Joe from River City Extension was kind enough to sit down with PropertyOfZack before the band went on stage to support Max Bemis of Say Anything on his recent tour. Joe and I discussed the band’s touring schedule for the past six months, their new 7” and tour with Kevin Devine, and a possible late-2011/early-2012 release. Read up and enjoy!

For the record, could you state your name and role in River City Extension?
My name is Joe and I play the guitar and sing in River City Extension.
 
It’s really been a crazy six months for the band with tours with Lydia, The Get Up Kids, and now Max Bemis of Say Anything. Can you even fairly compare the beginning of the band’s career to that of the last six months?
Uh, no. You hope for everything and expect nothing. Or maybe it’s expect nothing and hope for everything. No, we just take things as they come to us. We’ve been blessed with a lot of great opportunities and I hope it continues that way. We’re trying as hard as we can. We’re working. That work, to some extent, is doing good things for us. We also have a great team behind us. The people that are booking us, and putting out our records, and making sure it gets played on the radio, and making sure that the right promotion happens, that’s the main reason that we are where we are. We just have such an incredible team of people working with us and we’re blessed to be with them and have such a close relationship with a lot of really, really great people.
POZ: Would you credit them, as well as the shows, to the explosion you guys have had in the past year?
Joe: Yeah, I don’t know. I can’t really gauge it. I hope that there is a big explosion. If there is, yeah I have those people to thanks.
 
Has it been interesting opening up to so many different kinds of crowds depending on the headliner?
Touring is so new to us right now that every tour is a new experience. That is a good thing.
POZ: Would you say playing to crowds of so many different genres is helping you spread out as much as you can?
Joe: I hope so. I hope that what we’re doing is universal. I hope that it reaches all different types of people. I guess you never know.
 
What’s the set list like on these few shows with Max?
The set is mostly stuff off of the record. We’re playing a couple new songs just cause we can. It’s easy. We can whip stuff together real quick. We’re working on new material right now, so that’s super exciting.
 
Have these shows been pretty successful?
Yeah, as far as we can tell. People are receiving it well and Max has been great. It’s been a pleasure.
 
All of this touring has been in support of your 2010 release, The Unmistakable Man. River City Extension has been doing all of this touring, but how has the reception to the record been?
So far, so good. We don’t get a lot of negative feedback, if any. If we do, any press is good press right now. If somebody’s Twitter hating as hard as they can, maybe that will encourage an onlooker to look us up.
POZ: Would you say that it’s definitely catching on the more you get around the country?
Joe: Definitely. We’re selling records every single show. It’s good. We’re spreading the word and are able to see a clear increase in people and fans at each of the shows. I think with this tour with Max, there are a lot of people who have heard of the band, but have never heard the band, so that’s cool. It’s all good.
 
It was released on XOXO Records. How has the relationship with the label been?
It’s very good. It was released on XOXO Records and Anchor And Hope Records, both of who we have a fantastic relationship with. I love them both dearly.
 
Does it ever get difficult to translate all of the pieces on the record into the live show?
No, we were transferring the live show onto the album when we recorded The Unmistakable Man.
 
River City Extension announced just a few weeks ago that the band would be heading out on a short run with Kevin Devine down to SXSW this March. Kevin certainly fits in more musically with your music. How excited are you for those shows?
It’s awesome, I adore Kevin as a songwriter and as a person. It’s so awesome to be putting out this record with him and spending some real time with him and being able to tour with him. I’ve been catching up and listening to as many of his records as I can get his hands on. They’re awesome. I saw him play Make The Clocks Move in its entirety at Maxwell’s. Dude, that was awesome. That really sent me over the edge with him. I was obsessed with that record for a while and then I dove into Brother’s Blood. Now I’m on the one with “Brooklyn Boy” as the first song. The one with the explosion of the front.
 
How did that come together?
I think we were just looking to do a 7” and we talked to Kevin about it and it just made sense. Kevin was going out to SXSW and we were going down. It just made sense.
 
The band played CMJ this past year, so how much are you looking forward to SXSW?
Yeah, it was our first show with Kevin at CMJ.
 
Will that split feature a new song?
Yeah, it’s two new tracks and I believe one new track and a cover or two new tracks from Kevin. I’m not sure. It’s two new tracks from us. They’re home recordings. It’s nothing too fancy.
POZ: When were they recorded?
Joe: Spring of last year in the my room.
POZ: Was it part of the same batch of songs as The Unmistakable Man?
Joe: No, it was past that. It was stuff that I had written afterwards.
 
Will we ever see that released digitally, or is just a tour special?
It’s going to be a tour exclusive 7”.
 
You mentioned earlier that you guys are continuing to write. How many songs are there?
We have a million new songs and a million pieces of new songs. As far as keepers, maybe four or five.
POZ: Are you guys looking to put out anything else this year?
Joe: Yeah, possibly. It’s in talks. We’re talking about it.
POZ: It’d be late this year?
Joe: At the earliest, late this year. More than likely in the first quarter of next year.
 
I’m sure touring has been getting to your bodies in the last bit, but are there more announcements coming for the spring and summer?
Yeah, we have some great surprises coming this summer that we’re really excited about. Within the next couple of weeks we’ll be making a few big announcements for the band.
 
Is overseas a possibility at all?
Yeah, we’re discussing it. It’s a matter of time and place and making sure we’re spending our little income wisely and doing what’s best for the band. If what’s best for the band is overseas then we’ll be overseas.
 
Thanks so much for your time, is there anything else you’d like to add or that we should be on the lookout for?
I think that’s all. You can check out the band on our website or Myspace or Facebook.