Artist Spotlight ~ Satellite Citi

Artist Spotlight is a segment that we started to introduce our listeners to some deserving up and coming artists/bands. They have made an impact on us for all of the right reasons. We think they kick ass and we hope you do too! Today we’d like to shine the spotlight on LA modern rockers Satellite Citi!

Satellite Citi are a Los Angeles based Hard Rock band with front-woman Anna Gevorkian serving as both lead vocalist and drummer. While combining infectiously catchy vocals with thunderous drums, guitarist and backing vocalist, Shaunt Sulahian, provides powerful and distinctive guitar riffs that resurrect the hard rock genre with its originality. The band are joined by anonymous Spacewalkers on guitar, bass and keys for their live show. The distinct sound that Satellite Citi crafts with their unique blend of riff-filled modern rock and melody driven vocals is just as important as their message. The band combines social commentary with a deep appreciation for history and ancestry on their debut album Fear Tactics. The record thematically also centers around the importance of mental health and represents the band’s own struggles of coping with fear and anxiety, that are even more permeated in today’s culture.

“Deemed as the fresh new band to resurrect the beloved rock genre with their own modern and exciting approach, Satellite Citi are on the road to delivering audiences with music that tackles important issues that our society is facing today.” – Huffington Post

We were able to sit down with Anna and Shaunt for a short, but fun Q&A session!

Every superhero or villain has an origin and a band is no different minus the radioactive spiders and secret government experiments. What is the origin of Satellite Citi?

Satellite Citi started off as an acoustic project but we soon realized that we wanted to play our songs with a full band live. I (Anna) was already singing for the band and had been drumming since I was 12 but I never thought to do both. Shaunt, our guitarist, really wanted me on drums so he convinced me to do both. We wanted to keep the vibe of the band as a duo but have more members on stage for that full live sound, so we had the idea of anonymous members called Spacewalkers. We rotate out members depending on availability but usually it’s the same few people who are playing with us live and it’s been so fun playing with all of them.

Band names can have a meaning or it can be a name pulled out of a hat. What’s the story behind Satellite Citi?

The band name came from a song I heard by Metric called “Satellite Mind.” I remember listening to it when we were thinking of band names and thinking of a place where people communicate telepathically and the band name came to me.

What are you guys currently working on?

We are gearing up to release our concept EP that goes along with a comic book that we wrote, both titled “Spacewalker”. The EP is Produced by David Bottrill, who we had a blast working with. “Spacewalker” the first single off the EP comes out August 14th and the EP comes out on Sept 27th. The comic book was created with an amazing team, Art by Magenta King, Colors by Jason Wordie, and Lettering by Nate Piekos of Blambot. It is a fictional fantasy/sci-fi origin story about Spacewalker and how he came to be and the songs on the EP tell the story.

What was your favorite cartoon growing up?

Anna: Rugrats 😉

What are your 5 favorite movies?

Shaunt: Arrival, Interstellar, LOTR trilogy The Matrix, Dune Part 1 & 2