It’s not often that a local band will get 360 fans out in support of its first gig. Then again, it’s not often that a band’s first gig doubles as its last.
The Black and White City—vocalist Carlos Ramos, guitarists Omar Espinosa and Larry Hurtado, bassist Alex Fodich and drummer Oscar Garcia—debuted and retired at all-ages venue Jillian’s this past weekend. “It was really good,” Espinosa says of the emo-punks’ set, which featured “My Pretty and Her Pendulum,” “Impossible,” “All the Time,” “Scumbags” and “21 Days.” “Honestly, it was way better than I thought it was going to turn out.”
Concurs Ramos, “The show went so great. We almost cancelled last week due to us not practicing and being so unprepared, and our bass player calling us two days ago and telling us he wasn’t comfortable playing in front of people. Our buddy Josh [Newman] stepped in and learned all the songs while the opening bands were performing.”
Formed a year and a half ago as an acoustic duo featuring Ramos and Hurtado, the lineup solidified when Espinosa amicably parted ways with the controversy-plagued Escape the Fate in October. But as Ramos wrote in a March 1 MySpace blog, “We just weren’t working together the way we had hoped it would work out, and we all had so many different ideas in which direction we wanted our music to grow in. And with that said, we all came to a mutual and acceptable decision that it would be best for us to split our separate ways musically.” In terms of future plans, some members will attend college and recording school in California, while Ramos looks forward to traveling extensively.