NEXT CItY sign global management deal with Melbourne’s Wild Thing

Melbourne based management, record label and tour company Wild Thing Presents has signed LA rock band NEXT CItY for global management.

Combining garage rock attack and dance groove, the band is fronted by Samuel Larsen, best known for his work on Glee as Joe Hart, and his supporting role in current hit film After.

Rounded out by guitarist Philip Paulsen, bassist Nick Diiorio and drummer Ben Brinckerhoff NEXT CItY has just dropped its debut single ‘Blue Star’.

They’re heavily influenced by Death From Above 1979, The Dead Weather and Queens of the Stone Age.

After releasing solo music in the pop and funk world, Larsen had the itch to start a rock band, to write and perform with.

“‘Blue Star’ was the first song I started working on with a band in mind,” he says.

“I had the riffs and lyrics for a while before I met Phil and I felt stuck, like I couldn't fully finish it, so I handed it off to Phil and he tightened up the arrangement, added a falsetto hook in the chorus and together we added a bridge.”

Wild Thing Presents’ management division includes Brisbane-based Caligula’s Horse and Ballarat, Victoria-based Ebonivory.

The booking arm handles the cream of prog-rock – including Circles, Alithia, Glass Ocean – and in January the company teamed with Welkin Entertainment to stage Progfest in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.