City Lights formed in early 2008 in Columbus, Ohio when Zachary LeCompte-Goble got some friends together one night to play Pop Punk instead of Metalcore.
Lewis left the band after he was accepted to New York University, and Jack Snyder would take his place on guitar.
Their debut EP Rock Like A Party Star was self-released on April 14, 2008, which has sold over 5,000 copies to date without label or management promotion.
On June 15, 2010, the band's cover of Third Eye Blind's "I’ll Never Let You Go" was featured on Alter The Press's Rockin’ Romance 2 compilation.
[5] Following this release, guitarist Jack Snyder departed and Jeremy Smith joined the band a few months before they were signed to InVogue Records.
In 2011, Nick Moore was contacted by bassist Chase Clymer seeking interest in putting out the band's next EP.
The album art was a joint effort between Clymer's photography and Shawn Khemsurov's graphical presentation.
The band launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a record with Brian McTernan (Circa Survive, Senses Fail, Thrice).
[7][8] City Lights provided direct support to Beartooth on the "Best Friends 4 Lyfe Tour" (August 2013) throughout northern North America and a solo Canadian date.
On November 5, 2013, Third Eye Guitars announced their endorsement of City Lights; and on November 10, 2013, the band announced that their cd release show for The Way Things Should Be would take place on December 10, 2013, at Skully's Music Diner in Columbus, Ohio with support from Dear Christie, Push Ahead, Here Comes Quincy (formerly Goodnight, You), Everyone Leaves, Carev Dvor, and Movehome.
On November 12, 2013, the band released their second single entitled "Jeremy's Song," featuring Matty Arsenault of A Loss For Words.
On December 9, 2013, the band released The Way Things Should Be to all Kickstarter campaign supporters; and was featured on Idobi Radio's online takeover, streaming the new album at 6 p.m. EST on Idobi.com.
According to Beartooth's Facebook page, Kamron Bradbury was named an official member in January 2014 and is no longer a part of City Lights.
[13] On January 19, 2015, vocalist Oshie Bichar announced via Twitter that he would be releasing a new acoustic EP under the band's name featuring tracks from their 2013 second album The Way Things Should Be.
[4] The band returned as a group on April 18 to perform a headlining set at the "Ace of Cups" venue in their hometown of Columbus, Ohio.