MARINA CITY at Bottom Lounge

"Sometimes to move forward you have to burn it all down." This became the motto for Ernie Ball's Band Of The Year; Marina City. The Chicago sextet spent most of 2018 stripping themselves down to the core in order to craft the truest version of the band. The evolution led ATWOOD MAGAZINE to claim, "Marina City’s music is sexy and sensual, resplendent and vibey. They’re indie pop with an R&B twist, evoking the best of Prince, Michael Jackson, and The 1975 without sounding like anyone but themselves." Eric Somers-Urrea's (drums) persuasive grooves and Aaron Heiy's (bass) addicting lines are used as a backbone for the band's signature sound. Matthew Gaudiano's use of brooding synthesizers and sultry piano sweep through every track. The guitar duo made up of Todor Birindjiev and Brian Johnson heightens the band with soaring solos, and biting rhythms. The commanding and soulful vocals of Ryan Argast dances over the top of each song while topics of love, loss, motivation, growing, and heartbreak drip through every lyric. ALTPRESS even went as far as to say "...This Theatrical Six Piece has the artistry and determination to give Brendon Urie (Panic! At The Disco) a run for his money." Accidentally meeting super producer Dino Zisis (Lady Gaga) at a rehearsal spot in north side of Chicago the band and the producer hit it off right away and began working the following week. "We needed a producer who didn't know anything about us or the scene we came from. We didn't want to ease into anything anymore. It was time to take off the training wheels and jump fully into it. At our shows people expected to mosh but we wanted them to dance. There were growing pains with what exactly we wanted this band to be. Marina City needed to make a statement and Dino made sure every step of the way we didn't curve from that path. We are comfortable in our own skin now and I think that makes us really dangerous." says Argast. The slinky and seductive first single, ADDICTED completed the transformation to the new era. The band sold out their hometown headliner, performed on WGN MORNING NEWS, and cumulated 76K Spotify streams within a few weeks. Idobi Radio championed ADDICTED describing the single as “…the last kiss before you say goodbye…but the memories will go on and on, which means this won’t be the last time you get “Addicted”.” Their next single is a Prince inspired summer anthem called, STRAWBERRY (May 24, 2019). The kinky single is layered with tongue and cheek lyrics, a tantalizing vocal performance, and gut-busting bass. STRAWBERRY is sure to be one of Marina City's new staples. The six members spent 2018 defining their sound but now dubbed “Chicago’s Indie Powerhouse” by SUBSTREAM it’s clear Marina City knows who they are.. The music is sexy, dark, dynamic, broke, beautiful, groovy, and it's nothing you can quite describe. The sextet breaks boundaries and bends genres. When describing the band’s sound Dance Charts exclaimed “Marina City works on two levels: the purely musical, but also on the deeper level, the content level. That's how Pop goes in 2019!".”