A chat with City City bassist Valerie Ngai

While having a name that’s incredibly hard to Google, City City has become known in Los Angeles for its catchy, dancy, pop/electronic sound. Jet Setter Productions will be bringing the five-piece indie band to play their first show in Hawaii this weekend.

I had a chance to chat on the phone with Honolulu-born bassist Valerie Ngai about everything from the band’s first tour to craving local food to her musical education in Hawaii and abroad.

City City, with GRLFRNDS and Sing the Body
SoHo Mixed Media Bar
Friday, April 29 at 8 p.m.
$10 for 21+, $15 for under 21, at groovetickets.com

Excited to come back home? How long have you been gone?

I’ve been gone for 5-6 years, and I’ve been waiting all this time to play in Honolulu. I had a tour with other bands, and everyone else hits their hometown but me. We’ve been telling everybody we’re playing in Hawaii, and they’re like, “what?” I go back once or twice a year, for family. I’m excited that I get to show my friends my home, and get some home cooking (My parents own Ken Fong Restaurant on Smith Street). We’re super stoked about eating.

Where did you go to school, and when did you get into music?

Public school. I was waiting for fourth grade to happen so I could take orchestra. I was in Youth Symphony growing up. I went to McKinley & Kalani and took lessons from Punahou. I played in the UH band and every music ensemble that there was. I did a lot of musicals after college, then I went away for a year to Washington State and did symphony there… When I moved to LA, I was doing theaters for a while.

Then I got into a little indie band, and I liked being in a band. I missed being in orchestra, but it sort of shifted.

How did you get hooked up with City City?

Just from the network of LA. Me and the drummer started together, it’s actually our one-year anniversary (with the band). Everyone hooked up in LA and really clicked. The two guys met in LA at a party, and it was bromance at first sight. Jeff and Kyle were working at this pizza place and that’s how they picked up Kyle. They did their thing for 3-4 years, and then wanted to do a full band again. That’s where Jared and I came in. Jared actually went to high school with Jeff in Nebraska, and met him in LA.

I had heard about them, and Kyle and I had a mutual friend. It’s going to sound like a relationship. They were looking for a bassist, and I’d just gotten out of another band. I didn’t want a commitment, or to jump into anything too fast. We called each other that night and I said I wanted to come in and try it out. Right off the bat, I decided I want to do this. I get their sense of humor, and we really believe in this music. I think it’s going to go somewhere, and these guys are great.

What do you miss the most about Hawaii?

The food that I grew up with!

What are some of your favorite local spots to eat?

Zippy’s, L & L Drive Inn, Da Spot, that curry house in Makiki, and we gotta get some garlic shrimp from Kahuku. I really like all the hole-in-the-wall places.

What are you planning to show the rest of your band while you’re here?

I’m going to make them eat about six times a day. That’s what I miss the most. A couple of them have been here before. We’re going to take a day to drive around the island. I really want to do a hike to the tide pools, and Kyle really wants to see Pearl Harbor. The night after we play, I think we’re going to see the Fruit Bats play (Saturday at Hard Rock Cafe). We’re not going to try and cram too many things in, though, because this past tour (City City’s first) has been pretty crazy.

Tell me about your first tour.

We drove from LA to Nebraska and Missouri in 10 days, which is pretty strenuous.

I notice you guys used a Kickstarter.com campaign to raise money for your tour van.

Yeah, we didn’t know what kind of reaction it would get, but we met our goal in five days. Kickstarter is a really great tool. It makes it seem more legit than if you just ask people for money. We weren’t sure whether we’d get enough for a down payment, but when we did get the money, we took out a loan. It’s one of those camper vans where the back seat turns into a bed, and we haul a trailer behind with all our stuff. Unfortunately we can’t drive it to Hawaii, but this really opens it up for us. Instead of taking five cars everywhere, we just have the van. And we’ll never get a speeding ticket because we can’t go that fast.

Any tour drama? What was the group living experience like?

Going into it, I was really nervous about being confined to a small area with four other people. We were talking about it later, and we still love each other. I was very pleasantly surprised how well we got along. We got some good recordings of some snoring, though that’s the biggest secret we learned, is how to stop someone from snoring.

We spent one night in a Walmart parking lot, because that stretch was a long drive and everyone was sleepy, but for most of our trip we knew people. We were very blessed that people opened up their houses and apartments for us.

Where’s the most interesting place you performed?

We played in some unconventional venues, like a wine restaurant. All we had was an address. We walked in to some places and they told us to keep it down, but it turned out really well.

We did get shut down by the police in Boulder, if you want a rock & roll story, for being a little bit too loud. It started snowing afterward. We had a snowball fight that night, it was great.

What did you guys listen to while you were driving?

The Strokes, Arcade Fire, MGMT, Killers, David Bowie, some of the older stuff like Stevie Wonder. Passion Pit, which I’m really digging right now, and LCD Soundsystem. We threw some classical in there, listened to ‘Avenue Q.’ It was kind of all over the map. And of course new wave stuff from the ’80s, because we’re all ’80s kids.

Is your sound influenced by any of those?

Our sound is definitely influenced by new wave/’80s. We like that pop sense. We go really electronic for some stuff.

It was nice playing in places like Kansas, where we don’t know anybody, and still have people come up to us and say, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re awesome.’ We like hearing what works and what doesn’t. It’s definitely going to help our writing. As soon as we get back from Hawaii, we’re going to start writing and recording for a new album. We have some new songs already and are planning to come out with another EP sometime this year.

I grew up in Hawaii when Internet was dial-up and you were just exposed to whatever was mainstream, whatever was on the radio, unless you had cool friends. Now Hawaii’s exposed to so much more. I’ve been back and I’ve listened to some of the newer bands there and they just blow me away. I saw GRLFRNDS last time I was home. I wish they could drive over and come do a show with us.

Everyone in the band works in the education field, right?

Yeah. I’d done some coaching… I got into the administrative stuff for a private school in LA. I teach bass sometimes. The other guys, Jeff teaches, Jared used to teach. Dan works at a juvenile delinquent boarding school with troubled teens. Kyle’s a job coach for people with special needs. Those are day jobs, and we like them. We’re lucky that there’s fulfilling jobs in another part of our lives, and that we have our nights free for music.

Check out City City’s music. Here’s the official video for their song, “The Network.”