The Selby Tigers, a neo-punk quartet based in St. Paul, Minnesota, drew their name from a blend of local references: Selby Avenue in their hometown, a high-school mascot, and the protective banner of an insurgent force. Their sound fuses these seemingly unrelated sources into an angst-driven, sociopolitical mixture featuring bratty teenage vocals, snarling guitars, and a thick-necked rhythm section. Guitarist Arzu "D2" Gokcen, her husband Nathan Grumdahl on second guitar, bassist Nicole Gerber, and drummer Dave Gatchell came together after earlier stints in promising groups—Lefty Lucy and Arm—that never advanced beyond bars and basements. In 1998 the band issued its self-titled debut EP; shortly afterward Gerber departed and was succeeded by Impetus Inter veteran and well-regarded local recording engineer Dave Gardner, whose credits include work with Cows, Unsane, and Sean Na Na and who had already engineered the Tigers’ first release. Gardner’s creation of the loveably clueless, stereotypical French alter ego Sammy G completed the group’s raucous, eardrum-destroying live presentation. Following extensive touring, the quartet issued the somewhat more polished South Then West EP. Those recordings and the band’s relentless roadwork attracted the interest of Southern California punk imprint Hopeless Records, home to fellow Twin Cities act Dillinger Four, which signed the Selby Tigers in early 2000. That spring Hopeless put out a 7" teaser single previewing the Charm City album, which appeared later in the summer alongside tours supporting the Alkaline Trio, the Anniversary, and Rocket From the Crypt.
