he steered them in the direction of fellow musician/producer Chris Johnson to start recording with. The three hit it off immediately after a quick meet and Moving City’s debut album “2308” began production.
The album was recorded, mixed and mastered in Chris’ warehouse rental that doubled as a DIY studio and building space for his woodwork, a place that has turned into a home base for the band with Chris eventually joining about a year later. The album featured Chris playing guitar/bass and drums, Logan on Guitar and vocals and Andrew on guitar and vocals.

After “2308” released in December 2020, Andrew and Logan continued writing new material, creating songs that reflected a more personal and emotional feeling then the catchy folk driven first record. They experimented with different sounds, venturing outside of their comfort zones to create their second album in 2021.

Once again hiring Chris Johnson to produce, the three ventured off on a road trip to record remotely in obscure outdoor places, this time in Squamish and Whistler BC. They were able to capture sounds of nature, from rain beading off a windshield at high speeds to flowing streams down the scenic rivers of northern British Columbia. The unique experience created a strong friendship between the three of them and with Chris’ experience producing and playing music, he became a mentor for the two songwriters. They wrapped up recording in the warehouse for overdubs and finishing touches and released the 13 track album “Little Dogs’’ in March 2021.

With all the extra time at home due to the lockdowns and living in the same building, Logan and Andrew were able to be ultra-productive and spent a lot of time rehearsing and writing almost daily, while also improving their overall skills. By the time “Little Dogs” was released, they had another group of songs ready to record. This time they were much more selective and each song was meticulously crafted creating a more rounded rock sound fit for a band as opposed to just a duo.

After building a relationship with Chris Johnson on the first two records , the three decided to team up as a band and bring in drummer Madison Norton from local band SEER to start recording album number three, “Nightflash”. After wrapping up production the four of them recruited local bass player Jan Toren to join the group and started rehearsing for shows in early 2021.

After playing a few smaller gigs in town the band started to network and gain some exposure locally as Covid restrictions slowly started to lift. Notably Moving City has played multiple MRG showcases in Vancouver, opening for Jon Bryant at the Imperial, The Shipyards Festival and opening for U.K. up and comers Red Rum Club at The Biltmore Cabaret. Moving City also played at NXNE 2022 and was included on Indie 88s top 20 bands to see for the festival out of over 300 artists and are due back as one of the first 100 invites to play again this summer for NXNE 2023.

More recently Moving City has recorded a 5 song EP titled “SNACKS”, with a single release in late April following the full EP early June making it their 4th album in 3 years

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For us I think its most rewarding being able to share our music with those willing to listen, which for us is a direct link to the lives we’ve lived so far, friendship as a band and how we tell the stories that bring us together as collaborators. Being able to bring those stories to life during live performances and sharing those moments with an audience is a feeling like no other.

How did you build your audience on social media?

This is a great question. We are continuously working on building/expanding our audience, the job is really never done. For us, creating the music comes naturally as a group but that’s really only a portion of the effort in getting the music heard. We have been seeing a steady incline of growth social media wise after fully committing to putting ourselves out there and just be ourselves. It’s inevitable that you’ll come across those that don’t resinate with your content, but that’s okay, you’ll find those that do. That’s probably the most important thing about the process, be yourself, take chances and steadily you will grow an audience in the process.

There is no perfect social media post.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.movingcitymusic.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/movingcitymusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MovingCityMusic/
• Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2rtbReyzlVWDzKAMKeO7rv?si=hV99-21lSKKRIA4Pl6bkgA&nd=1 Bandcamp: https://movingcity.bandcamp.com/ Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-552195861

Image Credits
Group photos by: Maddy Cristall Live Shots by: Mike Thomas