Left to right: Dave, Sean, Ian.
Stolen City are an Irish pop rock band, consisting of Sean McGrath, Dave McCabe and Ian Bailey.
Formed in 2017, initially just Sean and Dave, who were in college together and agreed to play a gig as a joke. Afterwards, they admit to getting the bug and interviewing more members to create a fuller sound. They released their first single "Cupid's Daughter" with five members, but soon became just a trio. Ian was previously a childhood friend of Dave's.
Expect lots of high energy and Sweet Dreams Fuel.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: The girl in "The Tower" video has an abusive father who disapproves of her friendship/romance with the boy.
- All Drummers Are Animals: Inverted! Ian the drummer comes across as The Quiet One compared to Sean and Dave. Although he is a trained soldier, so it technically makes him The Big Guy.
- Anti-Love Song:
- "Cupid's Daughter" is all about how the singer doesn't want to fall in love with the titular girl.
- "Footsteps" is about wanting to be in a movie-style romance as opposed to a difficult real one.
- Big Beautiful Man: Sean is an extremely good-looking blond with a full figure, shown to be just as desirable as the other two in the "Footsteps" and "Coming Home" videos.
- Big Fun: Sean is extremely perky and lively, as seen in interviews and live videos.
- Big, Thin, Short Trio: Sean, Dave and Ian respectively. Ian isn't actually that short, just a couple inches smaller than the other two, but they've been known to joke about him as though he's shorter.
- Bottle Episode:
- The video for "Last Night" takes place entirely in one location, in contrast to the sweeping Scenery Porn of the previous ones. It features only Dave, Sean and Ian, and just has sequences of the band performing.
- Likewise the "Let Her Go" video is filmed just against a white backdrop with no costume changes, and only three additional cast members.
- Break Up Song:
- "Miles" is about a relationship that's failing, and the other partner feels "miles away".
- "All Again" is a more direct example, about a break-up that has happened but was seen coming.
- The Cameo: Before they started appearing in their own videos, a few members cameo in the "Faces" video.
- Dave plays the photographer at the photoshoot.
- Sean plays the barman.
- Then-member Jordan Higgins cameo's as a stage manager.
- The City vs. the Country: "Footsteps" has a lyric about leaving the city, and Sean's scenes in the video contrast walking through Dublin to a getaway in the countryside.
- Colorful Song: "Faces"'s chorus talks about "a thousand colours in the cloud", and the video is accompanied by a series of coloured smoke bombs going off.
- Crowd Song: "Coming Home"'s video shows the guys performing through the streets of Dublin, dancing with various crowd members.
- Dance of Romance: Ian's portions in the "Footsteps" video have him dancing with his date along the street.
- Dancing Is Serious Business: "All Again"'s video features an interpretive dance performed by Steven Cooper to go with the dramatic theme.
- A Day in the Limelight: "Coming Home" has Dave on lead vocals for a change.
- Demoted to Extra: The "All Again" video is mostly just Sean, and guest dancer Steven Cooper. Dave and Ian only appear towards the end.
- Distaff Counterpart: The video for "Let Her Go" has the guys performing with girls dressed identically to them, each corresponding to a member.
- Dramatic Irony: The "Miles" video depicts a relationship failing, and frequently juxtaposes flashbacks of when the couple were happy to the present.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Their first two music videos "Miles" and "Faces" had narrative stories with minimal appearances from themselves. "Footsteps" starred them in a video with something resembling a story, and their subsequent videos instead just had them performing. "The Tower" saw a return to narrative-driven videos. Also, there were originally five members.
- Flowers of Romance: The "Footsteps" video has a sequence of Dave offering his girlfriend a bouquet of flowers as part of romancing her.
- Gay Aesop: Well Trans Aesop, but the video for "Faces" has a story about trans acceptance. It was released during Pride Month 2017.
- Genki Guy: Dave is known for being very lively and energetic. When he was interviewed on RTÉ in 2020 about his cancer treatment, viewers took note of what The Pollyanna he was.
- Last-Name Basis: Ian tends to be referred to as 'Bailey' by the other two.
- Leave the Camera Running:
- The "Coming Home" video continues for a bit after the song is over, and both Sean and Dave make faces at the camera as they walk out of frame.
- The "Let Her Go" video has several clips of everyone just goofing off naturalistically.
- "Leaving the Nest" Song: "Coming Home" is about how the singer wants to properly settle down and move to a different town.
- Lighter and Softer: Their first three singles "Cupid's Daughter", "Miles" and "Faces" - while with an upbeat tone - were somewhat angsty and accompanied by videos about toxic relationships, transphobia etc. Subsequent songs and videos were more upbeat and light-hearted - videos usually showing the guys having fun and performing. "The Tower" is somewhat in line with their initial ones.
- Love Goddess: The eponymous girl in "Cupid's Daughter" is compared to a love goddess. The video likewise features a Winged Humanoid.
- Lyrical Dissonance:
- "Faces" has a very fast, energetic tone to contrast with its dramatic lyrics. And the video is about transphobia.
- "Footsteps" is likewise very upbeat, even though the song is about someone worrying that their relationship is losing "the spark".
- Meet the In-Laws: Dave's portions of the "Footsteps" video show him meeting his girl's father in two different frames. In one, the father happily welcomes him. In the other, the father angrily chases them down the road.
- Nice Guy: All three come across as very sweet and caring in general.
- Only Sane Man: Ian tends to come across as the sensible, grounded one in contrast to Sean and Dave's goofiness.
- Rockers Smash Guitars: Parodied at the end of the "Let Her Go" video, where Dave smashes his guitar.
- She Cleans Up Nicely:
- The video for "Last Night" shows the guys performing all suited up, in contrast to their casual wear in other videos.
- The video for "Footsteps" has scenes of them in suits and formal wear on the various dates.
- This Is Reality: The opening lyrics of "Footsteps":"Why can't it be like a movie? Why can't it be like a cartoon?"
- Trans Tribulations: The video for "Faces" revolves around a transgender girl being assaulted by a trio of thugs once they learn she's trans.
- Trauma Conga Line: "The Tower" is about a girl who's had a traumatic past, and how her boyfriend wishes to "rebuild the broken tower".
- True Companions: It's clear from interviews and videos together that all three are very close.
- Victorious Childhood Friend: The boy in the video for "The Tower" grows up to become the girl's fiancee.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Many an Instagram story has shown Sean engaging in Snark-to-Snark Combat with the other two.
- Visual Pun: In the "Footsteps" video, the second chorus has clips of Sean playing with sparklers over the line "sparks are flying".
