For some people, acquiring a pimped out ride and a pimped out life is a worthwhile aspiration. Ask Self Against City lead singer Jonathan Temkin about his goals and he tells a very different story. "People are searching for something to make them complete," he says. "If we can inspire people with our music, I can die a happy person." Temkin may be on to something, especially in light of Self Against City's revelatory new Drive-Thru/Rushmore CD Telling Secrets to Strangers. Produced by Steven Haigler (Brand New, the Pixies, Fuel), the songs on the album were written by Temkin and guitarist Jack Matranga. The two sketched out every progression, guitar riff, and rhythm in advance. The prep time paid off, as a seamless cohesion ties the album together. "Every song is a chapter," says Temkin, "a summation of everything we went through in the last year."
He's referring to rock n' roll grad school, i.e., touring a big country in a small van. Every triumph and misbegotten adventure has been converted into song, starting with "Becoming a Monster," a punch-drunk rocker Temkin calls "our mission statement." The track exemplifies the band's signature sound: buzzsaw guitars, choppy rhythms and Temkin's trip-wire vocals. "We want to be energetic and melodic at the same time," says Matranga. "But we didn't want just one song repeated ten times on the record."
That quest wasn't born yesterday. Though the band made a big impression with their 2005 Rushmore debut EP "Take It How You Want It," recorded just three short months after inception, the origins of Self Against City stretch back further. The son of a single mother, the Texas-born Temkin grew up in Hawaii, Germany and northern California, raised mostly by a loving aunt and uncle. He was given access to all kinds of musical instruments and became proficient on several. But it was a Matchbox 20 concert in Frankfurt that proved the tipping point. ..Something changed in me,.. he remembers, "and I said, 'That's what I'm going to do.' From then on I begged for a guitar and at 15 I finally got one."
The band cut a few demos, posting two online. Those tracks caught the ear of Drive-Thru Record's co-founders Richard Reines and Stefanie Reines, who kept tabs on the band's progress. Only five months after officially forming, the band had their Rushmore deal, and soon enough a debut EP. Buoyed by rave reviews, Self Against City toured the U.S. as well as performed at the CMJ convention. All the while, they were thinking ahead to the new CD. "We're a high energy rock band,." says Matranga, "but we wanted to write something a little bit deeper."
With the release of Telling Secrets to Strangers, Temkin, Matranga and LaTour are looking only forward. “The day we finished the album," says Temkin, "I thought we did everything we set out to do. We made a record we are proud of, and wrote songs we believe in. Now its time to let people know who we are.“

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